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<document>
<title>Pennsylvania State Capitol</title>
<authors>Wikipedia</authors>
<publisher>wikipedia.org</publisher>
<publishedplace>network</publishedplace>
<publishedyear>2010</publishedyear>
<edition></edition>
<category>1902 architecture</category>
<section id="35569" fatherid="0" title="" lv="" priority="-1" level="1">
The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is in downtown Harrisburg. It was designed in 1902 in a Beaux-Arts style with Renaissance themes throughout. The capitol houses the chambers for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Harrisburg chambers for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor. It is also the central building of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex, which includes state government buildings in Harrisburg and throughout the rest of the state.
The seat of government for the state was originally in Philadelphia, then moved to Lancaster in 1799 and finally to Harrisburg in 1812. The current capitol, known as the Huston Capitol, is the third state capitol building to be built in Harrisburg. The first, the Hills Capitol, was destroyed in 1897 by a fire and the second, the Cobb Capitol, was  unfinished when funding was discontinued in 1899.
Joseph Miller Huston designed the current capitol, dedicated in 1906.  After its completion, the capitol project was the subject of a graft scandal.  The construction and subsequent furnishing cost three times more than the General Assembly had appropriated for the project.  Huston and four others were convicted of graft in relation to costs of the total project.
The capitol is often referred to as a "palace of art" because of its many sculptures, murals and stained-glass windows, most of which use Pennsylvania themes or were made by Pennsylvanians.  The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.  Starting in 1982, restoration of the capitol has been ongoing.

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<section id="35570" fatherid="0" title="History" lv="" priority="-2" level="1">
<section id="35571" fatherid="35570" title="" lv="" priority="-1" level="2">
William Penn formed the first government of the then-Province of Pennsylvania on October 28, 1682, in Chester, Pennsylvania.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 23. The government did not have a regular meeting place and often met in Quaker meeting houses or at private residences in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's first state house, now known as Independence Hall, was built in Philadelphia starting in 1732 and was completed in 1753.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 25. With both the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the two predecessors of the United States Congress occupying Independence Hall from 1775 to 1783, the state legislature considered proposals for moving the seat of the state government. John Harris, Jr. offered to give  and 21 square perches (5,717 ft2; 531 m2) of land near the banks of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania to the state, provided that it be eventually used as the site of the capital.Barton 2002, p. 20.Pennsylvania Manual, p. xii. Harris also laid out a city in 1785, near his plot of land, and named it in honor of his father. In 1799, the legislature voted to move the capital to Lancaster instead of Harrisburg, because of Lancaster's greater population.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 31.
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<section id="35572" fatherid="35570" title="Hills Capitol" lv="" priority="2" level="2">
The legislature voted in 1810 to move the capital again, and moved the seat of government to Harrisburg in October 1812 onto the land given by Harris."The Capitol", p. 3. An additional  was also purchased from United States Senator William Maclay.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 32. The legislature met in the old Dauphin County courthouse for the next decade until a new capitol was constructed.Colson 1906, p. 32. A competition was held to determine the design of the capitol starting in 1816, which "was the first formal contest for designing an American statehouse."Hitchcock 1976, p. 60. The designs submitted, including one from William Strickland, were rejected as being too expensive. Another contest was started in January 1819. Of the seventeen designs submitted, two were selected as semifinalists. One was from Harrisburg architect Stephen Hills and the other was from the designer of the Washington Monument, Robert Mills; Hills' design was selected.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 39. Hills had designed a "red-brick, Federal-style" capitol to "architecturally represent the function of democratic government." Construction began on the Hills Capitol in 1819 and it was completed in 1822.  The capitol's construction and subsequent furnishing was estimated to have cost $244,500 ($ in  dollars)."Consumer Price Index"Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 49. The Hills Capitol was visited by famous people, including the Marquis de Lafayette in 1825 and Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, (later King Edward VII) in 1860.Millard 1936, p. 3. Abraham Lincoln visited the capitol twice, once in 1861 as president-elect, and, again in 1865, to lie in state after his assassination.Beers 1969 Pennsylvania's collection of Civil War battle flags, which were accumulated in 1866, was moved from the State Arsenal to the second floor of the capitol in 1872.Sauer 1987, p. 31. The flags were moved, again, in 1895 to the Executive, Library and Museum Building.Sauer 1987, p. 32. On February 2, 1897, around noon, smoke was discovered coming from the Lieutenant Governor's office. By early evening, the Hills Capitol had been reduced to a "smoldering mass of debris".Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 64.
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<section id="35573" fatherid="35570" title="Cobb Capitol" lv="" priority="3" level="2">
After the destruction of the Hills Capitol, the now "homeless" legislature moved to a nearby Methodist Church.Colson 1906, p. 52. It soon came under pressure to move the capital to Pittsburgh or back to Philadelphia and quickly appropriated monies to build a new capitol in Harrisburg.Pennsylvania Manual, p. xiii.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 73. Governor Daniel H. Hastings opted for a pay-as-you-go policy to allow the construction costs to be spread over multiple annual budgets. Governor Hastings also figured that $550,000 ($ in  dollars) was enough to build "a small legislative building" that could be added onto as needed over time.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 71. After building designs were submitted by various architects in another competition, Henry Ives Cobb was chosen in 1897 to design the new capitol. Construction of the Cobb Capitol began on May 2, 1898. The legislature met in the finished building, which they had deemed complete, even though it was an "unadorned, unfinished, several-story brown brick structure that looked like a factory", on January 3, 1899. Cobb himself described the building simply as "ugly" but believed that he would be able to finish it eventually, when more funding became available.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 83.
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<section id="35574" fatherid="35570" title="Huston Capitol" lv="" priority="4" level="2">
<section id="35575" fatherid="35574" title="" lv="" priority="-1" level="3">
Governor William A. Stone appointed a new Capitol Building Commission in 1901. The commission then held another design competition, for Pennsylvania architects only, which prevented Cobb, a Chicagoan, from submitting a design or finishing his capitol.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 88. The Building Commission also stipulated that parts of the unfinished, current capitol were to be used in the new capitol. The General Assembly had appropriated $4 million ($ in  dollars) for the construction of the capitol.  It did not limit the total amount to be used in furnishing the building.  This caused problems after construction completion of the capitol.  Joseph Miller Huston's design was chosen from among nine entries in the competition in January 1902.  The ground was broken for the Huston Capitol on November 2, 1902, but the cornerstone was not laid until May 5, 1904.Pennsylvania Manual, p. xiv.  Ownership of the capitol was handed over to the state government on August 15, 1906, and the Capitol Building Commission was dissolved.Ellis 2006, p.31.
Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker dedicated the new capitol on October 4, 1906. Former Governor Stone, who had become president of the Building Commission after leaving office, ceremoniously handed over the key to the capitol to Governor Pennypacker. President Theodore Roosevelt, who had arrived earlier that morning by a special train to deliver a speech and tour the new capitol, declared it "the handsomest building I ever saw".Pennsylvania Manual, p. xvii. The Pennsylvania, Northern Central, Reading, and Cumberland Valley railroads each ran special trains to accommodate the crowds traveling to and from Harrisburg for the dedication.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 125.
Although the building was completed, the majority of the artwork in and around the capitol would not be completed for another two decades.  The murals in the rotunda were not installed until 1908 and the sculptures outside the entrance to the capitol were dedicated on October 4, 1911.Ellis 2006, p. 33. The collection of Civil War flags were removed from the Executive, Library and Museum Building.  After a parade and a ceremony, they were installed in glass display cases in the capitol rotunda on June 14, 1914.Sauer 1987, p. 35. The decoration of the capitol was completed on May 23, 1927, when the murals in the Supreme Court Chambers were unveiled.Ellis 2006, p. 34.

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<section id="35576" fatherid="35574" title="Graft scandal" lv="" priority="2" level="3">
William H. Berry was elected in 1906, shortly after the dedication, to the office of State Treasurer on a reform "fusion ticket".  Berry was the only Democrat elected to a statewide office from 1895 to 1934.  His successful campaign was deemed by Governor Pennypacker to be "one of those freaks of ill fortune".Pennypacker 1911, p. 36.  Berry began investigating the costs of the capitol project and brought its $13 million ($ in  after inflation) pricetag to the attention of the public. Part of the reason for the discrepancy was Pennsylvania's "over-elaborate" and sometimes "unintelligible" method of "ordering and purchasing supplies, equipment and furnishings, commonly called the 'per-foot rule' ".Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 171.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 174.  Because the methods of measuring under the "per-foot rule" were not rigorously enforced, furnishing could be, intentionally, overpriced by the supplier.  For example, a flagpole erected on the capitol roof was priced at $850; Berry estimated the value of the pole to have been only $150.Pennypacker 1911, pp. 39-40.  Other expenses included $1,619 for a $125 bootblack stand and $3,257 for a $325 "mahogany case in the Senate barber shop.""$125 Bootblack Stand for $1,619"
Pennypacker tried to demonstrate that costs associated with the capitol were reasonable in comparison with similar notable structures.  He pointed out that the United States Capitol cost $18 million ($ after inflation), but had "fifty-five less rooms than the Capitol at Harrisburg."Pennypacker 1911, p. 31.  Pennypacker also showed how the New York State Capitol had cost $24 million ($ after inflation), and was still unfinished.  After an investigation, a total of five people, including Huston, were convicted, on December 8, 1908, and sentenced to two years in prison for "conspiring with State officials to defraud the State in the erection and furnishing of the capitol.""Huston goes to prison""Graft sentences upheld" The Superintendent of Public Ground and Buildings James Shumaker and Auditor General William P. Snyder were also convicted.  Former United States Representative Henry B. Cassel was charged but was later acquitted of any wrongdoing.  Among the convicted, John H. Sanderson and William L. Mathues died before going to prison.

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<section id="35577" fatherid="35574" title="Brunner plan" lv="" priority="3" level="3">
From 1912 to 1917, the state acquired all of the 541 separate properties that made up the Eighth Ward east of the capitol. The Eighth Ward was situated between the capitol and a set of railroad tracks, then owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad.Inglewood 1925, p. 46. Arnold Brunner was hired in 1916 to develop new accommodations for state government, which had already outgrown the capitol.Price 1923, pp. 289, 291. He introduced his plan in 1920, which called, first, for the demolition of the Eighth Ward.Ellis 2006, p. 15. Brunner planned two office buildings behind the capitol, the North and South Office Buildings, and these were separated by a courtyard he called the People's Court. The South Office Building was completed in 1921. The leveling of the Eighth Ward was finished in 1925.
Although Brunner died on February 14, 1925, elements of his plans were still completed, except for his People's Court, which became a parking lot.Ellis 2006, p. 14. Brunner planned a bridge to cross the railroad tracks and connect the capitol with the highest point in the city at 13th Street.Price 1923, p. 294. Brunner had also originally planned to have another bridge span the Susquehanna River, on the west side of the capitol.  After his death, parts of the bridge were redesigned and became the current State Street Bridge, which was completed in 1930. The Education Building, or Forum Building, was completed in 1931.Ellis 2006, p. 21.

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<section id="35578" fatherid="35574" title="Restoration and preservation" lv="" priority="4" level="3">
The capitol was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 14, 1977. In 1982, the Capitol Preservation Committee (CPC) was created "to supervise and coordinate the historic preservation of the State Capitol Building"."House Bill 2577" One of the CPC's first projects was the preservation of the 390 Civil War flags and 22 flags from the Spanish-American War, which had sat undisturbed since being placed in the rotunda in 1914.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 305. Between 1985 and 1987, scaffolding was erected in the rotunda and the murals removed for restoration.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, pp. 306, 309. The statue atop the capitol dome was removed for restoration via helicopter in the summer of 1998, returning in September of the same year.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 331. It was decided to restore the Senate Chamber after it was flooded with 26,000 gallons (98,000 l; 22,000 imp gal) of water on February 14, 1999.Capitol Preservation Committee 2006, p. 332. The capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark on September 20, 2006, during its centennial.Ellis 2006, p. 42.
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</section>
<section id="35579" fatherid="0" title="Exterior" lv="" priority="-3" level="1">
<section id="35580" fatherid="35579" title="" lv="" priority="-1" level="2">
The capitol is  long and  tall. It is  wide at its center wing and its two side wings are . The facade of the capitol is constructed out of granite from Hardwick, Vermont.Caffin 1906, p. 12. The  diameter capitol dome is topped by the gilded brass statue of Commonwealth by Roland Hinton Perry. Standing  tall atop a  diameter ball, the statue is the personification of a commonwealth."Report and Official Opinions", p. 603. The dome itself weighs  and was architecturally inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.Caffin 2006, p. 16.
Huston designed the large bronze doors at the capitol's main entrance. They were modeled by sculptor Otto Jahnsen and were both cast in one piece using the lost wax method of casting by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company.Caffin 1906, p. 18. The doors are decorated with scenes from the history of Pennsylvania, such as the arrival of William Penn and his peace treaty with the Lenape. Busts of people who were important in the construction of the capitol, like Governor Pennypacker, Boies Penrose, and Matthew Quay, decorate the edges of the doors."The Capitol", p. 7. The bust of Huston hides the doors' keyhole. The entrance is flanked by two sculptures, entitled Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law and The Burden of Life: The Broken Law. Both were sculpted out of Carrara marble by George Grey Barnard in 1909."The Capitol", p. 21.

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<section id="35581" fatherid="35579" title="Grounds" lv="" priority="2" level="2">
The Pennsylvania Capitol Grounds, officially the Capitol Park, comprises  and 26.4 square perches (7,187 ft2; 668 m2). The grounds are bounded by North Street on the north, 7th Street on the east, Walnut Street on the south and 3rd Street on the west. Arnold Brunner designed the layout of the grounds, which originally totaled only  from the land Harris and Maclay gave to the state. The remaining  were added when the state bought the Eighth Ward.
A  monument, dedicated to the citizens of Pennsylvania who died in the Mexican-American War, was built in 1858. The monument was not placed onto the grounds until 1868 and was moved to the southeast corner of the grounds in 1893, when the Executive, Library and Museum Building was built.Ellis 2006, p. 17. In 1896-97, a monument, dedicated to former governor John F. Hartranft, was sculpted by Frederick Ruckstull. The  monument was unveiled on May 18, 1899, and was placed in front of the capitol. It was moved, in 1927, in front of the Executive, Library and Museum Building. Friends of Penrose in the General Assembly, who had died in 1921, passed legislation for a memorial to Penrose. The  monument was dedicated on September 23, 1930, and is located near the corner of North 3rd and Walnut Streets.

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</section>
<section id="35582" fatherid="0" title="Interior" lv="" priority="-4" level="1">
The Pennsylvania State Capitol houses the chambers for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the Pennsylvania Senate, and the Harrisburg chambers for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The Capitol contains 475 rooms and has four floors, not including a mezzanine between the first and second floors, and a basement.Ellis 2006, p. 35.  The bronze entrance doors of the capitol lead into the rotunda on the first floor with the grand staircase in the center. The staircase in the rotunda is an imperial staircase, similar to the one in the Palais Garnier in Paris, France.  The staircase leads to the mezzanine between the first and second floors, before splitting into two staircases leading to the second floor. Edwin Austin Abbey painted four allegorical medallions around the base of the capitol dome, detailing the "four forces of civilization": Art, Justice, Science, and Religion. Four lunette murals were also painted by Abbey and "symbolize Pennsylvania's spiritual and industrial contributions to modern civilization".Ellis 2006, p. 33. The lunettes are situated in the recesses of each arch in the rotunda. The rotunda is paved with tiles, hand-crafted by Henry Chapman Mercer, from the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works."The Capitol", p. 14. Mercer produced  of tile, which includes "377 mosaics, representing 254 scenes, artifacts, animals, birds, fish, insects, industries and workers from Pennsylvania history".
The lower house of the bicameral General Assembly, the House of Representatives, has 203 members, elected for a term of 2 years, and presided over by the Speaker of the House. The House Chamber, or Hall of the House, is the largest of the three chambers at  wide and  long.Ellis 2006, p. 8. It is located on the south side of the rotunda. The House Chamber was designed with an Italian Renaissance theme. William B. Van Ingen created the fourteen circular, stained-glass windows in the House Chamber, and Abbey painted its five murals."The Capitol", p. 20. The largest of the murals is situated behind the Speaker's rostrum. Called the Apotheosis of Pennsylvania, it depicts 28 famous Pennsylvanians."The Capitol", p. 19.
The Senate is the upper house of the state legislature and has 50 members, elected to 4-year terms. The Senate is presided over by the President of the Senate, who is also the Lieutenant Governor. The  Senate Chamber, or Hall of the Senate, is the second-largest chamber and was designed with a French Renaissance theme.Ellis 2006, p. 10. It is located on the north side of the rotunda, opposite the House. Violet Oakley painted the murals in the Senate Chamber. Ingen also made 10 stained-glass windows for the Senate Chamber. Both the House and Senate Chambers are on the second floor, each with an entrance on the third and fourth floors leading to a press gallery.Caffin 1906, p. 9.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the court of last resort in the Commonwealth. The Supreme Court Chamber, officially the Supreme and Superior Court Chamber, was designed using Greek and Roman themes.  It is located on the fourth floor of the capitol, on the east side of the rotunda. The Supreme Court Chamber is the smallest of the three chambers at .Ellis 2006, p. 11. Oakley painted the 16 murals in the "Supreme Courtroom" to depict the history of law."The Capitol", p. 36 A stained-glass dome, designed by Pennsylvania native Alfred Godwin, is in the center of the ceiling.

</section>
<section id="35583" fatherid="0" title="Capitol Complex" lv="" priority="5" level="1">
The Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex includes the buildings owned by Commonwealth, which are controlled by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, and are centered around the capitol in Harrisburg.Pennsylvania Manual, p. 1-9.
The oldest building in the complex is the Executive, Library and Museum Building. Situated next to the Hills Capitol and the Huston Capitol, it was built in 1894. It was designated the Matthew J. Ryan Legislative Office Building on June 14, 1999, in recognition of former Speaker Matthew J. Ryan."Senate Bill 1000" The Ryan Office Building is the oldest building in the complex and was originally designed to house the State Library and State Museum of Pennsylvania, as well as the Governor's Office and  Reception Room. Today it houses the offices of the members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
The seven-story North and South Office Buildings are situated behind the capitol and overlook the East Wing.Ellis 2006, p. 18. The State Museum and State Archives buildings were constructed in 1964. A  addition, called the East Wing, was dedicated on December 2, 1987.Goldberger 1989, p. H37. The East Wing replaced the decades-old parking lot and fulfilled Brunner's plan of a People's Court. It was built partially underground, such that the tallest point on the East Wing barely reaches the first floor of the capitol.

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<section id="35584" fatherid="0" title="See also" lv="" priority="-6" level="1">
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<section id="35585" fatherid="0" title="Notes" lv="" priority="-7" level="1">
a. The 28 Pennsylvanians shown in the painting are: John Bartram and son William Bartram (counted as one), Daniel Boone, Andrew Curtin, George Mifflin Dallas, John Dickinson, Oliver Evans, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Girard, Winfield Scott Hancock, Henry Hudson, Johannes Kelpius, Thomas McKean, George Meade, Peter Minuit, Robert Morris, John Peter Muhlenberg, Thomas Paine, Francis Pastorius, William Penn, Walter Raleigh, David Rittenhouse, Benjamin Rush, William Smith, Thaddeus Stevens, Anthony Wayne, William White, and Caspar Wistar.
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<section id="35586" fatherid="0" title="References" lv="" priority="-8" level="1">
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<section id="35587" fatherid="0" title="Sources" lv="" priority="-9" level="1">
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<section id="35588" fatherid="0" title="External links" lv="" priority="-10" level="1">
Category:1902 architecture
Category:Beaux-Arts buildings
Category:Buildings and structures in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Category:Government of Pennsylvania
Category:Museums in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Category:History museums in Pennsylvania
Category:National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania
Category:Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex
Category:Renaissance Revival architecture in the United States
Category:State capitols in the United States

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