Phone, 202-225-1200

Architect of the Capitol

GEORGE M. WHITE

The first Architect of the Capitol was appointed in 1793 by the President of the United States. During the period of the construction of the Capitol (17931865), appointments were made to the position of Architect at such times and for such periods as the various stages of the construction work required. The office of Architect has been continuous, however, from 1851 to the present.

Originally, the duties of the Architect of the Capitol were to plan and construct the Capitol Building and, later, to supervise its care and maintenance. The functions of the office have changed materially through the years in

accordance with the increased activities imposed upon it by Congress, due principally to the addition of new buildings and grounds.

Permanent authority for the care and maintenance of the Capitol Building is provided by act of August 15, 1876 (40 U.S.C. 162, 163). This act has been amended from time to time to provide for the care and maintenance of the additional buildings and grounds placed under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol by Congress in subsequent years.

The Architect of the Capitol, acting as an agent of Congress, is in charge of the structural and mechanical care of the United States Capitol Building and making arrangements with the proper authorities for ceremonies held in the building and on the grounds; is responsible for the care, maintenance, and improvement of the Capitol Grounds, comprising approximately 208.7 acres of landscaping, parks, streets, and parking; is responsible for the structural and mechanical care of the Library of Congress Buildings and the United States Supreme Court Building; and under the direction of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Committee on House Administration, respectively, is charged with the operation of the United States Senate and House restaurants.

In addition to these activities, the Architect has the following duties and responsibilities:

-under the direction and approval of the House Office Building Commission, the structural, mechanical, and domestic care and maintenance of the House Office Buildings, including the maintenance and operation of the

mechanical, electrical, and electronic equipment and the care, maintenance, and operation of the Capitol Power Plant, which supplies heat and airconditioning refrigeration for the Capitol, Senate and House Office Buildings, Library of Congress Buildings, and the United States Supreme Court Building; heat for the United States Botanic Garden and the Senate and House garages; steam heat for the Government Printing Office, Washington City Post Office, and Union Station; and steam heat and chilled water for the Folger Shakespeare Library;

-subject to the approval of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration as to matters of general policy, the structural, mechanical, and domestic care and maintenance of the Senate Office Buildings, including the maintenance and operation of the mechanical, electrical, and electronic equipment;

-the jurisdiction and control, including care and maintenance of the Senate garage, subject to such regulations respecting the use thereof as may be promulgated by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration; and

-under the direction of the Joint Committee on the Library, serving as Acting Director of the United States Botanic Garden.

The Architect of the Capitol also is charged with the planning and construction of such buildings as may be committed to his care by Congress from time to time. Current projects include extension, reconstruction, alteration, and improvement of the United States Capitol; procurement and installation of permanent television broadcasting facilities for the Senate Chamber; procurement and installation of hydraulic security barriers and bollards at the vehicular entrances to the Capitol square;

development of design and cost

estimates associated with the construction aspects of the congressional joint leadership proposal to improve security of the Capitol and House and Senate Office Buildings; interior restoration and renovation of the Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Buildings of the Library of Congress; and direction of the Master Plan for Future Development of the U.S. Capitol Grounds and related

areas.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Judiciary Office Building Development Act (40 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.), the Architect, under the direction of the Commission for the Judiciary Office Building, is responsible for selecting a developer to construct a building just east of Union Station to meet the current and future needs of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the Federal Judicial Center, and other judicial functions and to accommodate such other governmental and mixed-use activities as may be appropriate.

The Architect of the Capitol serves as a member of the District of Columbia Zoning Commission, the Capitol Police Board, the Capitol Guide Board, the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Art Advisory Committee to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the House of Representatives Page Board, the National Capital Memorial Advisory Committee to the Secretary of the Interior, the International Centre Committee (Rome Centre), the National Conservation Advisory Council, and as the Civil Defense Coordinator for the Capitol buildings.

Phone, 202-225-6420

Director (Architect of the Capitol)

Executive Director

GEORGE M. WHITE, Acting DAVID SCHEID

The Botanic Garden contains a large variety of palms, cycads, ferns, cacti, orchids, and other miscellaneous tropical and subtropical plants, many of which are rare species. There are special displays during most of the months of the year, and in their proper seasons banana, papaya, orange, lemon, tangerine, kumquat, averrhoa, coffee, and surinam cherry are to be seen in luxuriant fruiting. The entire collection of the Garden includes over 10,000 species and varieties of plant growth. The collection attracts many visitors annually, including botanists, horticulturists, students, and garden club members.

The Garden, though not operated as a scientific institution, offers educational facilities in that it makes available for study to students, botanists, and floriculturists many rare and interesting botanical specimens. Every year botanical specimens are received from all over the world with requests for identification, and one of the services rendered by the Garden to the public is the identification of such specimens and the furnishing of information relating to the proper methods of growing them.

The United States Botanic Garden was founded in 1820 under the auspices of the Columbia Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, an organization that was the outgrowth of an association known as the Metropolitan Society and that received its charter from Congress on April 20, 1818. The Garden continued under the direction of this

Institute until 1837, when the Institute ceased to exist as an active organization. It remained abandoned until 1842, when it became necessary for the Government to provide accommodations for the botanical collections brought to Washington, DC, from the South Seas by the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-42, under the leadership of Capt. Charles Wilkes. The collections were placed temporarily on exhibition at the Patent Office upon return of the expedition in June 1842. The first greenhouse for this purpose was constructed in 1842 on a lot behind the Patent Office Building under the direction and control of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from funds appropriated by Congress.

The act of May 15, 1850 (9 Stat. 427), provided for the relocation of the Botanic Garden under the direction of the Joint Committee on the Library. The site selected was on the Mall at the west end of the Capitol Grounds, practically the same site the Botanic Garden occupied during the period it functioned under the Columbia Institute. This site was later enlarged, and the main area continued to serve as the principal Botanic Garden site from 1850 to 1933, when the Garden was relocated to its present site.

Although the Botanic Garden began functioning as a Government-owned institution in 1842, the records indicate that it was not until 1856 that the maintenance of the Garden was specifically placed under the direction of

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