The U.S. Capitol Dome features dozens of intricate cast iron ornamental pieces, including 72 80-lb. acorns and 36 grape clusters.
between 1855 and 1866, was built with nearly 9 million lbs. of cast iron pieces bolted together at a final cost of $1,047,291. But the Dome’s ironwork consists of more than its architectural structure. Te Dome is surrounded with detailed cast iron ornamental work barely visible to a person viewing the building from the ground. Many of these pieces also required repair or replacement. “What I find most fascinating is the amount of detail that went into crafting the ornaments,” said Joe Abriatis, construction manager of the Dome Restoration project. “It is incredible to see the intricacy and to realize that these decorations were created at the time of the Civil War. Tere are little lines and indentations the size of your pinky fingernail that cannot be seen from the ground and that have been obscured under a dozen layers of paint. It is astonishing to know that we are seeing these details for the first time since the last restora- tion in the 1960s.” Te Architect of the Capitol has
enlisted Historical Arts and Casting, West Jordan, Utah, to recast the miss- ing or badly damaged decorative pieces of the Dome. Tese pieces include scrolls, acorn finials, acorn pendants, flowers, and acanthus leaves that adorn the famous building. The replaced castings range in
size from 5 inches for ornamental pieces to more than 11-ft. long for cast iron gutters. Approximately 75-100 pieces will be recast, accord- ing to Abriatas, including gutters, rail caps, ornamental pieces and a majority of the Tholos balustrade section of the Capitol Dome. Te process of replacing the iron pieces begins with selecting a cast iron feature in good condition to develop a pattern to cast a replacement. Te feature in good condition is removed from the Dome and shipped to the metalcasting facility, where it is used to make a pattern. Two pattern methods are used for
the Dome Restoration project. “Either a rubber mold of the part is made and a positive is made in a
Detailed ornamental pieces are tucked in throughout the Dome’s architecture, barely seen from the ground. Many of these pieces were too damaged to restore onsite, so they were recast at an art foundry in Utah.
June 2015 MODERN CASTING | 25
Photo provided by: Architect of the Capitol
Photo provided by: Architect of the Capitol
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