Texas State Capitol | |
Location | Congress Avenue and 11th Street Austin, Texas, U.S. |
---|---|
Coordinates | 30°16′29″N97°44′26″W / 30.27472°N 97.74056°W |
Area | 51.4 acres (20.8 ha) |
Built | 1885 |
Architect | Elijah E. Myers |
Architectural style | Italian Renaissance Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 70000770 |
RTHL No. | 14150 |
TSAL No. | 641 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | June 22, 1970 [1] |
Designated NHL | June 23, 1986 [2] |
Designated RTHL | 1964 |
Designated TSAL | May 28, 1981 |
The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and seat of government of the U.S. state of Texas. Located in downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. Designed in 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, it was constructed from 1882 to 1888 under the direction of civil engineer Reuben Lindsay Walker. A $75 million underground extension was completed in 1993. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. [2] [3]
The Texas State Capitol is 302.64 feet (92.24 m) tall, making it the sixth-tallest state capitol and one of several taller than the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. [4] The capitol was ranked 92nd in the 2007 "America's Favorite Architecture" poll commissioned by the American Institute of Architects. [5]
The current Texas State Capitol is the fourth building to serve that purpose in Austin. The first was a two-room wooden structure (located on the northeast corner of 8th St and Colorado St) which served as the national capitol of the Texas Republic and continued as the seat of government upon Texas' admission to the Union. The second Texas capitol was built of limestone in 1853, on the same site as the present capitol in Austin; it was destroyed by fire in 1881, but plans had already been made to replace it with a new, much larger structure. A temporary capitol was then constructed across the street at 11th St and Congress Ave in 1882. The temporary capitol later burned down in a fire also in 1899. [6] [7]
Construction of the Italian Renaissance Revival–style capitol was funded by an article of the state constitution, adopted on February 15, 1876, which authorized the sale of public lands for the purpose. In one of the largest barter transactions of recorded history, the builders of the capitol (John V. Farwell and Charles B. Farwell), known as the Capitol Syndicate, were paid with more than three million acres (12,000 km2) of public land in the Texas Panhandle; this tract later became the largest cattle ranch in the world, the XIT Ranch. The value of the land, combined with expenses, added to a total cost of $3.7 million for the original building. It was constructed largely by convicts or migrant workers, as many as a thousand at a time. [8] The building has been renovated several times, with central air conditioning installed in 1955 and the most recent refurbishments completed in 1997.
The designers originally planned for the building to be clad entirely with hill country limestone quarried in Oatmanville (present-day Oak Hill), about 10 miles (16 km) to the southwest. However, the high iron content of the limestone led it to discolor rapidly with rust stains when exposed to the elements. Learning of the problem, business partners George W. Lacy, Nimrod L. Norton, and William H. Westfall, who were the owners of Granite Mountain near Marble Falls, offered to donate to the state, free of charge, the necessary amount of sunset red (also known as pink) granite to sheathe the building. [9] [10] A new 2.3 mile (3.7 km) spur of the Austin and Northwestern Railroad was constructed to transport the stone from Granite Mountain Quarry to the Austin train terminal. [9] [11] [12] This new branch of the railway line had one fault however: there was a bend in the tracks that was a bit too sharp and trains would occasionally derail, accidentally dumping some of the pink granite. [13] Many of the fallen rocks remain in place and are a local point of interest. Oak Hill limestone does comprise much of the Capitol but most is hidden behind the walls or is in the foundations. Granite Mountain red (or pink) granite was subsequently used for many state government buildings in the Austin area. [14] The project's 900 workers included 86 granite cutters brought from Scotland. [15]
The cornerstone for the building was laid on March 2, 1885, Texas Independence Day, and the building was opened to the public on April 21, 1888, San Jacinto Day, before its completion. The building was officially dedicated by Texas State Senator Temple Houston on May 18, 1888. [15] The dedication ceremony was marked by a weeklong celebration from May 14–19, 1888, that attracted nearly 20,000 visitors and included events such as military drill demonstrations, cattle roping, baseball games, German choral singing, and fireworks. Guests were able to purchase souvenirs such as pieces of red granite and copies of a song written by composer and pianist Leonora Rives-Diaz called the "State Capitol Grand Waltz". [16]
In 1931, the City of Austin enacted a local ordinance limiting the height of new buildings to a maximum of 200 feet (61 m), aiming to preserve the visual preeminence of the capitol. From that time until the early 1960s, only the University of Texas Main Building Tower was built higher than the limit, but in 1962, developers announced a new 261-foot (80 m) high-rise residential building to be built adjacent to the capitol, called the Westgate Tower. Governor Price Daniel voiced his opposition to the proposed tower, and State Representative Henry Grover of Houston introducing a bill to condemn the property, which was defeated in the Texas House of Representatives by only two votes. The Westgate was eventually completed in 1966, but the controversy over the preservation of the capitol's visual presence that dogged its construction continued to grow. [17]
The Westgate was followed by even taller structures: first the 307-foot (94 m) Dobie Center (designed in 1968), and then a series of ever larger downtown bank towers, culminating in the 395-foot (120 m) One American Center (designed in 1982). [17] In early 1983, inspired by the Westgate and these other structures, State Senator Lloyd Doggett and State Representative Gerald Hill advanced a bill proposing a list of protected "Capitol View Corridors" along which construction would not be permitted, so as to protect the capitol's visibility from a series of points around Austin. [18] The bill was signed into law on May 3, 1983, [19] defining 30 state-protected viewing corridors and prohibiting any construction that would intersect one of them. [20] The City of Austin has adopted similar rules, so that the majority of the corridors are also protected under municipal zoning code, as well as under state law. [21]
On February 6, 1983, a fire began in the apartment of William P. Hobby Jr., then the state lieutenant governor. A guest of Hobby's was killed, and four firemen and a policeman were injured by the subsequent blaze. The capitol was crowded with accumulated archives, and the fire was intense and came dangerously close to destroying the structure. It caused severe damage to the east wing and compromised much of the framing, which was largely composed of exposed cast iron posts and beams.
Following the fire, the state took advantage of the extensive rebuilding to update the mechanical and structural systems to modern standards. In November 1985, the original Goddess of Liberty statue on top of the dome was removed by helicopter. A new statue, cast of aluminum in molds made from the original zinc statue, was placed on the dome in June 1986 by the Mississippi National Guard, since Texas lacked the capacity to lift the approx. 3,000-pound statue. [22] The original statue was restored and displayed on the Capitol grounds in a special structure built for it in 1995; it was later moved to the Bullock Texas State History Museum in 2001. [23]
The Old Texas Land Office, on the Capitol grounds, was rebuilt and updated between 1988 and 1990, after which the Capitol Visitors Center was moved there, freeing space in the Capitol. Previously, the building had housed the Texas Confederate Museum, which began in a ground floor room of the Capitol (1903–1920), before moving to the Land Office building.
Additionally, the state sought to address the intensifying shortage of space in the old building, deciding that a new office wing should be added. The logical place for an addition was the plaza immediately to the north; however, a large building there would have eliminated the historic north façade and covered what had traditionally been seen as an important public space. Instead, an expansion to the capitol was built beneath the north plaza, connecting to the existing capitol underground.
In 1993, the $75 million, four-story, underground capitol extension was completed to the north, doubling the square footage available to capitol occupants and providing much-improved functionality. Though the extension encompasses 667,000 square feet (62,000 m2) (nearly twice the floor space of the original building), little evidence exists of such a large structure at ground level, except for extensive skylights camouflaged as planter rows, and the four-story, open-air, inverted rotunda. [24] In 1995, a comprehensive interior and exterior restoration of the original building was completed at a cost of about $98 million. In 1997, the park-like grounds surrounding the capitol received an $8 million renovation and restoration.
In 2016 the Texas Capitol Complex began a master renovation project. [25] Involving the participation and collaboration of The Texas Facilities Commission, the Partnership Advisory Commission, Texas General Land Office, Texas State Preservation Board, Texas Historical Commission, the project sought to create the Texas Mall—an expansion of the Capitol Extension open space. Another goal was to address the rising cost of leased office space for state agencies which were then dispersed around the city by concentrating them in State-owned facilities. After the project completion, Congress Avenue became a pedestrian-only tree-lined mall with lawn panels extending north of 15th Street to 18th Street. Vehicular access for these blocks is now limited to emergency and service vehicles. The lawn panels continue from 18th Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with travel lanes for vehicular drop off. [25]
The Texas State Capitol and grounds are located on a hilltop overlooking downtown Austin, with the main entrance facing onto the Congress Avenue Historic District to the south, for which it forms a terminating vista. The northern edge of the capitol grounds lies four blocks south of the University of Texas at Austin.
The capitol is a roughly rectangular building with a four-story central block, symmetrical three-story wings extending to the east and west, and a dome rising from the center. It is built in an Italian Renaissance Revival style and modeled on the design of the United States Capitol, but with its exterior clad with local red granite. [3] It contains 360,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of floor space (not including the Capitol Extension), more than any other state capitol building, and rests on a 2.25-acre (0.91 ha) footprint. The building has nearly 400 rooms and more than 900 windows.
The interior of the central portion forms an open rotunda beneath the dome. Massive cast-iron staircases flanking the rotunda connect the various levels of the building. The two chambers of the Texas Legislature (the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives) meet in large, double-height spaces in the centers of the two wings on the second floor, overlooked by public galleries on the third floor. The remainder of the building is filled with office space, courts, and archives; additional offices fill the underground extension. [3]
The central rotunda is hung with portraits of all the past presidents of the Republic of Texas and governors of the State of Texas; the rotunda is also a whispering gallery. The south foyer features a large portrait of David Crockett, a painting depicting the surrender of General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, and sculptures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin made by Elisabet Ney. The Texas Confederate Museum was held in a room on the first floor from its opening in 1903 until 1920, when it was moved into the General Land Office Building (today the Capitol Visitors Center).
The Capitol building is surrounded by 22 acres (8.9 ha) of grounds scattered with statues and monuments. William Munro Johnson, civil engineer, was hired in 1888 to improve the appearance of the grounds. By the time the first monument, commemorating the Heroes of the Alamo, was installed in 1891, the major components of Johnson's plan were in place. These included a "Great Walk" of black and white diamond-patterned pavement shaded by trees. The four oldest monuments are the Heroes of the Alamo Monument (1891), Volunteer Firemen Monument (1896), Confederate Soldiers Monument (1903) and Terry's Texas Rangers Monument (1907), and these flank the tree-lined Great Walk. [26] In the spring of 2013, ground was broken for the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument; dedication took place on March 29, 2014.
A granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol was the topic of a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case, Van Orden v. Perry, in which the display was challenged as unconstitutional. [27] In late June 2005, the Court in a 5–4 ruling declared that the display was not unconstitutional.
For visitors, the Capitol and downtown Austin feature several convenient garages along with on street parking. [28]
The Wisconsin State Capitol, located in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed in 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature convened in 1836 and the third building since Wisconsin was granted statehood in 1848. The Wisconsin State Capitol is the tallest building in Madison, a distinction that has been preserved by legislation that prohibits buildings taller than the columns surrounding the dome. The Capitol is located at the southwestern end of the Madison Isthmus. The streets surrounding the building form the Capitol Square, which is home to many restaurants and shops.
The Minnesota State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Minnesota, in its capital city of Saint Paul. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the office of the Attorney General and the office of the Governor. The building also includes a chamber for the Minnesota Supreme Court, although court activities usually take place in the neighboring Minnesota Judicial Center.
The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As the primary office building of Georgia's government, the capitol houses the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state on the second floor, chambers in which the General Assembly, consisting of the Georgia State Senate and Georgia House of Representatives, meets annually from January to April. The fourth floor houses visitors' galleries overlooking the legislative chambers and a museum located near the rotunda in which a statue of Miss Freedom caps the dome.
The Vermont State House, located in Montpelier, is the state capitol of the U.S. state of Vermont. It is the seat of the Vermont General Assembly. The current Greek Revival structure is the third building on the same site to be used as the State House. Designed by Thomas Silloway in 1857 and 1858, it was occupied in 1859.
The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the state capital. It houses the oldest elected legislative body in North America, the Virginia General Assembly, first established as the House of Burgesses in 1619.
The Arkansas State Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the home of the Arkansas General Assembly, and the seat of the Arkansas state government that sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the Capitol Mall in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The California State Capitol is the seat of the California state government, located in Sacramento, the state capital of California. The building houses the chambers of the California State Legislature, made up of the Assembly and the Senate, along with the office of the governor of California. The Neoclassical structure, designed by Reuben S. Clark, was completed between 1861 and 1874. Located at the west end of Capitol Park and the east end of the Capitol Mall, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The California State Capitol Museum is housed on the grounds of the capitol.
The Alabama State Capitol, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the First Confederate Capitol, is the state capitol building for Alabama. Located on Capitol Hill, originally Goat Hill, in Montgomery, it was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960. Unlike every other state capitol, the Alabama Legislature does not meet there, but at the Alabama State House. The Capitol has the governor's office and otherwise functions as a museum.
The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the House of Representatives, as well as the office of the Governor of the State of Connecticut. The Connecticut Supreme Court occupies a building across Capitol Avenue.
The Utah State Capitol is the house of government for the U.S. state of Utah. The building houses the chambers and offices of the Utah State Legislature, the offices of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, the State Auditor and their staffs. The capitol is the main building of the Utah State Capitol Complex, which is located on Capitol Hill, overlooking downtown Salt Lake City.
The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania located in downtown Harrisburg. The building was designed by architect Joseph Miller Huston in 1902 and completed in 1906 in a Beaux-Arts style with decorative Renaissance themes throughout. The capitol houses the legislative chambers for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Harrisburg chambers for the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor. It is also the main building of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex.
The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 and expanded in 1977, the current building is the third to house the Oregon state government in Salem. The first two capitols in Salem were destroyed by fire, one in 1855 and the other in 1935.
The South Carolina State House is the building housing the government of the U.S. state of South Carolina, which includes the South Carolina General Assembly and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Located in the capital city of Columbia near the corner of Gervais and Assembly Streets, the building also housed the Supreme Court until 1971.
The North Carolina State Capitol is the former seat of the legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina which housed all of the state's government until 1888. The Supreme Court and State Library moved into a separate building in 1888, and the General Assembly moved into the State Legislative Building in 1963. Today, the governor and his immediate staff occupy offices on the first floor of the Capitol.
The Michigan State Capitol is the building that houses the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the portion of the state capital of Lansing which lies in Ingham County.
The United States Capitol building features a central rotunda below the Capitol dome. Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart".
Frank Teich was a German-born American sculptor, stone carver, and businessman, often referred to as the father of the Texas granite industry.
The Westgate Tower is a mixed-use high-rise building in downtown Austin, Texas. The twenty-six-story 261-foot (80 m) tower block was designed in 1962 and completed in 1966; its name reflects its location across the street from the west gate of the Texas State Capitol. Designed by architect Edward Durell Stone, the tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2012.
The Capitol View Corridors are a series of legal restrictions on construction in Austin, Texas, aimed at preserving protected views of the Texas State Capitol from various points around the city. First established by the Texas Legislature in 1983 and recodified in 2001, the corridors are meant to protect the capitol dome from obstruction by high-rise buildings. While supported by cultural and historical preservation organizations, the corridors have also been criticized for limiting the potential for the development of new tall structures in downtown Austin.
The Volunteer Firemen Monument is an outdoor memorial commemorating Texan volunteer firefighters who died while in service, installed on the Texas State Capitol grounds in Austin, Texas, United States. It was erected by the State Firemen's Association of Texas in 1896, and modified in 1905. The monument features a bronze sculpture of a fireman carrying a child in his left arm and a lantern in his opposite, designed by J. Segesman. The statue rests on a granite base designed by Frank Teich, which has a ring of granite pillars with inscribed names of volunteers. According to the Texas State Preservation Board, the memorial has "historical omissions and errors", which have been kept.