Masonry

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for the preservation and maintenance of the stone exterior of the U.S. Capitol as well as the exteriors of all of the other buildings on Capitol Hill.

As the buildings have aged, the challenge of caring for their ornate stone facades has only increased. The hands-on work caring for the stone found across Capitol Hill falls to AOC masons. These masons perform decorative brick, granite, marble and stone work including repairing stone and brick joints by cutting, raking, cleaning, and repointing with mortar and caulking compound. They also take care to mix color tone mortar to match the aging condition of work.

In addition, they re-construct falling or damaged marble cornices, cutting and replacing metal hangers, remounting, leveling and pointing up joints. They remove, repair and re-set marble moldings around doorways and are responsible for demolition and replacement of marble panels requiring metal hangers and plastic adhesive to re-set, in addition to finding durable matching stone.