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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
RUSSOB_170512_10.JPG: Studebaker coach used in early Russell subway
1909
RUSSOB_170512_14.JPG: Old Senate Office Building
Subway Monorail Car
1915-1961
This monorail car was one of two built at the Washington Navy Yard in 1915 and 1920. The cars had a capacity of 18 passengers. Operations ceased, September 28, 1961.
RUSSOB_170512_18.JPG: Senate Subway RR
1915
RUSSOB_170512_32.JPG: The Russell Subway
The distance between the Russell Building and the Capitol is only a fifth of a mile, but senators need to traverse it multiple times on a typical legislative day. Had the Capitol been a skyscraper, elevators would have whisked members from their offices on different floors to the Senate Chamber. Instead, the office building and Capitol were linked by a horizontal elevator: a subway.
The first subway cars in 1909 were battery-powered Studebaker coaches, each carrying ten passengers. The buses ran along a concrete roadway at a maximum speed of 12 miles per hour. Rather than turn around at each terminus, they ran backwards for the return trip.
In 1912, the Senate installed a double-line electric monorail system that ran on fixed tracks, transporting up to 18 passengers on wicker seats. Senators summoned the trains by ringing a bell three times, and the front seats were reserved for them at all times. During Senate votes, the trains would shuttle back and forth furiously, a one-way trip taking 45 seconds. Each car made an average of 225 trips per day when the Senate was in session.
After the subway was extended to the Dirksen Senate Office Building in 1960, a new tunnel and rail system was constructed to serve the Russell Building. The original subway tunnel was converted into offices and storage space.
RUSSOB_170512_35.JPG: The Russell Subway, 1912
RUSSOB_170512_39.JPG: Studebaker Subway Car, 1909
Monorail Subway Car, ca 1940
The Russell Subway Today
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Russell Senate Office Building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908, opened in 1909, and named for former Senator Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. of Georgia in 1972. It occupies a site north of the Capitol bounded by Constitution Avenue, First Street, Delaware Avenue, and C Street N.E.
History
The first congressional office building was constructed immediately after the turn of the 20th century to relieve overcrowding in the United States Capitol. Previously, members who wanted office space had to rent quarters or borrow space in committee rooms. In March 1901 Congress authorized Architect of the Capitol Edward Clark to draw plans for fireproof office buildings adjacent to the Capitol grounds. In March 1903 the acquisition of sites and construction of the buildings were authorized, and the Senate Office Building Commission selected a site.
In April 1904, the prominent New York City architectural firm of Carrère and Hastings was retained. John Carrère took charge of the Senate Office Building project, while Thomas Hastings oversaw the construction of an almost identical office building (now named the Cannon House Office Building) for the United States House of Representatives. Their Beaux Arts designs were restrained complements to the Capitol. Architecturally, their elevations are divided into a rusticated base and a colonnade with an entablature and balustrade. The Constitution AV side is a quasi replica of the easternmost façade of the Palais du Louvre in Paris . The colonnades, with 34 Doric columns that face the Capitol, are echoed by pilasters on the sides of the buildings. Both buildings are faced with marble and limestone; the Russell Building's base and terrace are gray granite. Modern for their time, they included such facilities as forced-air ventilation systems, steam heat, ...More...
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Capitol Hill -- Russell Senate Office Bldg) directly related to this one:
[Display ALL photos on one page]:
2022_DC_Russell_SOBVw: DC -- Capitol Hill -- Russell Senate Office Bldg -- View of Capitol (4 photos from 2022)
2021_DC_Russell_SOB: DC -- Capitol Hill -- Russell Senate Office Bldg (18 photos from 2021)
2020_DC_Russell_SOB: DC -- Capitol Hill -- Russell Senate Office Bldg (6 photos from 2020)
2019_DC_Russell_SOB: DC -- Capitol Hill -- Russell Senate Office Bldg (4 photos from 2019)
2018_DC_Russell_SOB: DC -- Capitol Hill -- Russell Senate Office Bldg (10 photos from 2018)
2011_DC_Russell_SOB: DC -- Capitol Hill -- Russell Senate Office Bldg (2 photos from 2011)
2017 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000.
Trips this year:
Civil War Trust conferences in Pensacola, FL, Chattanooga, TN (via sites in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) and Fredericksburg, VA,
a family reunion in The Dells, Wisconsin (via sites in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin),
New York City, and
my 12th consecutive San Diego Comic Con trip (including sites in Arizona).
For some reason, several of my photos have been published in physical books this year which is pretty cool. Ones that I know about:
"Tarzan, Jungle King of Popular Culture" (David Lemmo),
"The Great Crusade: A Guide to World War I American Expeditionary Forces Battlefields and Sites" (Stephen T. Powers and Kevin Dennehy),
"The American Spirit" (David McCullough),
"Civil War Battlefields: Walking the Trails of History" (David T. Gilbert),
"The Year I Was Peter the Great: 1956 — Khrushchev, Stalin's Ghost, and a Young American in Russia" (Marvin Kalb), and
"The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons" (Ron Collins and David Skover).
Number of photos taken this year: just below 560,000.
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