Art: Capitol Face Lifting

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The nation's Capitol has been a center of stormy artistic controversy ever since Amateur Architect Dr. William Thornton had to fend off the claims of his professional rival, Stephen Hallet, to get the credit for his 1793 plan. Last week it was once again the focus of debate. At issue this time: a $12 million appropriation voted by the House to start remodeling the east facade (plus another $28.5 million to remodel the two congressional office buildings and begin building a third)

Under the House plan, which seemed certain of Senate approval, the Capitol': sandstone facing would be replaced with marble, and the whole facade, along with its imposing steps, which serve as the setting for presidential inaugurations would be moved about 40 feet forward bringing it more in line with the House and Senate wings. Besides repairing thi damage of time and weather, the remodeling would provide a broader base for thi Capitol's dome. More practically, the expansion plan would also provide space fo 42 extra office rooms, added restaurant facilities, one large hearing room and a private, i.e., tourist-free corridor connecting the House and Senate.

The new plan was strenuously opposed by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects and other organizations, and brought forth cries of sacrilege from Manhattan Architect Lorimer Rich, designer of Arlington's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, who upheld the Capitol facade as an "invaluable record of our early architecture which should always remain." The building as it stands, the architects argued, is a living record of the work of such men as Thornton, British-born Benjamin Henry Latrobe (responsible for the handsome east fagade), and Boston's Charles Bulfinch (chief restorer of the Capitol after the British burned it in 1814). Said Architect Rich: "A reproduction is worth only the price it took to build it. An original is priceless."

Capitol Architect George Stewart made the case for change. After all, he pointed out, the Capitol has been modified many times since the cornerstone was laid, each architect changing to some extent the work of his predecessor. With an increased number of Representatives since the last expansion of the Capitol and heavier legislative workloads, the Capitol will have to go right on growing. "In fact," said Architect Stewart, "I can see the day—30 or 40 years off—when we'll have to build a new Capitol, a truly functional building. This one will become just a museum."