U.S. Capitol
The Capitol Building, still under construction, was one of the main targets of the British attack. At the time, the Capitol was two separate buildings connected by a walkway; both halves were set on fire. The bonfire in the House of Representatives chamber was so intense that the glass lamps there melted. In addition to the meeting rooms for both Houses, the building contained the Library of Congress, which was completely destroyed.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson (July 12, 1815): "In the North wing the beautiful Doric Columns which surrounded the Supreme Court room have shared the fate of the Corinthian columns of the Hall of Representatives and in the Senate Chamber the Marble polished Columns of 14 feet shafts in one block are burnt to lime & have fallen down. All but the Vault is ruined. They stand a most magnificent ruin."
Dr. James Ewell (in 1817): "On my observing to general Ross, that it was a great pity the elegant library had been burnt with the capitol, he replied with much concern, 'I lament most sincerely I was not apprized of the circumstance, for had I known it in time, the books would most certainly have been saved.'"
Sir James Scott (in 1834): "The Capitol received the fate for which its late proprietors had thoughtlessly reserved it, by converting it into a place of arms: it was an unfinished but beautifully arranged building; the interior accommodations were upon a scale of grandeur and magnificence little suited to pure republican simplicity.... Its funeral pile was lighted up as the clock under it told the hour of ten"