State capitol building of the U.S. state of Idaho
The
Idaho State Capitol
in
Boise
is the
home of the government
of the
U.S. state
of
Idaho
. Although
Lewiston
briefly served as Idaho's capital from the formation of
Idaho Territory
in 1863, the territorial legislature moved it to Boise on December 24, 1864.
[2]
Construction of the first portion of the capitol building began in the summer of 1905, fifteen years after statehood, and the architects were
John E. Tourtellotte
and Charles Hummel. Tourtellotte was a
Connecticut
native whose career began in
Massachusetts
and continued when he moved to Boise. Hummel was a
German
immigrant who partnered with Tourtellotte in 1901. The final cost of the building was just over $2 million; it was completed in 1920. The architects used varied materials to construct the building and their design was inspired by Classical examples.
[3]
Its
sandstone
exterior is from the state-owned quarry at nearby
Table Rock
.
The building was included in the
Boise Capitol Area District
listing on the
National Register of Historic Places
on May 12, 1976.
[4]
Construction of the original building
[
edit
]
1920s
Chamber of the House of Representatives in 2018
Tourtellotte and Hummel used four types of marble: red marble from Georgia, gray marble from Alaska, green marble from Vermont, and black marble from Italy. Architectural inspirations included
St. Peter’s Basilica
in Rome,
St Paul's Cathedral
in
London
and the
U.S. Capitol
in
Washington, D.C.
The most prominent feature of the capitol is its dome. Surmounting this dome is a bronze eagle, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m) tall. The capitol building is 208 feet (63 m) high, occupies an area of 201,720 square feet (18,740 m
2
), and contains over 50,000 square feet (4,600 m
2
) of artistically carved marble.
There are 219 pillars in the original building ? Doric, Corinthian, or Ionic ? and each pillar is made up of marble dust, plaster and
scagliola
. Scagliola is a mixture of granite, marble dust, gypsum and glue dyed to look like marble. This artificial marble was created by a family of artisans in Italy.
On the first floor of the capitol building, when looking upward to the dome, 13 large stars and 43 smaller stars can be seen. The 13 large stars represent the
thirteen original colonies
and the 43 smaller stars indicate that Idaho was the forty-third state to enter the union. The floor contains a
compass rose
; in its center is a
sundial
that has minerals found in Idaho. The first floor also houses a statue called
the Patriot
by
Kenneth Lonn
, for those who worked in the mining industry.
The second floor may be accessed via three entrances; from the east, south, and west. The
lieutenant governor’s
office is located in the west wing, just opposite the
governor’s
office. On the north side of the second floor rotunda is a sculpture of
George Washington
astride a horse; to its rear is the
attorney general’s
suite of offices, which formerly housed the
Idaho Supreme Court
, until its current building opened in 1970. The east wing houses the office of the
secretary of state
offices, in whose reception area is the official copy of the Great Seal of the State of Idaho.
The third floor contains the
Senate
in the west wing and the
House of Representatives
in the east wing. The two chambers were remodeled in 1968. Also on this floor is the old Supreme Court room, now used for hearings and committee meetings of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. Balcony entrances on the fourth floor of the senate and house galleries, which enable the public to observe the legislature in session. The northeast, northwest, and southwest corners of this floor contain many historic paintings, as well as three murals by
Dana Boussard
.
Restoration of the Capitol
[
edit
]
Renovated capitol dome
In 1998, Idaho officials drafted a master plan to restore the Capitol. Though it has many impressive features, the "Statehouse" had begun to fade with age. The interior restoration work would include restoration and refinishing of windows, repairs to marble flooring and decorative plaster, restoration of wood floors, refinishing wood doors and restoring hardware, upgrading electrical, smoke and fire-detection systems, improving exterior lighting, adding an emergency power generator, and installation of an elevator accessible to disabled persons.
The legislature initially provided a mere $120,000 for the project. In 2000, the master plan was completed and its total cost estimate put at $64 million. In 2001, the Legislature granted a one-time appropriation of $32 million; bonds were issued to cover the other half of the project. In 2002?03, crews completed Phase II of the project, which involved exterior repairs financed with a supplementary $1.5 million appropriation. In 2005, an increase in the state cigarette tax helped pay for interior restoration expenses totaling $20 million.
In 2006, the legislature voted to finance two two-story underground legislative office wings at a cost about $130 million. However, in view of the U.S. economic downturn in 2008, Governor
Butch Otter
proposed single-story underground wings. After legislators agreed to this modification, construction began and continued until 2010, when both interior and exterior renovations were finished.
Scagliola
[
edit
]
Plasterers were tasked with restoring
scagliola
, a composite of selenite, glue, and natural pigments, imitating marble and other hard stones. Making scagliola is a laborious 15-step process, which has to be restarted if a single mistake is made. During its construction, the Idaho state capitol’s architects used a combination of white marble and matching scagliola to create a "Capitol of Light," so called because the materials would glow in natural light in the rotunda.
Capitol art
[
edit
]
The
Winged Victory
statue is a plaster replica of the original marble statue of
Nike of Samothrace
. The original statue was found on the island of
Samothrace
,
Greece
, in 1863 by a French explorer. The statue has characteristic features of
Hellenistic
art. The people of
France
gave the replica to the United States as part of a gift after U.S. forces helped liberate France from
Nazi
occupation at the end of
World War II
. After it arrived in February 1949, state officials placed the gift in the Boise capitol.
The sculpture
Statue head of Louise Shadduck
honors the dedication of Idaho author, historian, civil servant, and political activist
Louise Shadduck
who died in 2008, at age 92.
[5]
In 1958, Shadduck was elected secretary of Commerce and Development ? the first woman to hold that office. The statue is made of bronze and black stone.
The capitol also houses a display of 20 portraits of Idaho territorial and state Governors completed by artist
Herbert A. Collins
in 1911.
Attractions
[
edit
]
A
state trooper
at the capitol.
Attractions in the restored and expanded building include a gilded equestrian statue of George Washington and information about the historic trees that surrounded the capitol building before the grounds were cleared for underground construction. (
Presidents
Benjamin Harrison
,
Theodore Roosevelt
, and
William Taft
planted trees on the property; Harrison planted a
Water Oak
, Roosevelt planted a
Sugar Maple
in 1903, and Taft planted the
Ohio Buckeye
in 1911.) The Golden Statue was carved by Charles Osner in 1869 from
white pine
, the state tree of Idaho. Osner worked by candlelight and took four years to finish the work.
Details of the Capitol
[
edit
]
Visitors tour the restored Capitol in 2010.
Tunnels connect the Capitol Building to the
Supreme Court
building and other government buildings on Capitol Mall to the east. Used daily by government employees, these tunnels are not accessible to the public, and could serve as bomb shelters to protect the governor and other public officials.
A full-scale replica of the
Liberty Bell
(uncracked) occupies a site at the base of the stairs outside the Jefferson Street entrance. The bell is one of 53 commissioned in 1950 by the
U.S. Treasury Department
and presented to each of the states and is accessible to passersby who can ring it.
[6]
[7]
The capitol faces southwest and looks down Capitol Boulevard, about a mile (1.6 km) in length. At its opposite end is the
Boise Depot
, built in 1925 on the rim of the first
bench
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"National Register Information System"
.
National Register of Historic Places
.
National Park Service
. November 2, 2013.
- ^
Laws of the Territory of Idaho, Second session: An Act to permanently locate the capital of the Territory of Idaho
. Frank Kenyon, Territorial Printer. December 7, 1864. p. 427.
- ^
"Idaho Capitol Building"
.
idahoptv.org
. Archived from
the original
on June 11, 2015
. Retrieved
May 19,
2015
.
- ^
"National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Boise Capitol Area District"
.
National Park Service
. Retrieved
November 25,
2018
.
With
accompanying pictures
- ^
Russell, Betsy Z. (September 1, 2013).
"Journalist Louise Shadduck helped transform Idaho"
.
The Spokesman-Review
. Spokane
. Retrieved
September 8,
2019
.
- ^
Lannan, Katie (August 28, 2018).
"State House Security Leaves Replica Liberty Bell Off Limits"
.
WBUR News
. Retrieved
September 8,
2019
.
- ^
Tolliver, Karren Doll (February 22, 2018).
"Denver's Liberty Bell Replica at the State Capitol Building"
.
A Taste for Travel
.
Book references
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Idaho State Capitol
at Wikimedia Commons
|
---|
Areas
| |
---|
Landmarks
| |
---|
Education
| |
---|
Transportation
| |
---|
This list is incomplete.
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Geographic
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|