Maryland State House

This article is about the state capitol building of Maryland. For the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, seeMaryland House of Delegates.

TheMaryland State House is located inAnnapolis, Maryland. It is the oldestU.S. state capitol in continuous legislative use, dating to 1772, and houses theMaryland General Assembly, plus the offices of theGovernor andLieutenant Governor. In 1783 and 1784 it served as the capitol building of the United StatesCongress of the Confederation, and is whereRatification Day, the formal end of theAmerican Revolutionary War, occurred.


Maryland State House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark

Maryland State House inAnnapolis, Maryland
Location	Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.
Coordinates	38°58′44″N76°29′28″W / 38.97889°N 76.49111°W /38.97889; -76.49111
Built	1772–1797
Architect	Joseph Horatio Anderson
Architectural style	Georgian
NRHP reference No.	66000385
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966^[1]

The capitol has the distinction of being topped by the largest woodendome in the United States constructed without nails. The current building, which was designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1960,^[2] is the third statehouse on its site.^[3] The building is administered by the State House Trust, established in 1969.

Construction and history

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Construction began in 1772, but was not completed until 1797^[3] due to the ongoingAmerican Revolutionary War. The two-story brickGeorgian style structure, located inside State Circle, was designed by architectJoseph Horatio Anderson. A smallportico juts out from the center of the building, topped by apediment, with two high arched windows framing the entrance. On both floors, large rectangular windows line the facade. A cornice is topped by another pediment and the sloping roof gives way for a central octagonal drum atop which rests a dome. The large dome is topped by a balustraded balcony, another octagonal drum and a lantern capped by alightning rod. The rod was constructed and grounded according to the direct specifications of its inventor,Benjamin Franklin.^[4]^[5]^[6]

The building was surrounded by a low brick wall in 1818 to prevent cattle incursions. This was replaced by an iron fence with a granite base in 1836.^[7] The dome of the statehouse is depicted on the Marylandstate quarter.^[8]

An annex to the State House was constructed between 1902 and 1906 under the supervision of Baltimore architectsBaldwin & Pennington; the new annex replaced earlier 19th-century annexes. The current state House of Delegates and Senate chambers are part of the annex, which is clad in black and gold Italian marble.^[9] The annex includes the Grand Staircase from the first to the second floors; above the staircase is the paintingWashington Resigning His Commission byEdwin White, executed in 1858. In 2017, two additional paintings, both from the collection of theEnoch Pratt Free Library, were hung above the staircase.^[10] These additions were a portrait ofCharles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore byAllan Ramsay (c. 1740)[11] and a portrait ofFrederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore by Johann Ludwig Tietz (c. 1750).[12]

In the mid-1990s, thecypress dome underwent a structural renovation and repainting. However, thelatex paint that was used failed to bond due to preceding layers, causing it to flake. In 2011, the old paint was removed and replaced with whiteoil-based paint.^[8]

Grounds

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Women's March on January 20, 2018, on Lawyers Mall near the State House. Lawyers Mall is frequently used for protests and other gatherings.

Adjacent to the State House isLawyers Mall, an open space which was designated in 1973 after the demolition of the Court of Appeals building, which had sat at the location since 1906. Statues of Baltimore nativeThurgood Marshall, the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice, as well asDonald Gaines Murray, the first African-American to enter the University of Maryland School of Law since 1890, and a bench with statues of two anonymous children symbolizing the victory of Marshall's litigation inBrown v. Board of Education, all sit on Lawyers Mall. The space is the focal point ofFirst Amendment activities on capitol grounds.

Until 2017, there was a statue ofRoger B. Taney,Chief Justice of the United States, on the lawn of the State House. The statue was erected in 1872. The statue of Taney, a Marylander, was controversial because of Taney's support forslavery and his authorship of theU.S. Supreme Court decision inDred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which upheld the denial of citizenship toAfrican Americans. As a result, a movement in support of removing the statue emerged.^[13] At first, the State House Trust—made up of the governor, the speaker of the state house, the president of the state senate, and the chair of the Maryland Historical Trust Board of Trustees—responded by adding interpretive plaques "explaining the controversy over his divisive opinion and its place in the evolution of the nation's stance toward slavery."^[13] The Trust also added a statue of Marshall on Lawyers Mall, and agreed in 2016 to place statues of abolitionistsHarriet Tubman andFrederick Douglass in the State House.^[13] In the wake of theCharlottesville car attack in 2017, House SpeakerMichael E. Busch called for the removal of the Taney statue,^[14] as did GovernorLarry Hogan a day later.^[15] It was removed just after midnight on August 18, 2017.^[16]

Rotunda

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The rotunda is the primary home of theMaryland Federalist, a 1987 replica of the originalFederalist, a tiny ship built by Baltimore merchants in 1788 to celebrate Maryland's ratification of the U.S. Constitution.^[17] LargeCorinthian columns support the arches bracing the large dome above. Abalustrade lines the second floor balcony.

In the summer of 2012, the original handwritten text of George Washington's resignation letter was on display in the rotunda. It was again put on display in March 2020 alongside the originalStar-Spangled Banner byFrancis Scott Key on loan from theMaryland Center for History and Culture.^[18]

Chambers

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Old Senate Chamber

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The Old Senate Chamber

Washington, Lafayette & Tilghman at Yorktown, byCharles Willson Peale, 1784

To the right of the entrance is the old Senate Chamber. Chairs and desks were added to the room in the exact number (16) as originally furbished. The desk for the president is an original piece made byJohn Shaw in 1797.^[19] Above the fireplace is the paintingWashington, Lafayette & Tilghman at Yorktown byCharles Willson Peale; the work was commissioned by the Maryland Legislature in 1783 and added to the State House collection the following year. The painting depicts GeneralGeorge Washington,Lafayette andWashington's aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman.^[20]^[21]

It was in the Old Senate Chamber thatWashington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783. A bronze statue of Washington stands in the room.^[20]

On February 2, 1781, GovernorThomas Sim Lee signed and sealed the "act to empower the delegates ofthis state inCongress to subscribe and ratify theArticles of Confederation."^[22] The decision established the requisite unanimous consent of all thirteen states for the formation of aPerpetual Union.

On September 11, 1786, theAnnapolis Convention, an interstate convention to discuss ways to facilitate commerce between the states and the establishment standard rules and regulations, convened here. The convention laid the groundwork for the1787 Constitutional Convention.^[23]

The chamber had extensive investigation beginning in 2007 to solve water leakage problems. As a result of this study, restorers have determined that previous restoration attempts in 1905 and 1940 did not accurately recreate many elements of the room. A report of their findings was issued in January 2010. The restoration work was completed in 2015 and the chamber reopened to the public.^[24]

Working Senate Chamber

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Chamber of theMaryland State Senate

The Senate chamber is located in a wing added to the original structure between 1902 and 1905. The room is illuminated by a Tiffany-style skylight above. Red carpet emblazoned with the state seal covers the entire floor. Large Ionic columns line the walls and support the viewing gallery. The marble along the walls and the columns are flecked with rust and black, Maryland's official colors.

Two famous Marylanders are featured in statues flanking the podium:John Hanson, the first president by the Articles of Confederation, andCharles Carroll, one of the signers of theDeclaration of Independence. Four portraits of Declaration of Independence signatories for Maryland hang on the walls:William Paca,Thomas Stone,Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll.^[25] There are also portraits ofEdwin Warfield andJohn Walter Smith.^[26]

Working House Chamber

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The House of Delegates chamber is also in the new wing to the building. The carpet is navy blue and designed with a diamond and olivesheaths. The same rust and black marble lines the chamber and forms theIonic columns along the walls. A spectators' gallery is above the rostrum. The speaker sits in front of a broken marble pediment supporting a clock. Portraits of former Speakers of the House hang on the walls.

Governor's Reception Room

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The Governor's Reception Room is on the second floor. The room is mainly ceremonial and used forbill signings. Portraits of former governors hang on the walls. Portraits ofHenrietta Maria andQueen Anne hang nearby. The room was originally used as the Council Chamber for Maryland's executive council, which was abolished in state constitutional reforms in 1838; it became known as the Governor's Reception Room in the 1860s.^[27]

State House Caucus Room

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What is now known as the State House Caucus Room was originally divided into two rooms housing the records of the Land Office and the General Court (which later becameCourt of Appeals of Maryland). After the Old House of Delegates Chamber was expanded in 1858, the room was divided between the private office of the speaker of the House of Delegates (rear half) and a cloakroom (front half). In 1905–06, the room was likely renovated, and became known as the Flag Room, which housed variousCivil War battle flags and ceremonial weapons. The room was later used by the Department of Legislative Reference and became known as the "Bill Room" by the 1940s. From the early 1980s until 2008, the room was used as the Maryland State House Visitor Center. In 2011, the bill became the State House Caucus Room, and is now used for meetings.^[28]

The Caucus Room houses most of the 48-piecesilver service from thearmored cruiser USSMaryland, which was decommissioned in 1947.^[20]^[29] The pieces in the set show 167 scenes fromMaryland history, with each piece focusing on one ofMaryland's 23 counties andBaltimore.^[30] The silver was transferred from theMaryland Historical Society to the State House in 1962. In 1992, four pieces from the service were given to the submarineUSSMaryland.^[29] In addition to the silver, the Caucus Room contains a 19th-century bust ofReverdy Johnson.^[31]

Paintings in the Caucus Room include both portraits and landscapes. Portraits in the room are originals depictingOden Bowie (by Katherine Walton),^[32]Frank Brown (by Louis P. Dieterich),^[33]Leonard Calvert (attributed toJacob van Oost orJacob van Oost the Younger),^[34]Elihu Emory Jackson (by Ida Foster),^[35]Robert M. McLane (byGeorge Peter Alexander Healy),^[36]Thomas Swann (byFlorence Mackubin),^[37]Francis Thomas (by Franklin Barber Clark),^[38]William Pinkney Whyte (by David Bendann),^[39] andLevin Winder (by Florence Mackubin).^[40] The room also contains reproductions of portraits ofClarence W. Blount (bySimmie Knox)^[41] andMary Eliza Watters Risteau (by Talmadge of New York).^[42]

National capital

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From November 26, 1783, to August 13, 1784, Annapolis was thecapital of the United States. TheCongress of the Confederation met in the Maryland State House. Subsequently, Annapolis was a candidate to become the new permanent national capital beforeWashington, D.C., was built.

It was in the Old Senate Chamber thatCongress ratified theTreaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, formally ending theAmerican Revolutionary War.^[20]

United States district court

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TheUnited States District Court for the District of Maryland met there for the first decade of its existence.^[43] In 1800, judgeSamuel Chase tried a local postmaster for embezzlement and sentenced him to thirty-nine lashes. To execute the sentence, the defendant was tied to one of the statehouse columns.^[43]