(continued...)
Gosh it has been so long since I've been to a new capitol. I've been waiting to collect six new visits to post the next installment. After recent trip out west I'm able to publish the fourth installment here.
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Date: August, 2015
Trivia: This isn't trivia so much, as backstory that informs this blog, as my NOT visiting Cheyenne for so many years may actually be responsible for my determination to visit capitol buildings. Back in 1974, our family took a crazy rushed camping trip to California and back. Our vacations were not for relaxation, but rather for seeing places of significance. So we visited many, many National Parks and sites throughout the West. I was still in grade school at the time so I don't really know that much about how decisions about our destinations were made, but I suspect that my Mom was responsible for our stopping at capitol buildings, a habit I'm sure I was very happy to follow her in. To my memory, on this trip we had already stopped at capitols in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada, California, and Utah. We were in a huge hurry to get home so Dad could teach, and our VW bus was having serious issues (so serious that in Sacramento, the only way we could get going was to have a motorcycle gang push us as Dad popped the clutch), and I think the rest of the family was much more ready for the "vacation" to be done than I was. Anyway, we were tearing across southern Wyoming, and I was living in expectation of stopping in Cheyenne. But my brother, John, was at the wheel and refused to pull off the highway...and whether real or dreamed up, the memory of speeding past Cheyenne, helpless to see the Capitol, was seeded into my brain. So at last, 31 years later, I made it.
Comment: The building seems really tiny. Maybe it's just that Cheyenne itself is such a small place. Or maybe it just seems small in comparison to Kansas' and Colorado's buildings that I had just seen. But it is one of the sweetest settings. There are two great statues that you pass on entering: one of a Native American Chief (the rendering of the headdress is really fantastic) and the other is of a very determined woman who was instrumental in bringing statehood to Wyoming Territory. Inside, the building is sort of miniature, as suits the exterior. The rotunda is quite small; interior decoration is mostly carved wood (unlike most other buildings that feature exotic stone). There are some really beautiful stained glass skylights in the legislative chambers and in the top of the dome. I like this place a lot, but it gives the feeling more of a very nice courthouse than of a state capitol.
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Topeka, Kansas
Date: August 2015
Trivia: In 1898, Jerome Fedeli painted frescos near the top of the dome in the rotunda. Fiddle's work depicted bare-breasted classical women. However, officials referred to the paintings as "Nude Telephone Girls" and had them painted over. I guess things haven't really changed that much in Kansas. The interior is decorated throughout with murals depicting significant events in Kansas history.
Comment: It is clear that Kansas has recently spent LOTS of money restoring the building. It is is in perfect condition. It is an imposing building, but leaves one inside and out with a feeling that something is wanting...I'm not sure what. The renovations created a huge visitor's center buried under the back plaza and steps; it's all very nice, but it creates a huge sense of separation from entering the building the way it was intended to be approached and so I think it destroys much of the feeling of grandeur you expect when you look at it from a distance. Topeka is a very sparse city, it seems and so the building seems to sit in a no man's land with too much space around it. I don't know why I feel so unmoved by this building, as there's nothing really wrong with it.
One thing that would be very cool to do if one has the time, is that they let visitors climb to the top of the dome. Will need to think about planning to do that in the future.
One thing that would be very cool to do if one has the time, is that they let visitors climb to the top of the dome. Will need to think about planning to do that in the future.
Rating:
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Columbus, Ohio
Date: March 2015
Trivia: This is one of the few state capitols that owes virtually nothing to the US Capitol for inspiration, as it was designed before the famous elements of the US Capitol were added. The building was constructed over the course of 22 years because of a number of problems: objections to using prisoners from the State Penitentiary rather than skilled craftsmen for the laying of the foundations, disagreement about which of three designs were chosen, expiration of the act that specified Columbus as the capital, interruptions caused by the Civil War, and discovery late in the construction that no accommodation had been made for heating the building.
Comment: It is said that this is one of the very best examples of Greek Revival Civic architecture in the US. Judged on that basis, it really is quite a beautiful building in its geometric simplicity. It shares many characteristics of the much smaller old Illinois Statehouse in Springfield. As much as I try, though, I can't ever feel quite comfortable with that drum on top that seems to be begging for a dome. The building has undergone a complete refurbishment recently and everything is in perfect condition. (The entry and visitor's center are all deep in the crypt, so you get to see a lot of the massive walls and arches that support the structure. Inside, there's a lot of wood carving and classical ornamentation...again, quite nice as an example of this period. I have to say, though that it seems a little too austere to my taste. One of the very best things, though, is a veterans monument on the grounds that reproduces (etched in stone) actual handwritten letters sent home from service men in combat. It's very hard to experience and not be moved to tears by the hope and innocence.
Rating:
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Boston, Massachusetts
Date: March 2013
Trivia: Served as house of Boston government until 1798. Site of much significant legislative activity during the colonial and revolutionary periods. The Boston Massacre took place right outside this building. This was a multi-use building housing several disparate entities, but the government spaces were on the top floor. A notable feature of the Legislative Chamber was that it was built to include a public gallery--the first such space in the English speaking world to do so. The building currently serves as a museum and home for the Bostonian Society.
Comment: It's a decent Colonial structure whose setting makes it nearly impossible to get a good view or actually appreciate it. It seems to be a building with extreme historical significance that doesn't have much else to recommend it on its own. I always find it a little disconcerting that you enter this historic landmark and find a Metro stop in the basement.
Rating:
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Building: Neoclassical style. Completed in 1904. Georgia marble. Dome: Marble. Statue: Independent Man. McKim, Mead, and White, architects.
Comment: At first glance, the building has everything going for it: lovely hill-top setting with commanding view of the town, clean monumental classical lines, a beautiful white marble facade, and striking dome. But there something about it that ultimately makes it fall short. Perhaps it is the extreme blockiness of the base of the building that doesn't transition gracefully into the dome. I wonder if the colonnaded drum of the dome perhaps is too tall for the other proportions of the building I also fear the four domed-turrets get in the way.
My Rhode Island State House experience is notable, though, for what happened inside. There was really no information desk or welcome place of any sort to help the visitor, so I pretty much had to just roam around aimlessly feeling more like a loitering hooligan than a valued guest. Finally I met a youngish woman passing through a corridor and asked her if there wasn't a visitor desk. Her reply: "No, I'm sorry. We're still working on that." Note that the building was completed more than a hundred years earlier. If it isn't done in 109 years, you can't say "we're working on it" anymore. You've given up. It just seemed like the most preposterous reply ever.
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Rating:
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Building: Palladian style. Completed in 1785. Stucco. Dome: Internal. Statue: George Washington (in Rotunda). Thomas Jefferson, architect.
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Providence, Rhode Island
Date: March 2013
Trivia: One of the last capitol buildings built in the US in traditional classical style. The statue of Independent Man was originally to be of Roger Williams, founder of Providence Plantations, until it was discovered that there is no existing likeness of Roger Williams, so impossible to know what he looked like. It's odd that some still claim that, since this version of "Independent Man" seems to be wearing a loin cloth.
Comment: At first glance, the building has everything going for it: lovely hill-top setting with commanding view of the town, clean monumental classical lines, a beautiful white marble facade, and striking dome. But there something about it that ultimately makes it fall short. Perhaps it is the extreme blockiness of the base of the building that doesn't transition gracefully into the dome. I wonder if the colonnaded drum of the dome perhaps is too tall for the other proportions of the building I also fear the four domed-turrets get in the way.
My Rhode Island State House experience is notable, though, for what happened inside. There was really no information desk or welcome place of any sort to help the visitor, so I pretty much had to just roam around aimlessly feeling more like a loitering hooligan than a valued guest. Finally I met a youngish woman passing through a corridor and asked her if there wasn't a visitor desk. Her reply: "No, I'm sorry. We're still working on that." Note that the building was completed more than a hundred years earlier. If it isn't done in 109 years, you can't say "we're working on it" anymore. You've given up. It just seemed like the most preposterous reply ever.
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Rating:
Richmond, Virginia
Date: March 2013
Trivia: One of the first prominent buildings to reject the Georgian style popular in England, and so in some ways, this was Jefferson's declaration of independence in the architectural arena.
Comment: This is a lovely building. (Unfortunately, it was closed so I couldn't go in; I'd been in 20 years ago or so, but it has been extensively restored since then.) It captures a sense of the importance of government without making the citizen seem insignificant. It is on an enormous hill so the prospect from approaching it makes it look exceptionally picturesque just from the perspective looking up at it. It's not a very big building so it is certainly understandable that additions had to be made, but I find the two wings really distracting. Someone attempted to make them of a coordinating style, but they really look like additions to me.
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