The Capitol Complex

The Capitol, whose cornerstone George Washington laid on September 18, 1793, holds the House and Senate chambers, leadership offices, and committee rooms. British troops burned it in August 1814, and it was rebuilt and later expanded with new wings for each chamber and the cast-iron dome completed during the Civil War. Around it has grown a complex of office buildings: the Cannon, Longworth, Rayburn, and Ford buildings for the House on the south side, and the Russell, Dirksen, and Hart buildings for the Senate on the north, connected to the Capitol by tunnels and small subway trains.

The wider complex includes the three Library of Congress buildings, the Capitol Visitor Center opened beneath the East Front in 2008, the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Capitol Power Plant, and grounds originally landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Supreme Court building sits across the street but is managed separately. The Architect of the Capitol maintains the buildings and grounds, and the U.S. Capitol Police, a force of more than two thousand officers, protects them and the members of Congress.

The complex is both a working government campus and a national symbol, which creates constant tension between public access and security. Security tightened after the 1998 shooting that killed two Capitol Police officers and again after the September 11 attacks. The January 6, 2021 attack, when rioters breached the building during the counting of electoral votes, led to further changes in fencing, policing, and Capitol Police leadership and oversight.