4 thoughts on “The US Capitol Building model in the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln lobby”

  • Anyone know how Disney acquired this model?

    • The quick story on how Walt Disney acquired this model from George H. Lloyd is that after Mr. Lloyd finished his model in 1935, he started touring the country with it in 1940. In time, it came to Walt Disney’s attention, and Walt approached Mr. Lloyd about buying his stately model so he could put it on display in the new “Liberty Street”, which he had planned for Disneyland. According to the new book “The Imagineers’ Secrets of Disneyland”, which has the first-ever published story about Mr. Lloyd, his model and how it came to Disneyland, complete with never-before-seen photos of Mr. Lloyd with the model… “On October 18, 1955, Mr. Lloyd was displaying his model in Robinson’s Department Store in Southern Los Angeles and wrote to Walt to see if ‘…you are still interested in my replica of the National Capital’.(sic) Walt and Mr. Lloyd agreed to terms, and the following Monday, October 24, 1955, Walt had the U.S. Capitol Building model he wanted for “Liberty Street” in the Studio.

      Mr. Lloyd would later write to his family…“I displayed my work in Los Angeles…and sold it to a well known motion picture man named Walt Disney and it will be on permanent display at his wonderful exhibition grounds at Los Angeles.”

      You can learn a lot more about this and other Disneyland secrets in the new The Imagineers’ Secrets of Disneyland. See more at http://www.Disney-Secrets.com

    • George Lloyd was my husbands’ uncle who originated from Mountain Ash ,South Wales ,Uk. He was a trained monumental sculpture in stone and marble . He emigrated to America in 1901 and worked there on various building projects . He became unemployed during the 1929 Wall Street Crash and to occupy his time , he embarked on 3 yr project in creating a scaled model in Caen marble of the Capitol building. When finished, he exhibited it in several world fairs in America and at one of these that he met Walt Disney who showed great interest in buying it for a future theme park he was planning. It was sold for an undisclosed sum to Walt Disney, who thereafter exhibited it in Anaheim. As a family , we were immmensely proud to see this incredible model when we visited Disneyland.

      • I always find it fascinating to learn more about Mr. George Lloyd and his caenstone model of the U.S. Capitol Building. In my note above, I mention that the first ever published story about Mr. Lloyd, including photos of him at his model, can be found in the book “The Imagineers’ Secrets of Disneyland.” I’ve since changed the title of this book to “The Hidden Secrets & Stories of Disneyland.” You can still find this great story in here, along with information provided by his great, great, great niece and her grandfather, who are no doubt relatives of JJones. – Mike Fox

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