Mr. CAMPIOLI. Senator, do you wish me to proceed with the presentation and explanation of the drawings on exhibit? Senator MONRONEY. Yes; I think you can go ahead with that and we will get to other matters. CONTEMPLATED RETARDATION PLANS Mr. CAMPBELL. This plan [indicating] represents the plan of the lower or Supreme Court Chamber as it was following the fire of 1814 and until 1860. Up until recently we did not have the furniture layout for this room and through our added research which was done as a result of the funds that were appropriated last year we were able to locate the plan of this chamber when it was last used as a Supreme Court. I might mention, by way of historical background, that this chamber, when the Capitol was first completed the first segment, or the original Senate wing-was the first Senate Chamber and at that time it was a 2-story room, it was different in appearance than it is at present, it had a gallery up at the principal floor level but did not have a complete floor at that level. In 1808, authorization was given to extend the floor, at the principal floor, and following completion the Senate moved upstairs and the Supreme Court, which was located in the room now occupied by the Senate Appropriations Committee across the hall, moved across the hall to this lower room. It remained that way until the fire of 1814, and then was destroyed. The chambers had to be rebuilt. In 1818 it was rebuilt pretty much as you see it today. The lower chamber was occupied until 1860 by the Supreme Court. Senator MONRONEY. Could I ask you a question: Is it planned to put a new floor in where the floor of the existing old Senate Chamber is? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. CONDITION OF FLOORING Senator MONRONEY. I notice that floor seems a little wavy; it must be getting quite old, from the old timbers it has, so that would be completely brought up to standard? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. This lower chamber, when originally built for the use of the Supreme Court, had a depressed pit in this area [pointing] about 3 by 8 feet, below the level of the surrounding floor or below the level of the present first floor. Later on there were complaints about the pit area being stuffy as the only ventilation was through these three windows here and at that time it was decided to raise the floor, and the floor was elevated about 2 feet. Senator MONRONEY. Sorry to interrupt you. There is a roll call vote now going on in the Senate and we will have to stand in recess until we compete the vote. (Whereupon, a recess was taken from 2: 15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.) Senator MONRONEY. I think we better resume our testimony on this, because we will be interrupted by roll calls consistently. Mr. CAMPIOLI. Mr. Chairman, may I ask the reporter to read the last statement? Senator MONRONEY. Yes, sir. (The reporter read from her notes as requested.) Mr. CAMPIOLI. Our plan is therefore to restore the floor at the level 2 feet higher than when it was originally built. Senator MONRONEY. Will that be representative of the Supreme Court's use of it? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. It held its Court there always with that depressed center floor? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. AUTHENTIC DRAWINGS OF FURNITURE OF PERIOD And, Mr. Chairman, this is a reproduction of the drawing we recently found showing the furniture layout of the Supreme Court Chamber which takes the guesswork out of that part of the work. Senator MONRONEY. Have you found any authentic prints of the furniture itself, the chairs and the bench? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. Is the bench the same as was moved upstairs? Mr. CAMPIOLI. No, sir. Senator MONRONEY. It is a different bench? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. What will be done with the bench the Supreme Court used during its service up there? Mr. CAMPIOLI. I presume it will be put back in storage for whatever future use may be made of it. Mr. Chairman, these are some of the reprints of the furniture used. Some of the old furniture is still in existence in the present Supreme Court Building. Senator MONRONEY. This is the furniture that the Supreme Court used; is that correct? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. The desks were the Court desks? Mr. CAMPIOLI. The desks belonged to the Court; yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. You may proceed. REINSTALLATION OF FIREPLACES Mr. CAMPIOLI. One of the items that I should like to bring out is that the present entrance to this lower room is from the north-south corridor. The present doorway did not exist at the time this Chamber was used as the Supreme Court. There was a fireplace in that location. We would propose to put the fireplace back. There were fireplaces also at the northeast and southeast corners of the Chamber. These were abandoned when the air-conditioning system was installed. Senator MONRONEY. You do not plan to put the fireplaces back in there? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes sir; we do plan to restore the fireplaces. Mr. CAMPIOLI. No, sir; they will be for appearance only, except that we may use them for return air. Senator MONRONEY. Yes. CARPET COLOR AND TREATMENT Mr. CAMPIOLI. Our research has also revealed to us the color and treatment of the carpet and I will show you a drawing of that when we reach that point in the exhibit. The upper Chamber, or the Senate Chamber, is portrayed by this drawing indicating] and shows the seating of 64 Senators, chairs and desks, that existed at the time. It shows the chair of the Vice President or President of the Senate, and other officials of the Senate. The mahogany wood screen which now exists behind this location [pointing] did not exist at that time and would therefore be removed. The four existing fireplaces that were in use at that time, are still in place, including their very fine mantles and they would be retained. Senator MONRONEY. Those are working fireplaces, if necessary, are they not? Mr. CAMPIOLI. I believe some of them may have been used for return air for air conditioning since that time. Many of the fireplaces in the Capitol have been put to use in the air-conditioning system. Senator MONRONEY. I see. Mr. CAMPIOLI. Also, through the paintings and other scenes of the chamber during the period that the Senate was using this space, we obtained the information for the carpet, and I will show you that design when we come to it in the exhibit. These [pointing] are columns which supported a ladies' gallery which was installed in 1828, later removed, and does not now exist. We would propose to restore the gallery, and that will be Senator MONRONEY. It was removed when the Senate moved out into their new chambers and when it became a courtroom? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. These two niches [pointing] which still exist housed the two stoves that supplied the heat for this room. Senator MONRONEY. Is that what those niches were for? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. They have seats in them now? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. ENTRANCE TO CHAMBER Senator MONRONEY. And the entrance to the Senate Chamber, was it from the north-south corridor? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes; that was the entrance at that time and will remain the entrance. One change that we will make is, instead of coming into the room and going up two steps as you do now, that floor [pointing] will be restored back to the level of the original floor. The floor was raised when the air conditioning was installed in 1936. Senator MONRONEY. It will give you an opportunity to rebuild the floor then? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. This [pointing] is an easterly view of both chambers, the lower Supreme Court chamber, showing the depressed floor, and the upper Senate Chamber with the floor at the level of the principal floor. The only portions of the floor that would be raised are around the Vice President's chair and behind the colonnade. PORTRAIT AND DRAPERIES The drawing also shows the Rembrandt-Peale portrait of Washington which is now in the Vice President's chamber, and which we would hope we would get permission to restore to this room where it once existed. It shows the eagle which is still in this room, and the shield which is now over the doorway at the north-south corridor leading into this room. We would propose to put it back on top of the new canopy restoring the original design. The lower view here shows the seats of the nine Supreme Court Justices. Senator MONRONEY. This is the downstairs? Mr. CAMPIOLI. Yes, sir. The rooms were heavily draped, both for esthetic and acoustical reasons. They had trouble with sound reverberations in these rooms, and the way they were able to cut that down was by the introduction of lots of draperies. Senator MONRONEY. They knew enough about acoustics in those days? Mr. CAMPIOLI. They achieved results by trial and error; it was not as much of a science as it is today. This view [indicating] looks toward the entrance from the northsouth corridor and there is the doorway that will remain, the niches where the stoves will be located. This is the ladies' gallery which had a fine iron railing Senator MONRONEY. Why do they call it the ladies' gallery? Were men not allowed up there, or were the men taken on the floor? Mr. CAMPIOLI. It was originally added for the ladies and the men stood behind this lower railing here [pointing] behind these columns. Later on joint usage was made of the gallery but I believe it continued to be called the ladies' gallery. CHANDELIER AND BAS RELIEF ARTISTRY We also have here the very fine, large chandelier which was in existence and use in this room until the Senate moved to its present Chamber. That was one I was questioned about on the House side as to where it is now. I have no way of telling, there is nothing in the record to reveal what happened to it. In the lower or Supreme Court Chamber when the partitions which split this room up into facilities for the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy were removed we were able to expose a very fine piece of bas relief work by Franzoni which had been covered up, about 1940, and had been out of view until recently. We have done research on its original colors and propose to restore it to its original color. This [indicating] is a sectional view looking toward the north and out in an east and west direction, and again it shows the ladies' gallery. These iron columns were ornate and had very fine corinthian caps which were gilded. This description is referred to by the Architects of the Capitol at that time and by many visitors to the Capitol who described the room. We therefore have a pretty good basis of information for those columns. Senator MONRONEY. You have photographs of those, or drawings? Mr. CAMPIOLI. There are some drawings and then there are some composite photographs and drawings of the room which show this detail. True, they are at small scale but we have been able to blow them up so we can get the detail from them. MARBLE PILASTERS The marble pilasters which occurred above in the ladies' galleries no longer exist, and we are hopeful that we will be able to get the similar conglomerate marble that was used in the pilasters in the lower level of this chamber and in the columns. After extensive research in the field we found the actual location where Benjamin Henry Latrobe obtained this conglomerate material in Loudon County, Va., and in Maryland, near Point of Rocks. The quarries are no longer active, but there is a sufficient amount of material remaining and we are hoping that some marble will be secured, enough to make blocks to produce the material that we need to complete this work. Senator MONRONEY. Is that both the Supreme Court and the Mr. CAMPIOLI. The Supreme Court columns are of sandstone. The marble is located in the upper chamber. This exhibit [pointing] shows the various materials that would be used in the room. DRAPERIES, WALL COLORING AND FURNITURE The draperies and the glass curtains, the wall color and dado color and the fabrics that were used for fluting around the room. The colors of the carpet, the Senate carpet was red with stars made up of two other colors. This [pointing] is a sample of the carved ornamentation such as was used in the canopy around the Vice President's chair, these are some of the tiebacks, the color of the wood furniture. The leather samples are shown in this corner [pointing] and so forth. This drawing shows the design of the carpets in the Senate Chamber. It has a maroon background with gold stars in the field. Senator MONRONEY. That was what? Mr. CAMPIOLI. The carpet in the Senate Chamber. Senator MONRONEY. I see. Mr. CAMPIOLI. This is a drawing showing the design of the carpet in the Supreme Court Chamber, it had a blue background with gold rosettes in it. This last exhibit shows the fireplace equipment, the stoves that were in the niches of the Senate Chamber, the andirons, fenders, fireplace tools, and the detail of the finials on the fireplace tools. Senator YOUNG. Were the original carpets made in the United States or imported? Mr. CAMPIOLI. I believe they were made in the United States. I believe that completes a brief story on the exhibit unless there are some questions you would like to ask, Mr. Chairman. ESTIMATE OF RESTORATION COST Senator MONRONEY. I think this has been very helpful to us up to date. This represents the restoration of the old Senate and Supreme Court Chambers for which budget estimate of $700,000 is submitted. It is proposed, as I note from the justifications, that this work can be |