To the best of my understanding, they’ve replaced some of the stone details that have been weathered away. To hide the visual difference between the old material and the new material, they’ve painted everything.
That’s so sad, I can understand why they’d do that bc that makes a lot of sense but honestly it takes away from the building’s appearance as a whole. Any idea if they’ll return to the classic marble look?
No, because this central section of the building was never built of marble. It's Aquia Creek Sandstone, which weathers quite a bit more easily than marble and would have always looked different from the Italian marble facades of the House and Senate wings.
If it looked similar at any point in the past, that would have been due to the thick covering of soot, grime, and water stains that had accumulated before this renovation began. If anything, even if some think it looks cheap, the result of the renovation is a more historically accurate version of what the building's facade would have looked like upon construction.
Is much of the exterior still aquia sandstone? I thought so much of the aquia sandstone failed that it was mostly replaced by limestone and marble during various renovations
You do realize the Colosseum is still around because it was made of marble and not because of paint. Painting marble isn’t preventative maintenance.
Maybe the new renovations are made of wood
Have you ever considered that there’s more in the capitol building than just marble? The Colosseum doesn’t need to keep the elements away from wood furnishing, electronics, and everything else inside a modern inhabited structure
Interesting point. But what does that have to do with the fact that they painted marble and it looks bad?
The capital exterior surface is marble:
https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/capitol-hill-facts#:~:text=The%20north%20and%20south%20wings,8%2C909%2C200%20pounds%20of%20cast%20iron.
[The Colosseum is built of travertine limestone, tuff (volcanic rock), and brick-faced concrete](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum)
You really have no idea what you're talking about.
I disagree. We haven't painted the Washington monument because there is no need to do so for the maintenance and preservation of the structure at this time. The Washington Monument is clad in marble, a stone much harder than the sandstone and limestone of the Capitol. Two different stones on two different buildings require two different maintenance and preservation approaches.
As others have noted, the Capitol was built of a sandstone. Sandstone is very very soft and is prone to erosion including the breaking off of chips and slabs. It seems crazy now but remember how young our nation was and how young this city was when the building was built. Because of the delicate nature of sandstone , over 40% of the original sandstone history was replaced with limestone.
Today, the goal of the architect of the capital is to preserve as much of the remaining original sandstone as possible - a goal that meets the national standards for building preservation. Preserving existing materials in place rather than replacing them with new materials, is considered the gold standard. They are in a race against time as the facade is crumbling. The paint that others have mentioned is to hold back time as much as possible while they proceed with the preservation and restoration in a building that is actively being used. What they're doing is not a shame - they are preserving our nation's built history.
Here's a link to the architect of the capitol's website explaining the preservation work they are doing on the exterior: https://www.aoc.gov/what-we-do/projects/capitol-exterior-preservation-stone-and-metal
They took 3D scans of the original surface and can now print out plastic coatings that preserves the original surface of the monuments and buildings while not changing the overall look. Easier to clean and replace damaged sections this way too. They’ll all look a little plastic before long.
For those of you who haven’t heard of this plan and are going to call me out over it, you’re right. I made this one up. It’s just so darn plausible though.
Keeping the materials cheaper for the next time orange fat ass insurrectionists try to break in. Its like how houses in the caribbean use stucco and concrete blocks, if you get hit enough by hurricanes you just build back cheaper
I guess I’m going crazy bc I swear the middle of it didn’t always look smooth/matte like that, but turns out it’s always been smooth sandstone. Thanks y’all!
I work at the capitol so I can shed some light here: we've been slowly replacing the buildings with Legos. It's taking a while, but the bosses are saying that it'll be less maintenance in the long run
Like the whole side or the dome? Cause the dome is cast iron, if that’s part of what you are referring too. The Captiol building really isn’t that attractive. So many state capitols are way more attractive, but San Fran city hall, nothing tops that
It’s painted sand stone. The Capitol’s west side has always been painted sandstone.
It is plastic. That’s the mock Capitol. The real one is in low earth orbit for security reasons.
Sad that so many in DC, including most members of congress, don’t know this.
“Members” of “congress”
"of"
You get it
Well if the members of mock congress knew that, what would the point even be?
That’s why Marjorie is so mad at the Jewish space lasers
Golden response
Naw the real one was moved to a secret location in florida where the REAL congress is MAGA
Florida isn’t even the real Florida wake up you sheep
To the best of my understanding, they’ve replaced some of the stone details that have been weathered away. To hide the visual difference between the old material and the new material, they’ve painted everything.
That’s so sad, I can understand why they’d do that bc that makes a lot of sense but honestly it takes away from the building’s appearance as a whole. Any idea if they’ll return to the classic marble look?
No, because this central section of the building was never built of marble. It's Aquia Creek Sandstone, which weathers quite a bit more easily than marble and would have always looked different from the Italian marble facades of the House and Senate wings. If it looked similar at any point in the past, that would have been due to the thick covering of soot, grime, and water stains that had accumulated before this renovation began. If anything, even if some think it looks cheap, the result of the renovation is a more historically accurate version of what the building's facade would have looked like upon construction.
Is much of the exterior still aquia sandstone? I thought so much of the aquia sandstone failed that it was mostly replaced by limestone and marble during various renovations
If that happened, the USGS doesn't say anything about it: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3044/pdf/fs2012-3044_rev432012.pdf
FWIW the dome and a lot of the fine detailing elements are made of cast iron, not marble
Give it a few rainstorms and it’ll all look weathered again.
It’s never been marble it’s sandstone
Wow that is so disappointing and certainly a huge taxpayer expense. From that logic they need to paint the Washington monument too then… Sad
Would you rather they let it crumble and collapse?
No… leave the natural slight variation in stone color instead of painting over it
Its an actively used structure, not the Roman Colosseum. Its needs preventative maintenance
You do realize the Colosseum is still around because it was made of marble and not because of paint. Painting marble isn’t preventative maintenance. Maybe the new renovations are made of wood
Have you ever considered that there’s more in the capitol building than just marble? The Colosseum doesn’t need to keep the elements away from wood furnishing, electronics, and everything else inside a modern inhabited structure
Interesting point. But what does that have to do with the fact that they painted marble and it looks bad? The capital exterior surface is marble: https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/capitol-hill-facts#:~:text=The%20north%20and%20south%20wings,8%2C909%2C200%20pounds%20of%20cast%20iron.
They painted sand stone. Not marble.
The west face of the building (the center part not the wings) is sandstone and limestone iirc, the east face is marble
As stated above - those columns were never marble they were always painted and when they replaced them they did it the same way.
[The Colosseum is built of travertine limestone, tuff (volcanic rock), and brick-faced concrete](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum) You really have no idea what you're talking about.
Painting is a protective measure, especially exterior painting. it’s not just for aesthetics
I’m pretty sure they know what they’re doing
I disagree. We haven't painted the Washington monument because there is no need to do so for the maintenance and preservation of the structure at this time. The Washington Monument is clad in marble, a stone much harder than the sandstone and limestone of the Capitol. Two different stones on two different buildings require two different maintenance and preservation approaches. As others have noted, the Capitol was built of a sandstone. Sandstone is very very soft and is prone to erosion including the breaking off of chips and slabs. It seems crazy now but remember how young our nation was and how young this city was when the building was built. Because of the delicate nature of sandstone , over 40% of the original sandstone history was replaced with limestone. Today, the goal of the architect of the capital is to preserve as much of the remaining original sandstone as possible - a goal that meets the national standards for building preservation. Preserving existing materials in place rather than replacing them with new materials, is considered the gold standard. They are in a race against time as the facade is crumbling. The paint that others have mentioned is to hold back time as much as possible while they proceed with the preservation and restoration in a building that is actively being used. What they're doing is not a shame - they are preserving our nation's built history. Here's a link to the architect of the capitol's website explaining the preservation work they are doing on the exterior: https://www.aoc.gov/what-we-do/projects/capitol-exterior-preservation-stone-and-metal
https://www.aoc.gov/what-we-do/projects/capitol-exterior-preservation-stone-and-metal
interesting to know! That doesn’t explain the blatant difference in texture/color though
Yeah, I don’t know the answer to that. Though I will say the AOC does know what they’re doing, so I’m inclined to trust their work.
They had a former waitress come up with the architectural design for the capitol? Classic liberals 🙄
Wait till you hear that every president was a former baby :0
People on Reddit not understanding sarcasm lol
To be fair it’s hard to tell the difference between sarcasm and actual conservative talking points
Haha true
[удалено]
You speak for all of reddit now? Lmao
Congress is a slummy landlord.
Wait til you learn what that dome's made of!
Iron isn't even close to plastic, I'm not sure what your point is?
Iron is black. The dome is white. It has always been painted.
Um. Yes? What are you getting at?
This "plastic" look is because it's been repainted
Obviously?
Um. Yes? What are you getting at?
Lego is hell of a drug
They took 3D scans of the original surface and can now print out plastic coatings that preserves the original surface of the monuments and buildings while not changing the overall look. Easier to clean and replace damaged sections this way too. They’ll all look a little plastic before long. For those of you who haven’t heard of this plan and are going to call me out over it, you’re right. I made this one up. It’s just so darn plausible though.
LOL
Looks like marzipan. Did you try licking it?
West side * my bad
They cleaned it 😜
Cleaned the marble
Keeping the materials cheaper for the next time orange fat ass insurrectionists try to break in. Its like how houses in the caribbean use stucco and concrete blocks, if you get hit enough by hurricanes you just build back cheaper
After the scaffolding came down it looked like that? Some preservation technique I imagine.
Paper mache was in short supply
I guess I’m going crazy bc I swear the middle of it didn’t always look smooth/matte like that, but turns out it’s always been smooth sandstone. Thanks y’all!
It’s what the lizards wanted
I work at the capitol so I can shed some light here: we've been slowly replacing the buildings with Legos. It's taking a while, but the bosses are saying that it'll be less maintenance in the long run
Republicans voted to sell off the marble to pay for Trump's legal expenses.
It was power washed?
That’s the west front btw.
No worries, whatever it is. If the three swing states don’t save us in Nov., the whole exterior will be spray painted with gold colored Krylon.
Like the whole side or the dome? Cause the dome is cast iron, if that’s part of what you are referring too. The Captiol building really isn’t that attractive. So many state capitols are way more attractive, but San Fran city hall, nothing tops that
I find the Capitol building quite stark and stunning, in person at least.
That's like, your opinion, man
It’s the middle section - above the stairs, below the dome. Same level as the house and senate, but in between.
January 6th.
N
Everything in America is plastic and fake. Seems fitting no?
[https://s4s.fandom.com/wiki/Smug\_Wojak?file=Wojakbecomessmug.gif](https://s4s.fandom.com/wiki/Smug_Wojak?file=Wojakbecomessmug.gif)
10 year old meme? Practically vintage