Vermont State House | |
 The State House in May 2024 | |
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| Location | Montpelier, Vermont, U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 44°15′45″N72°34′50″W / 44.26250°N 72.58056°W /44.26250; -72.58056 |
| Built | 1833; 192 years ago (1833) |
| Architect | Ammi Burnham Young Thomas Silloway |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000739[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 30, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | December 30, 1970[2] |
TheVermont State House, located inMontpelier, is thestate capitol of theU.S. state ofVermont. It is the seat of theVermont General Assembly. The currentGreek Revival structure is the third building on the same site to be used as the State House. Designed byThomas Silloway in 1857 and 1858, it was occupied in 1859.
A careful restoration of the Vermont State House began in the early 1980s led by curator David Schütz and theFriends of the Vermont State House, a citizens' advisory committee. The general style of the building isNeoclassical andGreek Revival and is furnished inAmerican Empire,Renaissance Revival, andRococo Revival styles. Some rooms have been restored to represent latter-19th-century styles including the "Aesthetic Movement" style.
Since 1994, Buildings and General Services Architect Tricia Harper has been responsible for design and construction for the restoration and renovation project of the building and its grounds.
The Vermont State House is located on State Street on the western edge of downtown Montpelier, a block north of theWinooski River. Set against a wooded hillside (which was open pasture land earlier during much of its history), the building and its distinctivegold leaf dome are easily visible while approaching Montpelier, the smallest city to serve as capital of a U.S. state.
The current structure was designed by architectThomas Silloway (1828–1910) amplifying the design of an earlier structure designed byAmmi B. Young, (1798–1874) later supervising architect of theU.S. Treasury. The first State House built in 1808 by Sylvanus Baldwin was replaced by the currentVermont Supreme Court Building[3] completed in 1918.[4]
The prior edifice, known as the "Second State House", was constructed on the same site between 1833 and 1838. Young's structure was of a more reserved Greek Revival design based upon theTemple of Hephaestus in Athens. GrayBarregranite is used for the two-storycruciform design with aDoricportico and a low saucer dome echoingWilliam Thornton's earliest design for theUnited States Capitol. Young's structure was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in January 1857. Silloway was able to salvage the Doric portico, as well as portions of the granite walls. Silloway added an additional bay of windows on each side of the central portico and increased the height of the dome (copper on a wood substructure) to its current level. This may have been done to imitate the increased height of the newCapitol dome in Washington designed by Thomas U. Walter which was being constructed during the same time.
The dome and roofs were originally painted a dark terracotta red to suggest Tuscan tile. The dome was not gilded until the early 20th century, when many states did so as a part of theColonial Revival style.
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The dome is topped by a statue namedAgriculture, a representation ofCeres, anancient Roman goddess ofagriculture. The original statue was carved by Vermont artistLarkin Goldsmith Mead, who also carved the large bust of Lincoln in the Hall of Inscriptions on the State House's ground floor. This statue was installed in 1858. When the first statue rotted out a replacement based on Mead's original was carved in 1938 by then 87-year-old Dwight Dwinell, Sergeant-at-Arms (in Vermont this official position is similar in nature to theWhite House Chief Usher). In April 2018 the second statue was removed. The current statue was carved by Chris Miller out of a laminated block of mahogany and was based on a one-quarter scale model created by Jerry Williams which was also based on the original 1858 statue.[5]
The Doric portico, the main ceremonial entrance, houses a granite statue ofEthan Allen. Ethan Allen was a founder of Vermont and commander of theGreen Mountain Boys, an early Vermont military infantry active during theVermont Republic (1777–1791). The statue was carved by Aristide Piccini in 1941, to replace the original marble version carved by Larkin Goldsmith Mead in 1858. The architectStanford White (1853–1906) considered Silloway's Vermont State House to be the finest example of the Greek Revival style in the United States.
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The State House contains two primary floors accessible by a pair of circular stairways opening into the ground-floor Cross Hall. An elevator is also available. The Entrance Hall is of the GreekIonic order and flanked by portraits of PresidentsCalvin Coolidge andChester A. Arthur, both native to Vermont. The tall double front doors were painted and then coated with a metallic powder to appear as bronze in 1859. The Entrance Hall contains a portrait of Montpelier native AdmiralGeorge Dewey on the bridge of his flagship during theBattle of Manila Bay. The Vermont State House does not have a rotunda, the dome being located almost directly above the ceiling of Representatives Hall on the second floor. The principal public room is the Hall of Inscriptions, a Doric pilastered corridor featuring eight monumental marble tablets incised with quotations about the distinct nature of Vermont's culture and heritage. The tablets quote theVermont Constitution,Ethan Allen,Calvin Coolidge,George Aiken,Warren Austin, andDorothy Canfield Fisher among others. Each tablet features fourteen gilded stars, representing Vermont's fourteen counties, the state's fourteen years as an independent republic, and being the fourteenth state to join the federal Union. The four corners of each tablet feature a sheath of grain, a detail found in theGreat Seal of Vermont, designed byIra Allen.
The ceremonial office of theGovernor of Vermont, used during legislative sessions for meetings and bill-signings, is located in the second-floor west wing of the building. The Executive Chamber has been restored to its 1859 appearance with pediment hooded windows supported byItalianate-style brackets, and gilded Rococo Revival draperycornices. A Wilton style carpet colored crimson, azure blue and gold was rewoven as part of the restoration. The Vermont Governor's working office and private apartments are located nearby atThe Pavilion, built inSecond Empire style and located just east of theVermont Supreme Court. Portraits of Vermont governors (includingHoward Dean, who is shown in an idiosyncratic pose in acanoe amid a natural setting) are displayed through the first and second floors of the State House, the corridors of which are a sort of state portrait gallery, commemorating famous Vermonters.
The two chambers of the Vermont General Assembly are on the second floor. While both chambers have overhead visitors' galleries accessible on a third-floormezzanine, visitors are welcome to quietly enter and sit in the main floor of the chambers. Contrary to the tradition of decorating the upper house in red and the lower house in green, established by theHouse of Lords andHouse of Commons in the United Kingdom, Vermont reserves the state colors of green and gold for its upper house, theVermont Senate. Red and gold is used for theVermont House of Representatives which meets in Representatives Hall. A large plaster ceiling medallion in the center of the chamber in the form of a lotus with a centerrosette ofacanthus leaves hold a two-tiered electrified gasolier manufactured in Philadelphia by Cornelius and Baker. Each petal of the rosette weighs approximately 500 pounds. Brilliantaxminster carpets have been recreated for both chambers based on oldstereoscope views and small scraps found in an attic. On either side of therostrum in Representatives Hall, are a series of connected elliptical-backed seats designed to fill the north wall of the chamber. The seats are upholstered and tufted in crimson and are used to seat members of the Vermont Senate during joint sessions of the General Assembly. The seats also accommodate the justices of the State's supreme court for the Governor'sState of the State address and the inauguration of governors. Citizens frequently occupy these seats when the House is in separate session, or for large public hearings.
The second floor of the west wing includes the Cedar Creek Room, a large reception room featuring a mural painted byJulian Scott in 1874. The mural nearly fills the south wall and depicts theBattle of Cedar Creek during theAmerican Civil War. The painting highlights the contributions of Vermont troops in the battle. The room is illuminated by twostained glassskylights in the deeplycoffered ceiling dating to 1859 when the room housed the State Library. At some time the skylight was broken, and the opening closed. In 1970, while doing renovation work, workers discovered the broken pieces neatly stacked in the attic above the room. The pieces were reassembled, conserved, and reinstalled during the mid-1980s. One window (shown at left) depicts the obverse of thecoat of arms of Vermont, which is a more painterly armorial representation of theGreat Seal of Vermont (reserved solely for embossing documents), the arms are topped by the head of abuckwhite-tailed deer and circled by branches ofEastern White Pine (Pinus strobus). Pine badges were worn as an expression of Vermont identity by citizens while the state was a republic, and again during the American Civil War byVermont's military regiments. The other skylight features the rarely seen reverse of the state coat of arms, a female personification of the state referred to as "Vermontannia." The wall stencils in the Cedar Creek Room are the original patterns, recreated based upon old photographs, and the colors were matched by paint analysis. It is seated among sheaths of corn and wheat, representing Vermont's agricultural history. This room is restored to its 1888 appearance when the room was converted from the State Library to use as a governor's reception room. The walls, and 20-foot ceilings arepolychrome painted in a complex palette of tertiary colors:burnishedcopper,russet,salmon, and a deepblue-green with overlays of metallic stencilling. The style is largely of theAesthetic Movement.
Most of the furnishings in the building date to the 1859 reconstruction of the State House, including the 30black walnut chairs in theVermont Senate chamber, still used for the same purpose today. Several American Empire-style sofas, a set ofklismos chairs, carved black walnut Renaissance Revival-style chairs for the Senate President and House Speaker, and suites of Rococo Revival settées and chairs also date to the completion of Silloway's reconstruction. The majority of the lighting fixtures in the building are original, restored and electrifiedormolugas chandeliers and wall sconces manufactured in Philadelphia by Cornelius and Baker during the 1850s. The large two-tiered, 26-light chandelier in Representatives Hall features sculptures of mythological figures, including a copy of Vermont sculptorHiram Powers'The Greek Slave, which became anabolitionist icon. Only the largeportrait of George Washington, paintedc. 1837 by George Gassner afterGilbert Stuart, which hangs above the speaker's chair in Representatives Hall, survived the fire of 1857.
Vermont's reputation for popular government is represented by the State House's nickname "the People's House."[citation needed] While its primary use is as the house of the legislative branch of Vermont government, it has from its beginnings also functioned as a living museum and state cultural facility.[citation needed]
The building is open to visitors with remarkably few restrictions whether the legislature is in session or not. The large Representatives Hall is used for evening concerts named "Farmers Nights" during winter months. During warmer weather, the public lawn on the south side is used for concerts by theVermont Symphony Orchestra, municipal bands from around the state, marching regimentalbagpipe tattoos, modern dance concerts, as well as to provide space for local residents to sit, eat, and play sports.Quilts, ceramics, photography and paintings by citizens periodically hang in the building's corridors, committee and caucus rooms, and dining room.
In recent years, each February 14 the columns of the portico and lawn are bedecked with red paper hearts by the so-calledValentine Phantom. Additionally, the public lawn and steps of the portico serve as a well-used platform for peaceful demonstrations, press conferences by various official and non-official groups, and for formally welcoming official visitors to the State of Vermont.
The House'sbackup generator in the basement was replaced by a 250 kWhbattery in 2020, and suppliespeak power andgrid services to the public grid.[7][8]
On June 12, 2013, Google added the Vermont State House to theirStreet View imagery.[9]
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chandeliers were illuminated with coal-fired gas. Electricity was finally installed in 1898
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