Tag: Madison

The Wisconsin State Capitol Building, built in 1906-1917, is a Beaux Arts-style building designed by architect George B. Post to house the state government. It is the fourth capitol building to house the state government since the state’s establishment in 1848 and replaced the previous state capitol, built in 1857-1869 and expanded in 1882, which burned down in February of 1904. The capitol houses both 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 features a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings 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, instead roughly paralleling the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with Downtown Madison sitting on an isthmus between the two lakes. This places the building at a unique 45-degree angle orientation relative to the edges of Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets.

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, which were created by several sculptors, and have different symbolism embodied by their design. The sides of the wings feature simpler cornices with dentils, pilasters, and recessed window openings with arched openings at the ground floor, windows with decorative pedimented headers on the second floor, arched windows on the third floor, two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor, and a recessed fifth floor features small paired windows, hidden behind a balustrade that runs around the entirety of the building minus the ends of the wings, concealing a low-slope roof at the setbacks on the sides of the wings and above the corner porticoes.

The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights, with the roof being almost entirely enclosed by a parapet. At the center of the building in the inside corners of the Greek cross are semi-circular portions of the facade with semi-circular two-story ionic porticos with large terraces and grand staircases featuring decorative copper lampposts, decorative stone balustrades, concealed entrances to the ground floor underneath the terraces, and three doorways on the upper level, with drums surrounded by buttresses featuring small windows and domed roofs above the balustrade on the fifth floor.

In the center of the building is the rotunda, which is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base. 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, which stand at 187 feet, preserving the visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape.

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 topped with a statue, sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, of a personification of the state of Wisconsin, with the outstretched arm of the statue representing the state motto, “Forward”.

The capitol building has gone through several renovation and restoration projects over the years to update the building’s systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government while preserving the original design and historical significance of the building.

Posted by w_lemay on 2023-03-08 12:50:40

The Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison is a Beaux Arts-style building designed by architect George B. Post and built from 1906 to 1917 to house the Wisconsin State Government. It is the fourth state capitol building to house the state’s government since its establishment in 1848, and the third building to sit on the present site. The building is 284 feet tall, which includes the statue of Wisconsin at its top. The exterior of the building is clad in Bethel white granite, and the dome is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite.

The building has a Greek cross footprint with four five-story wings aligned with the compass directions and radial streets following the compass directions that slice through the surrounding street grid at a 45-degree angle to compass directions. The building’s unique orientation is designed to roughly parallel the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with Downtown Madison sitting on an isthmus between the two lakes. The exterior of the building’s wings features porticoes with Corinthian columns, arched windows, and decorative reliefs with different symbolism embodied by their design.

The Wisconsin State Capitol has undergone several renovations over the years. In the 1970s, a major renovation was carried out that added modern features to the interior and covered up many original features, while later projects between 1988 and 2002 restored the building while updating its systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government.

The interior of the building features the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin State Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The central rotunda and dome serve a more symbolic and less utilitarian purpose than the rest of the building. The building is the tallest 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, which stand at 187 feet, preserving the visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape.

Posted by w_lemay on 2023-03-08 12:50:32

The Wisconsin State Capitol Building was designed by George B. Post in the Beaux Arts style and built between 1906 and 1917. It replaced a previous state capitol that burned down in 1904. The building houses the Wisconsin State Assembly, the Wisconsin State Senate, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The original Wisconsin State Capitol was built in Belmont, Wisconsin, in 1836 but lacked the necessary facilities for the legislature. A new capitol building was constructed in Madison, Wisconsin, which housed the government until it was replaced by the current building. The present building is the third to occupy the site, which features a unique 45-degree angle orientation relative to the streets around it.

The Wisconsin State Capitol Building is 284 feet (86 meters) tall, including the statue on the dome designed by Daniel Chester French in 1920. The building’s exterior is made from Bethel white granite, with 42 types of stone from eight states and six countries used inside. The dome is the world’s largest entirely clad in granite and the tallest building in Madison. A state law passed in 1990 limits the height of buildings within a mile of the Capitol to the base of the columns of the dome, which preserves visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape.

The building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings aligned with compass directions, radial streets following the compass directions, and a surrounding street grid at a 45-degree angle to compass directions, parallel to the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. The building features porticoes on the ends with corinthian columns, arched windows, decorative keystone, and cornices with modillions and dentils. The pediments feature sculptural reliefs created by various sculptors, each with its symbolism embodied in design. The central rotunda of the building is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base.

The building underwent a major renovation in the 1970s that covered up many original features, and later projects between 1988 and 2002 restored the building while updating its systems and functions. The Wisconsin State Capitol Building is an iconic landmark in Wisconsin, serving as a symbol of its rich history and its commitment to government transparency and democracy.

Posted by w_lemay on 2023-03-08 12:50:29

The Beaux Arts-style Capitol Building in Madison, Wisconsin was built between 1906 and 1917 to house the state house of representatives, state senate, and offices for the Wisconsin state government. It stands on the site of the previous state capitol, built in 1857-1869 and expanded in 1882, which burned down in February of 1904. The Capitol Building houses both 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 first capitol of Wisconsin was in the village of Belmont, Wisconsin, before the legislature decided to designate Madison as the state capitol. A relatively humble Greek Revival-style building was constructed on the present site of the state capitol in 1837. The second building, a larger Classical Revival-style structure with Romanesque Revival elements, was constructed between 1857 and 1869. It 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.

By the turn of the 20th Century, the old Capitol had become inadequate for the growing needs of Wisconsin, which had become wealthy, industrialized, and heavily populated by that point, so study of a replacement capitol building began in 1903. In February 1904, the old State Capitol burned to the ground due to a gas jet igniting a newly varnished ceiling inside the building, which spread quickly despite the building featuring a then-advanced sprinkler system, as the reservoir of the nearby University of Wisconsin was empty. 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.

The building stands 284 feet (86 meters) tall to the top of the statue on the dome, which was sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, and is a personification of 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 and is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite, and is the tallest building in Madison. 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. 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, which were created by several sculptors, and have different symbolism embodied by their design.

The sides of the wings feature simpler cornices with dentils, pilasters, and recessed window openings with arched openings at the ground floor, windows with decorative pedimented headers on the second floor, arched windows on the third floor, two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor, and a recessed fifth floor features small paired windows, hidden behind a balustrade that runs around the entirety of the building minus the ends of the wings, concealing a low-slope roof at the setbacks on the sides of the wings and above the corner porticoes. The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights, with the roof being almost entirely enclosed by a parapet.

In the center of the building is the rotunda, which is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base.

Posted by w_lemay on 2023-03-08 12:50:22

The Wisconsin State Capitol Building, built in Beaux Arts-style by George B. Post, replaced the previous one which had burned down in 1904. The present building is the third to sit on the same site, which became designated as the state’s capitol after the village of Belmont and the port town of Burlington, where earlier sessions of the state legislature had met. Constructed in stages between 1906 and 1917, the building consists of four wings forming a Greek cross, with the dome being the largest in the world to be totally clad in granite. The statue of a personification of the state of Wisconsin on the dome is 284 feet tall.

When Wisconsin became a state, its first capitol building was a Greek Revival-style building that was relatively simple, with doric columns and a rusticated fieldstone exterior. The second capitol building, which replaced this one in stages between 1857 and 1869, was larger and featured a dome inspired by the United States Capitol Building, with two short side wings with octagonal towers at the corners. In 1882, these wings were extended and modified, increasing the Classical Revival aspects of the building and suppressing the Romanesque Revival elements. This was the building that burned down in 1904.

Post’s design was executed with financial limitations in mind and therefore proceeded wing by wing. The central rotunda and dome were constructed only after the three wings had been completed, as these have a more symbolic purpose than functional. The building’s exterior is clad in Bethel white granite, with the interior featuring a total of 42 types of stone from nine states and six countries.

The exterior of the wings features porticoes, arched windows, rusticated bases with entrance doors and decorative keystones, decorative reliefs, cornices with modillions and dentils, and pediments with sculptural reliefs. The east wing, which houses the Wisconsin Supreme Court, features a sculpture known as Law on its portico pediment, while the west wing, where the Wisconsin Assembly meets, houses the sculpture, Agriculture. A hearing chamber is located in the north wing, which has the sculpture known as Virtues and Traits of Character, while the south wing, which houses the Wisconsin Senate, features the sculpture Wisdom and Learning of the World.

The sides of the wings are simpler, with cornices, pilasters, recessed window openings, and two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor. An almost entirely enclosed low-slope roof tops the wings, with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights. The roof is concealed by a parapet.

In the center of the building, the rotunda and dome rise from a tall base, flanked by semi-circular portions of the facade with semi-circular two-storey ionic porticos. These feature large terraces and grand staircases with decorative copper lampposts, stone balustrades, concealed entrances to the ground floor underneath the terraces, and three doorways on the upper level, with drums surrounded by buttresses featuring small windows and domed roofs above the balustrade on the fifth floor.

Posted by w_lemay on 2023-03-08 12:50:43