United States Capitol

Thomas Ustick Walter of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was an American architect, the dean of American architecture between the 1820 death of Benjamin Latrobe and the emergence of H.H. Richardson in the 1870s. He was the fourth Architect of the Capitol, responsible for adding the north and south ... wings and the central dome that brought the U.S. Capitol building to essentially its modern appearance. Walter was one of the founders and second president of the American Institute of Architects. Walter, born in 1804 in Philadelphia, was the son of mason and bricklayer Joseph S. Walter and wife, Deborah. Walter received early training in a variety of fields including masonry, mathematics, physical science, and the fine arts. At age 15, Walter entered the office of William Strickland, studying architecture and mechanical drawing, before. establishing his own practice in 1830. Walter's first major commission was Moyamensing Prison, the Philadelphia County Prison, designed as a humane model in its time.
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Charles Bulfinch was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first native-born American to practice architecture as a profession. Bulfinch split his career between his native Boston and Washington, D.C., where he served as Commissioner of Public Building and built the... intermediate United States Capitol rotunda and dome. His works are notable for their simplicity, balance, and good taste, and as the origin of a distinctive Federal style of classical domes, columns, and ornament that dominated early 19th-century American architecture. Bulfinch was born in Boston to Thomas Bulfinch, a prominent physician, and his wife, Susan Apthorp. He was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard University, from which he graduated with an AB in 1781 and Master's degree in 1784. He then made a grand tour of Europe from 1785–1787, where he was influenced by the classical architecture in Italy and the neoclassical buildings of Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Adam, William Chambers and others in the United Kingdom. Thomas Jefferson became something of a mentor to him in Europe, as he would later be to Robert Mills.
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United States President Barack Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of the 111th United States Congress on February 24, 2009. It was not an... official State of the Union address. Obama's first State of the Union Address was the 2010 State of the Union Address. The speech was delivered on the floor of the chamber of the United States House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. Presiding over this joint session was the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Accompanying the Speaker of the House was the President of the United States Senate, Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States. President Obama discussed the recently passed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as well as the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the state of the economy, and the future of the country. Attorney General Eric Holder was the designated survivor and did not attend the address in order to maintain a continuity of government. He was sequestered at a secret secure location for the duration of the event. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal delivered the Republican response to the address, calling Obama's stimulus plan irresponsible.
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