Originally, two office buildings for the House and Senate were commissioned from the firm of Carrère & Hastings (both of whom had initially worked for McKim, Mead & White); Hastings had primary responsibility for the House Office Building whereas Carrère designed the Senate Office Building. Both John Marven Carrère and Thomas Hastings were trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris; this Neoclassical building represents Beaux-Arts principles of architecture, especially the idea that the exterior facade should reflect elements of the interior. Here the long rusticated arcades with doubled fluted columns on one side and doubled pilasters on the other surmount the arcades through two stories and suggest the range of offices behind them. Built of white Vermont marble, the building employs the simple Doric order with little sculptural decoration.The Independence Avenue side |
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