Unspecified/General

In the heart of Capitol Hill in Washington immediately east of the United States Capitol and immediately north of the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the American federal judiciary and one of the most architecturally distinguished government buildings in the federal capital. The dramatic neoclassical white-marble building was designed by the celebrated American architect Cass Gilbert (the designer of New York's Woolworth Building) and substantially completed in 1935, providing the Supreme Court with its first purpose-built permanent home after 145 years of operating from various rented quarters elsewhere in the federal capital. The Supreme Court itself was established by Article III of the celebrated 1787 United States Constitution and first convened in February 1790 in the celebrated Royal Exchange Building in New York City (then the temporary federal capital). The Court relocated to Philadelphia later that year and then to the new federal capital of Washington in 1801. From 1801 until the completion of the present building in 1935, the Court operated from a succession of cramped temporary quarters inside the United States Capitol building, including the celebrated Old Senate Chamber on the Capitol's ground floor. The building's defining facade is the dramatic central portico facing west toward the Capitol, with the celebrated 16 Corinthian columns supporting a deeply carved entablature bearing the celebrated inscription "Equal Justice Under Law" (a celebrated motto coined for the building's 1935 completion). The dramatic central bronze entrance doors, each weighing some 13 tons, depict eight celebrated scenes from the development of Western law. The dramatic Great Hall on the building's second floor provides the principal public entrance to the building's interior, with a 70-foot vaulted ceiling supported by parallel double rows of celebrated white-marble monolithic columns. The Great Hall houses a series of celebrated 1935 sculpted busts of all former Chief Justices. The Court Chamber itself, accessible to the public through guided tours when the Court is not in session, occupies a celebrated 82-by-91-foot rectangular space at the building's central core. The Chamber's 44-foot ceiling is supported by celebrated 24 white-marble columns of Sienna marble imported from Italy. The building is open to the public Monday through Friday during business hours, with free guided tours and a small permanent exhibition gallery covering the Court's history.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: 1 First Street Northeast, Washington, DC, United States

Telephone: 202-479-3030

Website: supremecourt.gov/visiting

Opening Date: 07/10/1935