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Historical Overview- North Wing
Door to Whip Office |
The Senate Majority Whip's office is located a few steps from the floor of the "new" Senate Chamber. As a result of rapid population growth (and the increase in representation it demanded) in the United States during the first half of the 19th Century, the Senate quickly outgrew the confines of the Old Senate Chamber, in which it had met since the reconstruction of the Capitol following the war of 1812. Philadelphia Architect Thomas U. Walter was commissioned to design northern and southern wings extending from the Capitol, which would house new Senate and House chambers, respectively. Walter also designed the enlarged dome that exists today above the Capitol.
The House of Representatives was able to meet in its new chamber on December 16, 1857, and the Senate first met in its present chamber on January 4, 1859. The old House chamber was later designated National Statuary Hall. In 1861, most construction was suspended because of the Civil War, and the Capitol was used briefly as a military barracks, hospital, and bakery. In 1862, work on the entire building was resumed.
This new space in the northern/Senate wing allowed for new reception rooms, ceremonial offices, and committee meeting rooms. These committee meeting rooms were allocated according to the importance of each committee, with space close to the floor being the most desirable.
Architectural Details—Current Majority Whip Suite
The fireplace in the Whip Office is one of the few working in the Capitol. |
- All three rooms of the suite echo themes visible elsewhere in the north and south wings, in that they are decorated with intricate cast iron window and door frames. Despite having been coated with as many as 50 layers of paint over the years, the highly detailed oak leaf and acorn design is still discernable.
- Each room in the suite also features historic "Minton tile" used throughout the north and south extensions. The richly colored and patterned tiles were made by Minton, Hollins and Company of Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The company made over 1,000 square feet of tile for the Capitol, at a cost of $1.40 per square foot (including installation). Manufactured using an "encaustic" process, the tiles' color comes from clays embedded in the tile, rather than painted on the surface. Originally used by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, this process became popular again after the Middle Ages. It creates a much more lasting product, often claimed to be as durable as marble.
- The fireplace in S-208 is the only working fireplace in the suite, and one of the few working ones in the Capitol. To meet the technological and communications needs of an increasingly "wired" Senate, many of the fireplace chimneys and flues have over the years been taken out of service and devoted to channeling the miles of wiring that stretch throughout the Capitol.
S-208 (Reception Area)
- In 1867, the Senate Finance Committee was assigned to an office suite consisting of S-208 and S-209, meeting here until 1911. The Finance committee controlled all tariff legislation, which was the center of much political attention and controversy during the late nineteenth century. Committee rooms such as these were also used by committee chairmen as personal offices until the Senate Office Building (now known as the Russell Senate Office Building) opened in 1909.
Senate Reception Room |
- In 1911 the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post-Roads moved into S-208 and S-209, when the Senate Finance Committee was assigned to a suite on the first floor of the Capitol.
- From 1947 until 1960, The Sergeant at Arms of the Senate (the Senate's chief law enforcement and protocol officer) occupied the two-room suite.
- In January 1961, S-208, S-209 and S-210 were combined into one suite and became the office of Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Montana).
- In January 1977, Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) was elected Majority Leader and moved into the three-room suite of S-208, S-209, and S-210. After the elections of 1980, in which the Republican Party took the majority, newly-elected Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-TN) chose not to occupy the suite, instead taking what is now the Majority Leader's suite in S-230. As a result, S-208 remained occupied by Senator Byrd, serving as the Minority Leader's office.
- At 10:58pm, Monday, November 7, 1983, a bomb exploded just outside the Senate chamber, damaging the hallway, cloakroom and numerous pieces of artwork, including minor damage to the Henry Clay portrait. The door to S-208 was blown off and the elevator door just outside S-208 was buckled. Thankfully, no one was in the area at the time - the Senate had adjourned earlier than expected and the Mansfield room was empty following an earlier reception. There were no injuries and no structural damage to the building. The bomb was planted by a group calling itself the "Armed Resistance Unit" opposing military action in Grenada and Lebanon.
- In 1987 the suite was assigned to the Secretary of the Senate, who occupied it in addition to what is now the Lyndon Baines Johnson room, S-211.
- Upon his election as Majority Whip in 1996, Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) was assigned the suite. Nickles occupied the suite until the party switch of Senator Jim Jeffords in 2001, which gave Senate control back to a Democratic majority. The new Majority Whip, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), moved into the space and occupied it until January 2003.
- In January 2003, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was assigned the suite following his unanimous election as Majority Whip (following the 2002 elections in which a Republican majority was elected).
S-210 (Senator's Office)
Art and Architecture
The chandelier and fresco ceiling of office. |
- The fresco ceiling was designed by Constantino Brumidi, an Italian immigrant hired in 1855 by Montgomery C. Meigs, the US Army Captain serving as superintendent of the expansion of the Capitol, to decorate the new wings. Brumidi spent the next 25 years painting the Senate wing and the Rotunda.
- The ceiling contains a number of unadorned oval frames. Documents show that Brumidi had given Architect of the Capitol Thomas H. Walter an estimate of $1,000 for the task of completing work on these frames, which was later lowered to $500. The work was never begun, and the frames remained empty.
- When the suite was assigned to the Secretary of the Senate in 1987, the sitting Secretary began adding his/her state's seal to the wall. This practice continued when the Senate Majority Whip began occupying the suite.
- Contrary to legend, the west wall of S-210 was never an exterior wall (due to its thickness and the stained glass window at its center, many have speculated as such). Within the Capitol, there are four grand staircases (one of which is on the other side of the window in S-210), and each stairwell contains a large stained glass window, each with a different design. The center of the window in S-210 once depicted an eagle with a shield and flags of the United States. This window was accidentally destroyed in the 1960s, however, and was replaced with frosted glass. The frosted glass was later replaced with the current design featuring the Senate seal.
Occupant History
- The Senate Stationery Room (the procurers of office supplies for the Senate) was the first occupant of this room following the nineteenth-century expansion. This was a significant upgrade from the Stationery Room's previous space in the "upper story" of the Capitol.
- In 1874 the Official Reporters of Debate moved into the room, as the Senate ceased contracting with private individuals for recording floor proceedings and created its own "in-house" system. The proximity of S-210 was a necessity, as reporters would rush from the floor to transcribe their verbatim accounts of Senate debate. Senators interested in reading transcripts of Senate floor activity regularly visited the room.
- From 1953 until 1960, S-210 served as the office of the Deputy Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.
- In the summer of 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) was given temporary use of S-210 after he won the Democratic presidential nomination. As a senator barely into his second term, Kennedy would no doubt have had an office less spacious, convenient, and opulent than most members of his caucus. However, as the new de facto party leader, he needed space befitting that role, and as a result was given this choice location in the Capitol. A plaque by the rear door commemorates the late President's stay in this room, which lasted until he took office in early 1961. In the first session of the 97th Congress (1981), S. Res. 80 officially designated S-210 as the "John Fitzgerald Kennedy Room"
- When Kennedy moved out of S-210 in January 1961, the office was connected to S-209 and made part of the three-room suite that exists today.
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