Georgia State Capitol
Encyclopedia
The Georgia State Capitol, in Atlanta
, Georgia
, in the United States
, is an architecturally and historically significant building. It has been named a National Historic Landmark
and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. It is the main office building of Georgia's government. The offices of the governor, lieutenant governor
, and secretary of state
are on the second floor
, while the General Assembly
meets on the third floor from January to April. There are also visitors' galleries and a museum
on the fourth floor.
. In getting the state to change the capital city to rapidly-growing and industrialized Atlanta from rural Milledgeville
, the city donated it to the state. The first capitol in Louisville
no longer stands, while Augusta
and Savannah
before it never had particular capitol buildings, perhaps causing (or caused by) the alternation of those two cities as capital. The legislature also met at other places, including Macon
, especially during and just after the Atlanta Campaign
of the American Civil War
.
capitols, the Georgia State Capitol is designed to resemble the Classical architectural
style of the United States Capitol
, in Washington, D.C.
. Completed in 1889, the building was designed by architect
s Willoughby J. Edbrooke
and Franklin P. Burnham, of Chicago, Illinois
. The building was constructed by Miles and Horne, of Toledo
, Ohio
. Sculptor George Crouch executed all the ornamental work on the building. The commission that oversaw the planning and construction of the building included former Confederate general Phillip Cook
.
The front of the capitol faces west on Washington Street. The façade
features a four-story portico
, with stone pediment
, supported by six Corinthian
columns set on large stone piers. Georgia's coat of arms
, with two figures on each side, is engraved on the pediment. The Capitol's interior represents the 19th century style
of its time. It was among the earliest buildings to have elevators, centralized steam heat, and combination gas
and electric lights. Classical
pilaster
s and oak paneling are used throughout the building. The floors of the interior are made of marble from Pickens County
, which still produces marble products today.
The open central rotunda
is flanked by two wings, each with a grand staircase and three-story atrium
crowned by clerestory
windows. The Capitol building has undergone frequent renovation
s to adapt to the growth and change of government. Originally constructed from terra cotta
and covered with tin
, in a 1958 renovation the present dome was gilded with native gold leaf
from near Dahlonega in Lumpkin County
, where the first American gold rush
occurred during the 1830s. For this reason, legislative business is often referred to as what is happening "under the gold dome" by media across the state. The statue Miss Freedom
has adorned the dome since the building's opening.
In 1997, a restoration of the House and Senate chambers was performed, returning their appearance to that of their original 1889 decorations and color schemes. This included the demolition of damaged plaster, the reinstallation of flat plaster at the dome, columns, and walls, and a decorative painting in the House and Senate Chambers.
artifacts, animals, rocks and minerals, and fossils illustrate the diversity of the collections. During restoration or renovation, most of the collection remains in storage. The portraits of governors, statues of famous Georgians, and historic flags from many wars are displayed throughout the Capitol.
The Georgia Capitol Museum is a public education
institution in the Office of the Secretary of State
. The museum seeks to preserve and interpret the history of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, the functions of the government, and the events that have occurred in the Capitol. To accomplish this, the museum collects, preserves, and interprets artifacts relating to the Capitol or associated with the events that have occurred there.
Georgia's second capitol building is at 201 East Greene Street, Milledgeville, Georgia
, and served as state capitol until 1867. The building was severely damaged by a fire March 24, 1941 and was rebuilt in its former design to serve as a part of Georgia Military College
. The first floor of the old capitol is open as a museum.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, is an architecturally and historically significant building. It has been named a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is the main office building of Georgia's government. The offices of the governor, lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Georgia
The Lieutenant Governor of Georgia is a constitutional officer of the state, elected to a 4-year term by popular vote. Unlike some states, the lieutenant governor is elected on a separate ticket from the state Governor....
, and secretary of state
Secretary of state of Georgia
The secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records....
are on the second floor
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
, while the General Assembly
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
meets on the third floor from January to April. There are also visitors' galleries and 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...
on the fourth floor.
History
The capitol site was occupied previously by the first Atlanta City HallAtlanta City Hall
Since Atlanta was founded, there have been four official city halls of Atlanta.-Antebellum:After half a decade of makeshift meeting places for city business , in 1853 mayor of Atlanta John Mims purchased the four-acre "Peters's Reserve" from Richard Peters for $5,000...
. In getting the state to change the capital city to rapidly-growing and industrialized Atlanta from rural Milledgeville
Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon, located just before Eatonton on the way to Athens along U.S. Highway 441, and it is located on the Oconee River. The relatively rapid current of the Oconee here made this an...
, the city donated it to the state. The first capitol in Louisville
Louisville, Georgia
Louisville is a city in Jefferson County, Georgia, United States. It is the former capital of Georgia and is the county seat of Jefferson County. It is located southwest of Augusta on the Ogeechee River, and its population was 2,712 at the 2000 census. The local pronunciation is the Americanized...
no longer stands, while Augusta
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
and Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
before it never had particular capitol buildings, perhaps causing (or caused by) the alternation of those two cities as capital. The legislature also met at other places, including Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, especially during and just after the Atlanta Campaign
Atlanta Campaign
The Atlanta Campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May...
of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Architecture
Like many U.S. stateU.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
capitols, the Georgia State Capitol is designed to resemble the Classical architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
style of the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. Completed in 1889, the building was designed by 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...
s Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative federal and state governments that were spurred by his stint in...
and Franklin P. Burnham, of Chicago, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The building was constructed by Miles and Horne, of Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. Sculptor George Crouch executed all the ornamental work on the building. The commission that oversaw the planning and construction of the building included former Confederate general Phillip Cook
Phillip Cook
Philip Cook was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a postbellum member of the United States Congress.-Biography:...
.
The front of the capitol faces west on Washington Street. The façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
features a four-story portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
, with stone pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, supported by six Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
columns set on large stone piers. Georgia's coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, with two figures on each side, is engraved on the pediment. The Capitol's interior represents the 19th century style
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
of its time. It was among the earliest buildings to have elevators, centralized steam heat, and combination gas
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
and electric lights. Classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s and oak paneling are used throughout the building. The floors of the interior are made of marble from Pickens County
Pickens County, Georgia
Pickens County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The 2000 Census showed a population of 22,983. The 2007 Census Estimate showed a population of 30,488...
, which still produces marble products today.
The open central rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
is flanked by two wings, each with a grand staircase and three-story atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
crowned by clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
windows. The Capitol building has undergone frequent renovation
Renovation
Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...
s to adapt to the growth and change of government. Originally constructed from terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
and covered with tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
, in a 1958 renovation the present dome was gilded with native gold leaf
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
from near Dahlonega in Lumpkin County
Lumpkin County, Georgia
Lumpkin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,966. Its county seat is Dahlonega.- History :...
, where the first American gold rush
Georgia Gold Rush
The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States. It started in 1828 in the present day Lumpkin County near county seat Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. By the early 1840s, gold became harder to find...
occurred during the 1830s. For this reason, legislative business is often referred to as what is happening "under the gold dome" by media across the state. The statue Miss Freedom
Miss Freedom
Miss Freedom, sometimes referred to as Goddess of Liberty, is the name of the statue adorning the dome of the Georgia State Capitol since 1889. Commissioned in 1884, the hollow copper statue is painted white, weighs over 1600 lbs and is over 26 feet tall. She was sculpted with a torch in her right...
has adorned the dome since the building's opening.
In 1997, a restoration of the House and Senate chambers was performed, returning their appearance to that of their original 1889 decorations and color schemes. This included the demolition of damaged plaster, the reinstallation of flat plaster at the dome, columns, and walls, and a decorative painting in the House and Senate Chambers.
Georgia Capitol Museum
The museum within the Capitol, in existence since 1889, houses extensive collections representing the natural and cultural history of Georgia. Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
artifacts, animals, rocks and minerals, and fossils illustrate the diversity of the collections. During restoration or renovation, most of the collection remains in storage. The portraits of governors, statues of famous Georgians, and historic flags from many wars are displayed throughout the Capitol.
The Georgia Capitol Museum is a public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
institution in the Office of the Secretary of State
Secretary of state of Georgia
The secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records....
. The museum seeks to preserve and interpret the history of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, the functions of the government, and the events that have occurred in the Capitol. To accomplish this, the museum collects, preserves, and interprets artifacts relating to the Capitol or associated with the events that have occurred there.
Dimensions
- Greatest north–south: 347 feet, 9 inches (105.99 meters)
- Greatest central depth: 272 feet, 4.5 inches (83.02 meters)
- Second-Floor Rotunda to ceiling: 187 feet, 4 inches (57.10 meters)
- Dome diameter: 75 feet (22.86 meters)
Georgia's old capitol museum
Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon, located just before Eatonton on the way to Athens along U.S. Highway 441, and it is located on the Oconee River. The relatively rapid current of the Oconee here made this an...
, and served as state capitol until 1867. The building was severely damaged by a fire March 24, 1941 and was rebuilt in its former design to serve as a part of Georgia Military College
Georgia Military College
Georgia Military College is a United States Military Junior College, high school, and middle school in Milledgeville, Georgia. GMC is one of five military junior colleges that participates in the Army's Early Commissioning Program. Cadets who graduate from GMC's two-year, military science-oriented...
. The first floor of the old capitol is open as a museum.
Current State Capitol
- Georgia State Capitol
- GeorgiaInfo.com listing/pictures of Statues and Monuments at the State Capitol complex
- Atlanta, Georgia, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary