Some people like to go to the beach each year for their vacation. Some people like to go to the ski slope each year for their vacation. My wife and I do neither. We like to do something different each year. We are explorers. One vacation will be to the Great Northwest. The next will find us in the humid South or crossing the Appalachian Mountains.
One of the goals of a lot of our vacations is to view the state capitol building of the states we visit. Some of our favorites are detailed below.
New York lawmakers passed an act in 1865 which authorized the construction of the capitol building in Albany. This period of time in the United States, directly following the Civil War, was often characterized by a mingling of architectural elements from various historical sources. It was designed by three groups of architects who used elements from different European architectural styles.
Originally, Thomas Fuller was appointed to design this capitol building. However, after eight years, the first building commission was replaced due to mismanagement and its association with the scandalous "Boss" Tweed. Although construction was beginning on the third story of the building, the new commission decided to replace Fuller with two new architects, Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Richardson. This joint appointment resulted in the notorious "Battle of the Styles" controversy.
The two began by removing some of Fuller’s stonework above the second floor and making the third story transitional. Eidlitz incorporated a beltcourse all of the way around the building to divide Fuller’s work below from their design above. Finally, in 1883, after Eidlitz’s death and after Richardson’s connection with the project had ended, Gov Grover Cleveland hired Isaac Perry to complete the project. He is credited with the ceremonial approach to the main entrance and the final design of the Great Western Staircase.
The capitol was constructed during a period of transition in construction materials. It was one of the last large buildings constructed using masonry load-bearing walls (over 16 feet thick), with brick arches in the basement which support the massive granite building. Near the end of its thirty year construction period, steel I-beams were incorporated into its upper stories.
The stone rectangle measures 400 feet long by 300 feet wide, and has a tower accentuated by tall gabled dormers at each of the four corners.
For further information, please visit the website of the New York State Capitol.
Oregon’s first capitol, built in 1854, was destroyed by fire soon after its completion. This forced officials to meet throughout Salem at temporary sites until the second one was completed. This Classical capitol incorporated a copper dome, two-story porticoes with Corinthian columns and wings. Alas, fire destroyed this building also in 1935.
The Work Progress Administration offered to cover forty-five percent of the cost to build a new building. Many responses to a nationwide architectural competition were received since this was during the Depression. Francis Keally of New York won the competition with a plan balancing traditional and modern styles.
Keally’s design is distinguished by the unadorned and angular smooth-surfaced elevations. Having learned from the past, the design combines reinforced concrete with steel framing and hollow clay tile in an attempt to be fireproof. Instead of a traditional Classical dome, a large flat-topped ribbed lantern rises above the roof on a series of setback marble-faced pedestals. Above that, the tower rises roughly forty-three feet to the parapet. On top of another eighteen feet of marble pedestal rests a gilded 23-foot-high bronze statue of the Oregon Pioneer.
On the Capitol Mall and in its surrounding parks are hundreds of trees, shrubs, flowers, fountains, statues and monuments. Included is a Douglas Fir "Moon Tree" grown from a seed which was taken to the moon by Appollo 14 in 1971.
For further information, please visit the website of the Oregon State Capitol.
When Iowa was named a territory in 1838, officials decided that the capitol should be located close to the center of the territory. The site chosen was named "City of Iowa" (later changed to Iowa City). A stone structure built in the Classical style served as the first permanent capitol for the territory and later as the state’s first capitol. Eleven years after achieving statehood, the legislature decided to relocate even closer to the geographical center of the state by moving to Fort Des Moines. Since the railroad ended at Iowa City, state officials were moved by stagecoach and furniture by teams of oxen.
On a hill in Des Moines, a three-story brick building housed the legislature for thirty years. Constructed on the same grounds, the capitol of today contains a dome, rotunda, porticoes and wings. However, it is the only five-domed capitol in our country.
In 1902, the building was renovated to install electrical lighting, elevators and a telephone system. Working by candlelight to install electrical wiring, a workman started a fire which destroyed most of the north wing. However, the damaged areas were repaired and redecorated. Also in the early 1900s, a circular opening was cut into the ground floor extending the rotundra into the basement level.
Initially the capitol grounds covered only four blocks, but in 1913 the legislature, in a controversial move, purchased an additional 84 acres surrounding the building. This area was turned into a landscaped park until needed for future buildings.
For further information, please visit the website of the Iowa State Capitol.
The above information was taken from a book entitled "State Houses: America’s 50 State Capitol Buildings" by Susan W Thrane and Tom Patterson, published by The Boston Mills Press.
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