(ca. 1806)

This model shows how the Capitol would have looked if it had been completed according to the designs of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the second Architect of the Capitol, as shown in his architectural drawings.

After being appointed Architect of the Capitol by President Thomas Jefferson, B.H. Latrobe proposed design changes to the central section. He wished to raise the dome on a drum, lengthen the portico, and add a central flight of steps. This model illustrates how the Capitol would have appeared if all of Latrobe's alterations to the original design had been carried out.

A temple-like entrance gate flanked by residences for the doorkeepers of the House of Representatives and the Senate was the principal feature of Latrobe's revised design for the Capitol's West Front. The colonnaded central building shown in the model replaced Dr. William Thornton's original idea for a circular conference room. Neither the entrance gate nor this design for the central building was actually built.