Description
The Hall is built in the shape of an ancient amphitheater and is one of the earliest examples of Neoclassical architecture in America. While most wall surfaces are painted plaster, the low gallery walls and pilasters are sandstone. Around the room's perimeter stand colossal columns of variegated breccia marble quarried along the Potomac River. The Corinthian capitals of white marble were carved in Carrara, Italy. A lantern in the fireproof cast-steel ceiling admits natural light into the Hall. The chamber floor is laid with black and white marble tiles; the black marble was purchased specifically for the chamber, while the white marble was scrap material from the Capitol extension project.
Only two of the many statues presently in the room were commissioned for display in the original Hall of the House. Enrico Causici's neoclassical plaster Liberty and the Eagle looks out over the Hall from a niche above the colonnade behind what was once the Speaker's rostrum. The sandstone relief eagle in the frieze of the entablature below was carved by Giuseppe Valaperta. Above the door leading into the Rotunda is the Car of History by Carlo Franzoni. This neoclassical marble sculpture depicts Clio, the Muse of History, riding in the chariot of Time and recording events in the chamber below. The wheel of the chariot contains the chamber clock; the works are by Simon Willard.
It has been said that John Quincy Adams took advantage of the Hall's acoustics to eavesdrop on other members conversing on the opposite side of the room. To test the acoustics today, one party should stand near the floor plaque marking Adams' desk on the West side of the Hall while the other party stands at the corresponding spot on the East side. However, this is only a myth, as the current half dome, which creates the effect, was not installed until 1902. The Adams story began long after Adams' death as a tourist gimmick, according to Capitol historian William C. Allen. Though echoes were a significant problem, there is no documentation of a "whisper spot" prior to the early twentieth century.
Read more about this topic: National Statuary Hall
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