thomas eustig walther came on board and design the extension to the capital. there have been two domes atop the capital. this first don't by charles beaufinch, architect of the capitol, was made of wood and copper. reading the history, the congress was so concerned about the number of very significant fires in the capitol building at the time and wanted to get rid of that potential fire hazard. that is one of the reasons that led to this new cast-iron and fireproof dome. this is a photograph by thomas eustig walter that he hung in his office while the wings of the capital were under construction. he was never commissioned to design a new don't but he thought with the capital nearly doubling in length that the old dome was out of scale and also this consensus that we needed to have a much more fireproof capitol building, he designed this new dome and honk this drawing in his office -- and honk is drawing in his office and members of congress would see it and were enamored with it. that quickly led to the first appropriation for the capital dome. here are some o