Old Brick Capitol

Coordinates: 38°53′25″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89028°N 77.00444°W / 38.89028; -77.00444
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Old Brick Capitol
Part of American Civil War prison camps
The former Old Brick Capitol building serving as a prison during the American Civil War, 1861-1865
TypeUnited States Capitol (1815–1819)
Union Prison Camp (1861–1865)
Site information
OwnerU.S. federal government
Controlled byUnion Army
Open to
the public
No
Site history
Built1815
In use1815–1819
1861–1867
Materialsbrick
Demolished1929
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
Garrison information
OccupantsUnion soldiers, Confederate prisoners of war, political prisoners, spies, Union officers convicted of insubordination, and local D.C. prostitutes

The Old Brick Capitol in

Congress of the United States from 1815 to 1819, while the Capitol Building was rebuilt after the burning of Washington
.

"Old Brick" served as a private school, a boarding house, and, during the American Civil War, a prison known as the Old Capitol Prison. It was demolished in 1929, and its site is now occupied by the U.S. Supreme Court building.

Site history

The site was located on Capitol Hill and was acquired from the Carroll family to accommodate the U.S. Capitol. Located at 1st and A streets NE in Washington, D.C., on the eastern slope of Capitol Hill, the site's first building was a red brick tavern and hostel called Stelle's Hotel, built around 1800. It was part of a neighborhood of rooming houses catering to the U.S. Congress.

Temporary U.S. Capitol, 1815–1819

In August 1814, during the War of 1812, the British burned the nearby United States Capitol building. The Congress, forced to meet in temporary quarters, pulled down the hostel at 1st and A streets, and built a temporary brick capitol building in the Federal style, laying the cornerstone on July 4, 1815.[1] Congress then occupied the brick capitol from December 8, 1815, until 1819, while the original U.S. Capitol Building was rebuilt.[2] The first inauguration of President James Monroe took place at the brick capitol on March 4, 1817.

The building was actually financed by Washington real-estate investors, who had heard rumors that some members of Congress were considering relocation of the national capital in the aftermath of the burning. The investors wanted to prevent their land values from decreasing by keeping the government in Washington.[citation needed]

Old Brick Capitol, 1819–1861

The building acquired the title "Old Brick Capitol" in 1819 when Congress and the Supreme Court returned to the restored U.S. Capitol Building. Until the time of the Civil War, the building was used as a private school, then as a boarding house.

South Carolina Senator and former Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun, who had been a leading member of the Fourteenth Congress
when it met in the Old Brick Capitol, died in the boarding house in 1850.

Old Capitol Prison, 1861–1867

near the U.S. Capitol moments after the trap door was sprung.

With the start of the Civil War in 1861, the Union repurchased the building to use as a prison for captured Confederates, as well as political prisoners, spies, Union officers convicted of

, who was hanged in the yard of the prison.

Many people arrested following the

Ford's Theater
, where Lincoln was shot. The adjoining row of houses, Duff Green's Row, was also used as part of the prison.

Post-War use and demolition

The government sold the Old Capitol Prison in 1867 to

U.S. Supreme Court Building
.

See also

References

  1. ^ Burton and Waggaman, p. 142
  2. ^ Goode, p. 329

External links

Sources

  • James M. Goode, Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings, Washington: Smithsonian Institution (2003).
  • Harold H. Burton and Thomas E. Waggaman, "The Story of the Place: Where First and A Streets Formerly Met at What Is Now the Site of the Supreme Court Building, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., vol. 51/52 (1951/1952).

38°53′25″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89028°N 77.00444°W / 38.89028; -77.00444