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Information about Minnesota State Capitol

Minnesota State Capitol
(U.S. National Register of Historic Places)
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The Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul
The Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul
Location:St. Paul, MN
Built/Founded:1905
Architect:Cass Gilbert
Architectural style(s):Italian Renaissance; Beaux-Arts
Added to NRHP:February 23, 1972
NRHP Reference#:72000681 [1]
Governing body:State of Minnesota
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Minnesota State Capitol at Night


The Minnesota State Capitol is located in Minnesota's capital city, Saint Paul, and 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 building was designed by Cass Gilbert and modeled after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is believed to be one of just four or five buildings in the world with an unsupported marble dome.[1] This one is the second-largest of the group. Work began in on the capitol in 1896, and construction was completed in 1905. It is the third building to serve this purpose: the first capitol was destroyed by fire in 1881, and the second was completed in 1883, but was considered to be too small almost immediately.

Above the southern entrance to the building is a gilded quadriga called The Progress of the State which was sculpted by Daniel Chester French and Edward Clark Potter. It was completed and raised to the roof of the capitol in 1906. In 1994 and 1995, the statues underwent a restoration procedure which included replacing the gold leaf on the figures. A sphere perched above the capitol dome also has similar treatment.




Any classical dome built since Michelangelo's must expect to be compared to it, and Gilbert's dome is a frank homage, with interesting differences. His drawings show that he originally planned a wider drum and, correspondingly, a more massive dome. The smaller dome as built could be criticized by some as too small. It is smaller than St. Peter's and has a simplified design: single columns round the upper lantern instead of double ones, for instance. The ribs on the capitol dome are less pronounced than those on St. Peter's, but they are still visually apparent. Gilbert knew that St. Peter's dome was on the edge of being unstable: it had cracked and had to be reinforced. His engineer for this project, Gunvald Aus, bound the brick dome in reinforcing steel bands, and Gilbert crowned the paired columns round the drum (which act as buttresses to counter the dome's weight) with additional stone. Other than St. Peter's, additional buildings with marble domes include the Taj Mahal in India, and the Rhode Island State House in the city of Providence.

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The quadriga, titled "the Progress of the State" above the entrance
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A close up of the horses.
The central block under the dome needed three entrances, and Gilbert avoided creating visual references to a triumphal arch, which would have been inappropriate in its position. Equally, he managed to avoid any reference to a palace block that would have been offensive to Minnesotans. However, Gilbert drew ire for choosing stone from Georgia rather than native Minnesota stone. A compromise was eventually made where the base of the building and interior spaces used varieties of native stone. Upon completion, the exterior and interior of the building drew praise, leading to requests for Gilbert to design capitol buildings for other states such as West Virginia and Arkansas and other notable structures.

The capitol cost US$4.5 million back at the beginning of the 20th century. It opened its doors to the public for the first time on January 2, 1905. A hundred years later, the building's estimated value is $400 million. As part of the capitol's centennial celebrations in 2005, lawmakers hope to gain support for and donations toward a proposed $65 million renovation project.

The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

See also

References

1. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2006-03-15).
  • Living in Twin Cities. 3 Oct. 2007 <http://twincities.gradschools.com/living.html>.
  • Elmer L. Andersen. Elmer's Tour: A Former Governor's Loving Look at the Minnesota State Capitol. Nodin Press, 2005. ISBN 1-932472-38-X

External links

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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
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National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects worthy of preservation. The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) established the National Register and the process for adding properties
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Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul on the Mississippi with the Capitol building to the right, the Minneapolis skyline in the distance, and a 19th century home in the foreground, taken from Indian Mounds Park

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Cass Gilbert (November 29, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was a pioneering American architect.[1] An early proponent of skyscrapers in works like the Woolworth Building, Gilbert was also responsible for numerous museums and libraries (Saint Louis Art Museum), state capitol
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Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, in which there was a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Classical Greek and Roman thought and material culture.
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Beaux Arts architecture[1] denotes the academic classical architectural style that was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. The style "Beaux Arts"
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National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects worthy of preservation. The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) established the National Register and the process for adding properties
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State of Minnesota

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The Land of 10,000 Lakes, The Gopher State
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capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of "capital") is the center of government.
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Minnesota

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Minnesota

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Minnesota

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Minnesota

Constitution
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Cass Gilbert (November 29, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was a pioneering American architect.[1] An early proponent of skyscrapers in works like the Woolworth Building, Gilbert was also responsible for numerous museums and libraries (Saint Louis Art Museum), state capitol
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Saint Peter's Basilica
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The Basilica of Saint Peter from Castel Sant'Angelo.

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dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere.

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Domes do not have to be perfectly spherical in cross-section, however; a section through a dome may be an ellipse.
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Gilding is the art of applying metal leaf (most commonly gold or silver leaf) to a surface. This art was known to the ancients. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians were accustomed to gilding wood and metals; and gilding by means of gold plates is frequently mentioned in the Old
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A quadriga (Latin language quadri-, four, and jungere, to yoke) is a four-horse chariot, raced in the Olympic Games and other games. It is represented in profile as the chariot of gods and heroes on Greek vases and in bas-relief.
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Progress of the State is the title of a group of sculptural figures that sits above the south portico, at the main entrance to the state capitol at Saint Paul, in the U.S. state of Minnesota.
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Daniel Chester French (April 20 1850 – October 7 1931) was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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Edward Clark Potter (November 26, 1857 - June 21, 1923) was an American sculptor.

Early years

Born in New London, Connecticut, he grew up in Enfield, Massachusetts where he lived with his mother Mary and sister Clara. There he went to local schools.
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Gold leaf is gold that is beaten into extremely thin sheets. The thin gold sheets are commonly used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. 22-karat yellow gold is the most commonly used.
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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Chalk portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra
Birth name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
March 6 1475(1475--)
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