Westward Expansion Murals

From 1944 to 1974, artist Allyn Cox created a series of ceiling murals in two corridors of the House wing of the U. S. Capitol. His concept was to complete a third corridor depicting the Westward Expansion of the United States. Unfortunately his death in 1982 left the work incomplete, however Cox left behind a series of rough thumbnail sketches outlining his ideas. After a nationwide search, EverGreene was appointed to design and paint, in-situ, 26 murals to emulate and harmonize with the existing Cox murals. The maps and pictorial elements progress chronologically from the north end of the corridor to the south, and the styles in which the maps are painted vary to reflect the standard map-making practices at the time period each map represents.

EverGreene went through a process with the team creating black and white sketches, maquettes and full-scale painted mock ups, which included all logistics to implement the work in the occupied Capitol. The murals were based on the Vatican Map Room in Rome and harmonized with the existing Cox murals, along with all of the architectural decoration to cover the 100-foot long corridor in the house wing.