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The Bartholdi Fountain, and Capitol, Washington, D.C. Stereoview

Stereoview with two nearly identical black and white photographs of the Bartholdi Fountain with the Capitol in the background, arranged side by side on peach cardboard, captioned, “The Bartholdi Fountain, and Capitol, Washington, D.C.”/tiles/collection/1/15536.xml
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Reverse of stereoview, with the maker’s information/tiles/collection/1/15537.xml
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Stereoview with two nearly identical black and white photographs of the Bartholdi Fountain with the Capitol in the background, arranged side by side on peach cardboard, captioned, “The Bartholdi Fountain, and Capitol, Washington, D.C.”
Reverse of stereoview, with the maker’s information
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Date

1885

Publisher

Kilburn Brothers

Dimensions

3 1/2 × 7 in. (8.9 × 17.8 cm)

Accession Number

2014.114.000

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives, Anonymous Gift

Object Details

In 1876, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi unveiled a dramatic fountain at the International Exposition in Philadelphia. After the exhibition, Bartholdi, the French sculptor who famously designed the Statue of Liberty, struck a deal with Congress: Rather than pay to ship the heavy fountain back to France, Bartholdi sold his cast-iron structure to the government for $6,000. Frederick Law Olmsted incorporated it into his plan for the Capitol grounds, nestling it close to the Capitol, as seen in this stereoview. A 1932 relocation of the Bartholdi Fountain made it a close neighbor of the Rayburn House Office Building, which opened in 1965.

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