A majority of the state capitol buildings in the US look like variations of the national one in Washington, DC. A typical one has a dome in the middle over a rotunda with two main wings on either side of the center section.
Alaska’s Capitol
There are significant exceptions. Alaska’s resembles an older corporate headquarters of a medium-sized company. And New York’s could pass for a Dutch government ministry which may previously have been a royal palace.
But four of the nonconformist capitols were designed in an innovative architectural style which was born and nurtured in the United States — the skyscraper.
The first ever skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago. This steel framed structure was completed in 1885 After some augmentation in 1890 it stood 180 feet/55 meters tall.
The skyscraper gained popularity in the early decades of the 20th century. It was only a matter of time before it was adopted for use by the public sector. Four states which built new capitols in the 20th century chose skyscraper designs.
November 24: On this day in 1859 Cass Gilbert, the American architect who designed many museums, libraries, and government building including the United States Supreme Court Building was born.
View of Woolworth Building and surrounding buildings, New York City (1913)Cass Gilbert was an early proponent of skyscrapers. He designed the Woolworth building that was completed in Manhattan in 1913. Upon its completion, the Woolworth building held record for the world’s tallest building by rising higher than the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower. Originally designed to be 420 feet (130 m) high, the Woolworth building was eventually elevated to 792 feet (241 m). At its opening, the Woolworth Building was 60 stories tall and had over 5,000 windows. Despite advancements in technology, Gilbert’s Woolworth building is still one of the 50 tallest buildings in America.
More modern artists admired his work. Even Frank Lloyd Wright praised the lines of the building, although he felt the ornamentation was unnecessary.
In addition to this towering structure, Gilbert was also responsible for numerous museums and libraries as well as state capitol buildings including the capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and West Virginia.
He is remembered for designing public architectural icons like the United States Supreme Court building. His public buildings in the Beaux Arts style reflected the optimistic American sense that the nation was heir to Greek democracy, Roman law and Renaissance humanism.
Aerial view of the Supreme Court, Washington, D.C.
Unlike some geniuses, Gilbert’s achievements were well recognized during his lifetime. He even served as president of the American Institute of Architects in 1908-09 – before winning the commission for Frank Woolworth’s New York skyscraper.
Gilbert believed architecture should reflect historic traditions and the established social order. His design of the new Supreme Court building in 1935, with its classical lines and relatively small size contrasted sharply with the huge modernist Federal buildings going up alongsode the National Mall in D.C.
Cass Gilbert in 1907
Cass Gilbert felt that much of his work was overshadowed by the Woolworth building and in 1920 Gilbert wrote to a fellow architect, Ralph Adams Cram, “I sometimes wish I had never built the Woolworth Building because I fear it may be regarded as my only work and you and I both know that whatever it may be in dimension and in certain lines it is after all only skyscraper.”
The clock shown above is in the Woolworth Building, New York, New York. You can see a more detailed photo of it here.
TL;DR Civics 