The Beaux Arts-style Capitol Building was designed by George B. Post and built between 1906-1917 in Madison, Wisconsin. It replaced the previous state capitol, which burned down in 1904. The building houses the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings that are aligned with the compass directions and radial streets following the compass directions that slice through the surrounding street grid, which is at a 45-degree angle to compass directions.
The building is 284 feet tall, with the statue on the dome sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, representing the state of Wisconsin, with the outstretched arm of the statue representing the state motto, “Forward”. The exterior of the building is clad in Bethel white granite, sourced from Vermont, with an additional 42 types of stone from a total of eight states and six countries being utilized on the interior of the building. The dome is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite, and is the tallest building in Madison, with a state law passed in 1990 stipulating that any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol is limited in height to the base of the columns of the dome.
The building underwent a major renovation in the 1970s and later projects between 1988 and 2002 restored the building while updating the building’s systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government. The exterior of the building’s wings feature porticoes on the ends with corinthian columns, arched windows on the third floor, rusticated bases with entrance doors and decorative keystones, decorative reliefs featuring festoons over the windows on the porticoes, cornices with modillions and dentils, and pediments with sculptural reliefs. The building is a unique orientation relative to the edges of Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets.
The Capitol Building represents the third capitol building to sit on the present site. The first capitol of Wisconsin was in the village of Belmont, Wisconsin, with the legislature meeting in a hastily constructed wood-frame building. They later decided to designate the future site of Madison as the state capitol, and holding further sessions of the legislature in the much better-developed Mississippi River port town of Burlington (now in Iowa) until a capitol building could be completed in Madison. Upon Burlington becoming part of the new Iowa Territory, the state legislature moved to a log and stone building on the present site of the state capitol, a Greek Revival-style building constructed in 1837.
The building was most similar to the Old State House in North Carolina, built only four years prior, and the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, built in the same year. The old capitol had become inadequate for the growing needs of Wisconsin, which had become wealthy, industrialized, and heavily populated by that point. The original building was demolished and replaced with a larger, Classical Revival-style, with Romanesque Revival elements constructed in stages between 1857 and 1869, which featured a dome inspired by the United Capitol Building, semi-circular porticoes with corinthian columns, and two short side wings with octagonal towers at the corners, which were modified and extended in 1882 with new wings that increased the Classical Revival aspects of the building and helped to downplay the Romanesque Revival elements that originally were very prominent on the structure.
The present building was built on the site of the previous building, with the construction process focusing on completing each wing one at a time to provide space to the state government with as much fiscal efficiency as possible due to financial limitations. Due to this, the north wing was built last to allow the remaining portion of the previous capitol to serve as space for the state government during the construction period, with the central rotunda and dome also being built after the other three wings had been completed.
The Capitol Building in Madison, Wisconsin, is an iconic landmark and symbol of democracy. Its rich history, dating back to the state’s establishment in 1848, speaks to Wisconsin’s commitment to public service and the democratic process. With each passing year, the building becomes more than just a physical structure. It embodies the ideals that have made Wisconsin great, and serves as a constant reminder of the state’s commitment to the people it serves.