When was the Supreme Court courthouse built?
1935! 146 years after the Court was created!
How much did it cost?
$9,646,000 ($94,000 under budget! Even with furnishing!)
Remember, the U.S. Supreme Court came into existence in 1789 under the Judiciary Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Washington. At that time, the Court met in the Merchants Exchange Building on Wall St. in New York City. When the National Capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the Court moved with it, establishing Chambers first in Independence Hall and later in City Hall.
In 1800, the Federal Government picked up and moved to the permanent Capital, Washington D.C. This meant that the Court had to move yet again. Since no provision had been made for a Supreme Court Building, Congress lent the Court space in the new Capitol Building. Without its own quarters, the Court was forced to change its meeting place a half dozen times within the Capitol. After the Capitol was set ablaze during the War of 1812, the Court convened for a short period in a private home. Following this episode, the Court returned to the Capitol and met from 1819 to 1860 in a chamber now restored as the "Old Supreme Court Chamber." Then from 1860 until 1935, the Court sat in what is now known as the "Old Senate Chamber."
Finally, in 1929, Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had been President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, persuaded Congress to end this arrangement and authorize the construction of a permanent home for the Court. Architect Cass Gilbert was charged by Chief Justice Taft to design "a building of dignity and importance suitable for its use as the permanent home of the Supreme Court of the United States." Unfortunately, neither Taft nor Gilbert survived to see the Supreme Court Building completed. The construction started in 1932 and was completed in 1935, overseen by Chief Justice Hughes and architects Cass Gilbert, Jr., and John R. Rockart.
The classical Corinthian architectural style was selected because it best harmonized with nearby congressional buildings. The building was designed on a scale in keeping with the importance and dignity of the Court and the Judiciary as a coequal, independent branch of the United States Government, and as a symbol of "the national ideal of justice in the highest sphere of activity."
The general dimensions of the foundation are 385 feet from east to west, (front to back) and 304 feet from north to south. At its greatest height, the building rises four stories above the terrace or ground floor. Marble was chosen as the principal material to be used and $3 million worth was gathered from foreign and domestic quarries. Vermont marble was used for the exterior, while the four inner courtyards are of crystalline flaked, white Georgia marble. Above the basement level, the walls and floors of all corridors and entrance halls are either wholly or partially of creamy Alabama marble. The wood used in offices throughout the building is American quartered white oak.
The cornerstone of the building, laid on October 13, 1932, reads a quote spoken by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes: “The Republic endures and this is the symbol of its faith."
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