The Wisconsin State Capitol Building, located in the city of Madison, was constructed between 1906 and 1917 in the Beaux-Arts style by George B. Post. It was designed to replace the previous building that burned down in 1904. The current Capitol building in Wisconsin is home to the Wisconsin State Assembly, Wisconsin State Senate, Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin.
The Capitol building in Wisconsin is the fourth state capitol building to house state legislators since Wisconsin became a territory in 1836. The first capitol building was in Belmont and was also used as a legislative hall. Because of its size, however, it became inadequate for the growing needs of the Wisconsin population, and therefore the government decided to look at other cities to build a capitol building. In 1837, the government then decided upon Madison, Wisconsin to construct the capitol building which led to the building of the second capitol building. The second capitol building was a humble, Greek Revival-style building constructed in 1837 with doric columns and a rusticated fieldstone exterior. In 1857 through 1869, the third capitol building was constructed around the historical site of the last capitol building. The third capitol building had a Classical Revival-style structure with Romanesque Revival elements that 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 highlighted the structure. By the turn of the 20th Century, the third Capitol building was again inadequate for the growing population of Wisconsin. The state government began planning for a new capitol building in 1903. In February of 1904, there was a fire that destroyed the previous capitol building which drove the state government to accelerate its plans to construct a new building.
The Wisconsin State Capitol Building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings that are aligned with the compass directions, while radial streets slice through the surrounding street grid inclined at a 45-degree angle to compass directions, roughly following the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. The building stands 284 feet tall, with the statue on the dome sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, representing the state of Wisconsin in a personification form, with the outstretched arm of the statute representing the state motto, “Forward”.
In terms of modern features, the renovation of the building in the 1970s added modern features to the interior of the building, which covered up many of the original features that made the building historic. Later projects between 1988 and 2002 restored the building while updating systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government.
The exterior of the building features 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 that were created by several sculptors, each embodying a different symbolic meaning.
In terms of orientation, the Capitol building is located at a unique 45-degree angle relative to the edges of the Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets. The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front-gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights.
Standing tall to this day, the Wisconsin State Capitol Building represents the heart and soul of the state government in Wisconsin.