The Dining Rooms
The Members’ Dining Room’s two largest rooms are named for Ernest S. Petinaud and Charles E. Bennett. Ernest Petinaud immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in the 1920s, when he first worked in the Members’ Dining Room as a busboy. He eventually retired as maitre d’ in 1973, and the space on which he left his mark was named for him. Hon. Charles E. Bennett (D-FL) worked in the Capitol almost as long, serving 44 years, outlasting any other Floridian Representative in the House. The elaborate chandelier he donated to the House of Representatives decorates the room that bears his name.
