Number: RL31121
Title: The Capitol Visitors' Center: An Overview
Authors: Stephen W. Stathis, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: The Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), under the East Front Plaza, was designed to enhance the security, educational experience, and comfort of those visiting the U.S. Capitol. The decision to build a subterranean facility largely invisible from an exterior perspective was made so the structure would not compete with, or detract from, the appearance and historical architectural integrity of the Capitol. The project's designers sought to integrate the new structure with the landscape of the East Capitol Grounds and ultimately recreate the park-like setting intended by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. in his historic 1874 design for the site. The cost of the center, the most extensive addition to the Capitol since the Civil War, and largest in the world-famous structure's more than 200-year history, is an estimated $621 million.
Pages: 66
Date: November 25, 2008