The Delaware Legislative Hall is the state capitol building of Delaware

Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

 located in the state capital of Dover

Dover, Delaware

The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...

 on Court Street. It houses the chambers and offices of the Delaware General Assembly

Delaware General Assembly

The Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 Senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 Representatives...

.

Old State House

The original capitol of Delaware was the State House (now known as the Old State House), located on The Green in Dover. It was commissioned originally by Kent County

Kent County, Delaware

Kent County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is coextensive with the Dover, Delaware, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population was 162,310, a 28.1% increase over the previous decade. The county seat is Dover, the state capital...

 as the Kent County Court House, and was constructed from 1787 to 1791, when it became the State House. Kent County and the state government shared the building until 1873, when the Kent County government relocated away. The State House was used until the completion of Legislative Hall.

Today, the Old State House has been restored

Building restoration

Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...

 to its 18th-century appearance and is now a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 that includes the site of a former courtroom

Courtroom

A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...

 and the former chambers of the state legislature. The House chamber contains portraits by Thomas Sully

Thomas Sully

Thomas Sully was an American painter, mostly of portraits.-Early life:Sully was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to the actors Matthew and Sarah Sully. In March 1792 the Sullys and their nine children immigrated to Richmond, Virginia, where Thomas’s uncle managed a theater...

 of Commodore Jacob Jones

Jacob Jones

Commodore Jacob Nicholas Jones was an officer in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary Wars, and the War of 1812.-Biography:...

 and Commodore Thomas Macdonough

Thomas MacDonough

Thomas Macdonough was an early-19th-century American naval officer noted for his roles in the first Barbary War, and the War of 1812. He was the son of a revolutionary officer, Thomas Sr. who lived close to Middleton, Delaware. Being the sixth child born, he came from a large family of ten...

, Delaware heroes who served in the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

.

Legislative Hall

Legislative Hall is opposite the Old State House on the mall. The building was designed in the Colonial Revival

Colonial Revival architecture

The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

 style by E. William Martin, the architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

, under the direction of the State Buildings and Grounds Commission, created by Governor C. Douglass Buck

C. Douglass Buck

Clayton Douglass Buck was an American engineer and politician from New Castle Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware. He was a veteran of World War I and a member of the Republican Party, who served two terms as Governor and one term as U. S. Senator from Delaware...

 in 1931 during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. The structure was completed and dedicated in 1933. From 1965-1970, a north and south wings were added on the sides of the building, giving each member of the Assembly an office in addition to their desk in their chamber. The architect George Fletcher Bennet of Dover designed the expansion.

Two more wings, providing more office space for legislators and staff as well as hearing and caucus rooms, were added to the east side of the building in 1994. This expansion was designed by the Wilmington

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

-based firm The Architects Studio. In addition, the entire interior of Legislative Hall was renovated in a three-phase project during the summers of 1995, 1996 and 1997, including refurbishment of both the House and Senate chambers as well as the lobby, cafeteria

Cafeteria

A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...

 and many offices. This project was designed by the Wilmington firm Moeckel Carbonell Associates,

In addition to the chambers of the Delaware House of Representatives

Delaware House of Representatives

The Delaware House of Representatives is the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly; the state legislature of the U.S. State of Delaware. It is composed of 41 Representatives from an equal amount of constituencies, each of whom is elected to a two year term. The Delaware General Assembly...

 and Senate

Delaware Senate

The Delaware Senate is the upper house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Delaware. It is composed of 21 Senators, each of whom is elected to a four-year term, except when reapportionment occurs, at which time Senators may be elected to a two-year term....

, the Legislative Hall also includes space used by the General Assembly's two nonpartisan staff agencies, the Division of Research and the Office of the Controller General, as well as offices for the governor and lieutenant governor

Lieutenant Governor of Delaware

The Lieutenant Governor of Delaware is the second ranking executive officer of the U.S. state of Delaware. Lieutenant Governors are elected for a term of four years in the same general election as the U.S. President and take office the following January....

 while the General Assembly is in session.

Legislative Hall is the home of the Hall of Governors, which includes portraits of all of Delaware's governors. The building also houses other portraits, including political and military figures such as James Frank Allee, James A. Bayard the elder

James A. Bayard (elder)

James Asheton Bayard II was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist Party, who served as U.S. Representative from Delaware and U.S. Senator from Delaware.-Early life and family:Bayard was born in Philadelphia,...

, Bradford B. Barnes, James A. Bayard, Jr.

James A. Bayard, Jr.

James Asheton Bayard, Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware.-Early life and family:...

, Henry Clay Conrad, Richard S. Cordrey, Samuel Francis Du Pont

Samuel Francis du Pont

Samuel Francis Du Pont was an American naval officer who achieved the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family; he was the only member of his generation to use a capital D...

, Vera Gilbride Davis, J. Allen Frear, Jr., Herman Holloway, Sr., Calvin R. McCullough, Eli M. Saulsbury

Eli M. Saulsbury

Eli May Saulsbury was a lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as U.S. Senator from Delaware....

, John Wales

John Wales

John Wales was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Whig Party, who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware.-Early life and family:...

, John Jay Williams, Presley Spruance

Presley Spruance

Presley Spruance was an American merchant and politician from Smyrna, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist and later the Whig Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as U.S...

, Willard Saulsbury, Sr.

Willard Saulsbury, Sr.

Willard Saulsbury, Sr. was a lawyer and politician from Georgetown, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served as Attorney General of Delaware, U.S...

, and Willard Saulsbury, Jr.

Willard Saulsbury, Jr.

Willard Saulsbury, Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware and President pro tempore of the U.S...

.

External links

• Delaware Legislative Hall (39.157307°N 75.519722°W)
• State House Museum (39.156473°N 75.522864°W)