Capitol T’s and Packs
Little Packrats designer Cathy Berse-Hurley has been hired by the Architect of the Capitol to produce exclusive designs for the gift shops in the new Visitor Center Complex in Washington D.C. Products include children’s t-shirts, toddler rompers and three styles of backpacks and tote bags in various patriotic designs.
Decades in the making, the three-level, underground complex, adjacent to the Capitol’s east front, will be the biggest expansion in the Capitol’s history. Capable of holding 8,000 people, the center includes a Great Hall in which will stand the 19-foot, 150-year-old plaster statue of Freedom that was the model for the bronze atop the Capitol dome. The model has been in the basement rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building since 1993.
The hall, now almost finished, is rimmed by balconies and has a 30-foot ceiling and two mammoth skylights through which the Capitol dome can be seen from the underground space.
From the Great Hall, visitors will be able to enter a 450-seat dining area, two orientation theaters — one each for the House and Senate — a 450-seat congressional auditorium and a historical exhibition hall.
The high-tech exhibition hall, designed by New York museum designer Ralph Applebaum, will feature displays of artifacts and documents, a 12-foot-tall cutaway model of the rotunda and dome and an amber-color glass floor.
The US Capitol Visitor Center is slated to open to the public later this year.
