A Capitol Obsession, pt. 2

Atlanta, Georgia

Date: February 2012

Building: Neo-Classical style. Completed in 1889.  Indiana Limestone.  Dome: Gold Leaf. Statue:  Miss Freedom. Willoughby J. Edbrooke & Franklin B. Burnham, architects.

Trivia:  There's very little of interest about this building.  It was meant to symbolize the New South as part of the reconstructed US.  Even with its golden dome, it just is pretty uninteresting.

Comment:  Uninspired.

Rating:

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Montgomery, Alabama

Date: January 2012

Building: Greek Revival style. Completed in 1851.  Brick.  Dome: Cast Iron.  No statue, but a very large clock over the pediment. Barachias Holt, architect.

Trivia:  Briefly served as the first capitol of the Confederacy.

Comment:  The most prominent feature of this building is how overwhelmingly white it is.  Seems whiter than the White House.

Rating:

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Washington, District of Columbia

Date: August 2011

Building: Neo Classical style. Begun 1793; last extension completed 1958.  Georgia Marble.  Dome: Cast Iron.  Statue: Freedom. William Thornton, Benjamin Latrobe, Charles Bulfinch, architects.  Grounds: Frederick Law Olmsted.

Trivia:  The original East front columns are now in the National Arboretum.

Comment:  What can one say.  It is the measure by which all other government buildings are measured.

Rating:

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Saint Paul, Minnesota

Date: September 2010

Building: Italian Renaissance style. Completed in 1905.  Georgia Marble.  Dome: Marble.  Quadriga: Progress of the State. Cass Gilbert, architect.

Trivia:  Patterned after St. Peter's in Rome.

Comment:  Another stunningly beautiful building.  The Daniel Chester French Quadriga sculpture is unfortunately hidden by scaffolding in my picture.

Rating:

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Denver, Colorado

Date: August 2010

Building: Neo Classical style. Completed in 1894.  Colorado Granite.  Dome: Gold Plate. Elijah E. Meyers, architect.

Trivia:  The steps approaching the building are marked in three different places as being 1 mile high, due to improvements over the years in calculating elevation.

Comment:  Ellijah Meyers almost made a career about doing nothing but design capitols.  I think the proportions of this dome are off--the actual dome seems too small for the colonnaded barrel just below it.

Rating:

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Boston, Massachusetts

Date: July 2010

Building: Georgian style. Completed in 1798.  Brick.  Dome: Gold Plate. Charles Bullfinch, architect.

Trivia:  The original shingle dome was first covered in copper by Paul Revere.  Later gilded, then painted black during the War, it was once again regilded in the 1990s.

Comment:  The building is sort of a mess due to an enormous yellow brick addition in the rear, but the core of the original building is beautiful and situated perfectly at the top of Beacon Hill overlooking Boston Common.

Rating:

To be continued...