Peeking Through the Draperies of National Statuary Hall

In 1971 the Architect of the Capitol began an extensive restoration and renovation program. Several historic rooms were selected for restoration prior to the Bicentennial Celebration of 1976.

The Old Hall of the House, now known as National Statuary Hall, underwent a partial restoration; the floor could not be dropped to its original level because it had become a busy thoroughfare. The stonework was cleaned, the ceiling was repainted, a chandelier and sconces were reproduced and installed, and draperies were created.

Image

Image

Image

1. View in 1966, 2. "The House of Representatives" painting from 1822, and 3. View in 2025.

The visual reference guiding the work in the Old Hall was the Samuel F.B. Morse painting of 1822, "The House of Representatives," which hangs in the National Gallery of Art. It was painted from sketches made in the hall and shows draperies of deep scarlet.

Draperies had hung in the chamber before the fire of 1814 to enhance the decorations and to muffle echoes during debate. Research uncovered a swatch of the original drapery fabric. A former Clerk of the House and Commissioner of Public Buildings, Benjamin B. French, had taken some of the drapery material when the room was vacated in 1857; he used it to cover a footstool, which was found at Chesterwood, the home of his relative, Daniel Chester French, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Using slides and photographs of the material on the footstool, Scalamandre Fabrics was able to reproduce the design.

Image

Image

1. View in 1961 with no draperies prior to the room's restoration, and 2. the room in 1975 after the new draperies were installed.

A local decorating company, Corrado's Inc., of Washington, D.C., was contracted to make double-faced Austrian shade drapery panels, festoons and cascades using cotton and rayon damask trimmed with 9-inch fringe and 12-inch tassels. These draperies were installed in July 1975. The draperies that currently hang in the hall are fashioned after the original ones and were installed in 2001.