Object Details
- Description
- The West Front of the U.S. Capitol as viewed from old City Hall (4th and D Streets, N.W.) is depicted in this 1832 lithograph. The cornerstone was laid in 1793 by George Washington. By 1832, the building was an imposing structure, 352 feet long by 282 feet wide, overlooking open fields. The few other structures depicted include the brick city jail, built in 1815 as a temporary Capitol, and a few row houses along New Jersey Avenue. In 1832, running water was added to the Capitol. The Capitol building expanded significantly in following years, but the current dome was not be completed until 1866.
- Americans were curious about progress in the nation’s capital. This early lithograph would have been published in a view book with other similar prints and purchased as a gift, commemorative, or souvenir of Washington. The artist was a landscape painter and lithographer known to have sold designs for other city souvenir gift books.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- lithographer; publisher
- Childs & Inman
- original artist
- Doughty, Thomas
- Date made
- 1832
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 5 1/2 in x 8 5/8 in; 13.97 cm x 21.9075 cm
- Object Name
- lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
