The Basement History Walked Through

I love this building.  I always have.  From the first day I walked into it I felt a sense of awe that hasn't worn off a bit.  Yes, the air conditioning is terrible in the summer, the heating is dodgy at best in the winter, and the windows are as drafty as a screen door.  But the bathrooms have marble stalls, the ceilings are high and stately, it is the closest to the Capitol Building of the three Senate Office Buildings (SOBs), and down this corridor walked five US Senators destined to become US Presidents: Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon.  The history is here in the red bricks, the waxed floors, and the old pipes.  The Russell Senate Office Building.  

Taken with an iPhone 5s, this image is not about the color, the framing, or even the emptiness of this usually bustling hallway.  It's about the history found in the otherwise unremarkable hallway that thousands of tourists now walk down with Senate interns on their way to the soulless Capitol Building Visitor's Center.  I hope the interns take a few minutes to talk about the mighty Russell.