Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carrillon

Your Guide
Liz Guthrie, ASLA
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Take a quick detour to see the memorial to the Senator Robert A. Taft  and Carillon, which is not easily noticed when the trees are in full leaf, unless you hear the bells first. According to the Architect of the Capitol website, the site was designed by architect Douglas W. Orr and consists of a Tennessee marble tower and a 10-foot bronze statue of Senator Taft sculpted by Wheeler Williams. The shaft of the tower measures 100 feet high, 11 feet deep, and 32 feet wide. Twenty-seven bells toll in the upper part of the tower, and the largest, also called the bourdon, weighs 7 tons. Small, bubbling jets of water flow into a basin that rings the base of the memorial, muffling nearby city traffic and providing a welcoming place to relax under the shade of the canopy of the surrounding trees. 

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