Excerpt:
On a recent tour of the U.S. Capitol building—my first since working there nearly 30 years ago—I was reminded of just how beautiful and magisterial it is. Its construction and design, however, were hotly contested things, as I learned from Brian Jay Jones's "The Capitol: The Surprising Biography of an American Building."
Mr. Jones, a biographer and a former Capitol Hill aide, is well-suited to the task. He takes readers through nearly every part of the building's origins. Although many take the Capitol for granted today, in its planning stages few could agree even on a name. One proposed name for the city, fortunately rejected, was Washingtonople. Thomas Jefferson personally crossed out every mention of the draft name Congress House for the structure and replaced them with Capitol.
Pierre L'Enfant is widely known as the designer of Washington the city. L'Enfant was fired in 1792, though, so he did not design the structures that house the executive, the Supreme Court and the Congress. L'Enfant likely had thoughts on these, but left Washington angrily, taking whatever ideas he had with him. In response, Jefferson started a newspaper contest to elicit plans for what became the Capitol, designed by Dr. William Thornton, the amateur architect who won the contest.