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The Supreme Court Building: America's Temple of Justice
"It must conform in design with the Capitol. It should be enduring. And Mrs. Taft says it should be easy to keep clean."
-- Chief Justice William Taft to architect Cass Gilbert
It the early 1790s, among the first tasks of the new federal government was to construct buildings to house its three branches in the future capital city of Washington. Work on the President's House and the United States capitol began quickly, but a building for the Supreme Court was postponed. Instead, when the Court moved to Washington in 1801, it borrowed space within the Capitol, a "temporary" measure that would last for the next 134 years. Finally, in October 1935, the Supreme Court Building, a structure that reflected the Court's fundamental role in the national government, became a reality. |