No Elves, No Coal: Myth-Busting the Capitol’s ‘Little Doors’

Video

No Elves, No Coal: Myth-Busting the Capitol’s ‘Little Doors’

Posted April 6, 2018 at 5:50pm

By Katherine Tully-McManus and D.A. Banks

[jwp-video n=”1″]

The Capitol has been rebuilt, expanded and renovated many times since the early 1800s. But its corridors still have a few tiny reminders of an innovative fire-fighting system created by the same master engineer who built the iconic Capitol Dome.

Recent Stories

Rogers arrives for the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the Defense Department budget on May 12. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Rogers earmarks money for nonprofits he helped launch

Republican Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, dives to tag out Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., at third base during the Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park on June 10, 2026.

Sporting it out — Congressional Hits and Misses

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche leaves the vice president’s office in the Senate Reception Room to meet with Republican senators in the Mansfield Room in May.

Court extends block on ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., standing at center, and other senators pose for photos with staffers in the Ohio Clock Corridor of the Capitol during the annual Seersucker Thursday. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., also appear.

Photos of the week | June 5-11, 2026

President Donald Trump is seen after speaking during a Small Business Summit in the East Room of the White House on May 4.

Trump’s Wallet: From golf clubs to crypto, a decade of presidential finances

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., talk at a Wednesday roundtable on their college sports bill.