Small Senate Rotunda Chandelier
United States Capitol
Washington DC
2019
Located in the Small Senate Rotunda since 1965. Imported from Europe in 1903, previously hung in a historic Baltimore theater and a Capitol Hill church.
https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/small-senate-rotunda-chandelier
The chandelier hanging in the Small Senate Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol has attracted attention ever since it was installed in 1965. It was purchased for $1,500 from the ABC Wrecking Co., which had removed it from the Capitol Hill United Methodist Church on Seward Square in southeast Washington, D.C., before razing that building.
Although its manufacturer is not known, the chandelier was imported from Europe in 1903 for the grand Maryland Theater in Baltimore. Over the years this theater was the scene of vaudeville, film and live dramatic presentations.
When the theater was being razed in 1951, a parishioner purchased the chandelier for Trinity Methodist Church (later renamed the Capitol Hill United Methodist Church). The chandelier was smaller then: it consisted of the six-foot bronze ring, which was ornamented in relief and coarse filigree; a smaller ring that formed the main basket; and a large crystal ball attached to the basket, which terminated the chandelier. The pastor added eight glass arms, hurricane lamps, a brass crown, and Czechoslovakian crystal chains leading to the crown, thus making the fixture eight feet wide and eleven feet high.
When it was acquired by the Architect of the Capitol, the chandelier was rewired and lamp sockets were replaced. The eight fragile glass arms on the main ring were replaced with 16 short bronze arms. Each arm terminates in a glass bobeche with a circle of pendent crystal prisms.
The chandelier is estimated to have 14,500 crystals and weighs nearly 2,000 pounds. It is suspended from an electrically driven winch on a steel cable, which allows it to be lowered for cleaning.
The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/explore/the-capitol
The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is a symbol of the American people and our government and the meeting place of the nation's legislature, the U.S. Congress. The Capitol is a working office building, but it is also the place where visitors from around the United States and the world come to learn about American democracy.
Construction of the Capitol began in 1793. In November 1800, Congress, along with the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court, moved into the newly completed north wing. The south wing was completed by 1807, but in 1814, the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812. What is now the center portion of the Capitol was completed in 1826.
As the country expanded, more states came into the union and more representatives and senators arrived at the Capitol to represent these new states and their constituents.
Beginning in the 1850s, the Capitol had to grow to make room for these new representatives and senators. The first major construction project extended both wings and enlarged the Capitol Dome. Later, both the West Front and the East Front of the Capitol were expanded, and in 2008, the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center was completed.
Other buildings on the Capitol Grounds include:
- Office buildings for the House of Representatives and the Senate
- The Botanic Garden and the Library of Congress
- The Supreme Court
The Architect of the Capitol is the steward of these landmark buildings and grounds.
