Virginia State Capitol, Bank and 10th Streets, Capitol Square, Richmond — Front aerial view, looking north
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Image Details
- Source:
- Library of Congress
- Collection:
- Historic American Buildings Survey
- Date:
- Documentation compiled after 1933
- Region:
- Richmond, Virginia
- Description:
- Photo(s): 155 | Color Transparencies: 12 | Measured Drawing(s): 48 | Data Page(s): 88 | Photo Caption Page(s): 12 Subjects: state government, capitols Locations: independent city, virginia, richmond Notes: Significance: The Virginia State Capitol, conceived in 1785, is the second oldest working capitol in the United States. Designed by Thomas Jefferson while he was in France, the building was modelled after a Roman temple, the Maison Carree. While Jefferson did not directly copy the Maison Carree, but modified it to accommodate modern necessities, he did respect the general temple form and introduced the Classical Revival style into America. A half a century after the erection of the building, the General Assembly commissioned Maximilian Godefroy to develop a landscaping plan that would supply an appropriate setting for the public building. The formal French layout that resulted was drastically transformed in 1850 by John Notman who turned Capitol Square into the first picturesque park in America. The Capitol building remained intact until the Capitol disaster of 1870 in which a structural failure caused the destruction of the north end of the building. Following the catastrophe, the building was restored only to be completely gutted, renovated and enlarged with the addition of 1902-04. This addition, designed collaboratively by the architecture firms of Noland and Baskervill, Frye and Chesterman, and Peebles, consisted of the addition of front stairs and two wings with connecting hyphens, to house the Senate chamber and the hall of the House of Delegates. 1964 saw a total restoration of the Capitol and a widening of the hyphens to accommodate stairs on the interior of the building and to supply more office space on both the basement and fourth floor levels. Since then no major changes have occurred. Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-358, FN-359, FN-360, FN-361, FN-362, FN-367 Survey number: HABS VA-1254 Building/structure dates: 1785 Initial Construction Building/structure dates: 1870 Subsequent Work Building/structure dates: 1904 Subsequent Work Building/structure dates: 1964 Subsequent Work
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