| Idaho State Capitol | |
|---|---|
 View from southwest in August 2012 | |
 Interactive map of the Idaho State Capitol area | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| Location | 700 West Jefferson Street Boise,Idaho, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 43°37′04″N116°11′59″W / 43.6177°N 116.1996°W /43.6177; -116.1996 |
| Construction started | 1905; 121 years ago (1905) |
| Completed | 1912; 114 years ago (1912) 1920 (wings) |
| Cost | $2,098,455 |
| Owner | State of Idaho |
| Height | 208 feet (63 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor area | 201,720 sq ft (4.631 acres; 18,740 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | John E. Tourtellotte Charles Hummel |
Idaho State Capitol | |
| Part of | Boise Capitol Area District |
| NRHP reference No. | 76000663[1] |
| Added to NRHP | May 12, 1976 |
TheIdaho State Capitol inBoise is thehome of the government of theU.S. state ofIdaho. AlthoughLewiston briefly served as Idaho'scapital city from the formation of the old federalIdaho Territory in 1863, the territorial legislature moved it to Boise on December 24, 1864. It continued as such following the admission of the Territory as the 43rdstate in the federal Union on July 3, 1890, the day beforeIndependence Day, when a 43rd white star was added officially to theAmerican Flag.[2]
Construction of the first portion of the new state capitol building began in the summer of 1905, fifteen years after 43rd statehood, and the designing architects wereJohn E. Tourtellotte (1869–1939), and Charles Hummel, in their architectural firm / partnership ofTourtellotte & Hummel (now namedHummel Architects). Tourtellotte was aConnecticut native whose career began inMassachusetts and continued when he moved west to Boise. Hummel was aGerman American immigrant who partnered with Tourtellotte in 1901. The final cost of the building was just over $2 million; it was completed fifteen years later in 1920. The architects used varied materials to construct the building and their design was inspired byClassical style ofarchitecture ofAncient Rome andAncient Greece for examples.[3] Itssandstone exterior is dug and cut from the state-owned quarry at nearbyTable Rock inAda County, Idaho.
The now historic landmark building was included in theBoise Capitol Area District listing on the U.S.National Register of Historic Places on May 12, 1976 (lists maintained by theNational Park Service of theUnited States Department of the Interior).[4]
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Tourtellotte and Hummel used four types of marble: red marble from Georgia, gray marble from Alaska, green marble from Vermont, and black marble from Italy. Architectural inspirations includedSt. Peter’s Basilica in Rome,St Paul's Cathedral inLondon and theU.S. Capitol inWashington, D.C. The most prominent feature of the capitol is its dome. Surmounting this dome is a bronze eagle, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m) tall. The capitol building is 208 feet (63 m) high, occupies an area of 201,720 square feet (18,740 m2), and contains over 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of artistically carved marble.
There are 219 pillars in the original building—Doric,Corinthian, orIonic—and each pillar is made up of marble dust, plaster andscagliola. Scagliola is a mixture of granite, marble dust, gypsum and glue dyed to look like marble. This artificial marble was created by a family of artisans in Italy.
On the first floor of the capitol building, when looking upward to the dome, 13 large stars and 43 smaller stars can be seen. The 13 large stars represent thethirteen original colonies and the 43 smaller stars indicate that Idaho was the forty-third state to enter the union. The floor contains acompass rose; in its center is asundial that has minerals found in Idaho. The first floor also houses a statue calledthe Patriot byKenneth Lonn, for those who worked in the mining industry.
The second floor may be accessed via three entrances; from the east, south, and west. Thelieutenant governor’s office is located in the west wing, just opposite thegovernor’s office. On the north side of the second floor rotunda is a sculpture ofGeorge Washington astride a horse; to its rear is theattorney general’s suite of offices, which formerly housed theIdaho Supreme Court, until its current building opened in 1970. The east wing houses the office of thesecretary of state offices, in whose reception area is the official copy of the Great Seal of the State of Idaho.
The third floor contains theSenate in the west wing and theHouse of Representatives in the east wing. The two chambers were remodeled in 1968. Also on this floor is the old Supreme Court room, now used for hearings and committee meetings of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. Balcony entrances on the fourth floor of the senate and house galleries, which enable the public to observe the legislature in session. The northeast, northwest, and southwest corners of this floor contain many historic paintings, as well as three murals byDana Boussard.
In 1998, Idaho officials drafted a master plan to restore the Capitol. Though it has many impressive features, the "Statehouse" had begun to fade with age. The interior restoration work would include restoration and refinishing of windows, repairs to marble flooring and decorative plaster, restoration of wood floors, refinishing wood doors and restoring hardware, upgrading electrical, smoke and fire-detection systems, improving exterior lighting, adding an emergency power generator, and installation of an elevator accessible to disabled persons.
TheIdaho Legislature with its two chambers initially provided a mere $120,000 for the project. In 2000, the evaluation master plan was completed and its total cost estimate put at $64 million to do a proper job of lasting quality. In 2001, the Legislature granted a one-time appropriation of $32 million; and bonds were issued to cover the other half of the Capitol project. In 2002–2003, crews completed Phase II of the project, which involved exterior facade repairs financed with a supplementary $1.5 million appropriation for that purpose. In 2005, an increase in the statecigarette /tobacco tax helped pay for additional interior restoration expenses totaling $20 million.
In 2006, the Legislature voted to finance two two-level underground legislative office wings at a cost about $130 million. However, in view of the U.S. national economic downturn of theGreat Recession in 2008–2009, then 32ndGovernor of IdahoButch Otter (born 1942, served 2007–2019), proposed less underground digging depth and constructing only single-level underground wings. After legislators agreed to this budget modification, construction began and continued until 2010, when both interior and exterior renovations were finished.
Plasterers were tasked with restoringscagliola, a composite ofselenite, glue, and natural pigments, imitatingmarble and other hard stones. Making scagliola is a laborious 15-step process, which has to be restarted if a single mistake is made. During its 1905–1920 construction, the Idaho State Capitol’s original architects used a combination of white marble and matching scagliola to create a "Capitol of Light," so called because the materials would glow in natural light in therotunda.
TheWinged Victory statue is a plaster replica of the original marble statue ofNike of Samothrace. The original statue was found on the island ofSamothrace, inGreece, in 1863 by aFrench explorer. The statue has characteristic features ofHellenistic art. The people ofFrance gave the replica to theUnited States as part of a gift afterUnited States Armed Forces helped liberateFrance fromNazi German occupation of 1940–1944, at the end of theSecond World War (1939/1941–1945). After it arrived inAmerica in February 1949, state officials placed the gift in the Boise Capitol.
The sculptureStatue head of Louise Shadduck honors the dedication of Idaho author, historian, civil servant, and political activistLouise Shadduck (1915–2008), who had died in 2008, at age 92.[5] In 1958, Shadduck was elected the state'sSecretary of Commerce and Development – the first woman to hold that office in the Governor's executive cabinet. The statue is made of bronze and black stone.
The Capitol also houses a display of a collection of 20 portraits of the early Idahoterritorial and state Governors completed by artistHerbert A. Collins (1865–1937), completed in 1911.
Attractions in the restored and expanded building include a gilded equestrian statue of George Washington and information about the historic trees that surrounded the capitol building before the grounds were cleared for underground construction. (PresidentsBenjamin Harrison,Theodore Roosevelt, andWilliam Taft planted trees on the property; Harrison planted awater oak, Roosevelt planted aSugar Maple in 1903, and Taft planted theOhio Buckeye in 1911.) The Golden Statue was carved by Charles Osner in 1869 fromwhite pine, the state tree of Idaho. Osner worked by candlelight and took four years to finish the work.
Tunnels connect the Capitol Building to theSupreme Court building and other government buildings on Capitol Mall to the east. Used daily by government employees, these tunnels are not accessible to the public, and could serve as bomb shelters to protect the governor and other public officials.
A full-scale replica of theLiberty Bell (uncracked) occupies a site at the base of the stairs outside the Jefferson Street entrance. The bell is one of 53 commissioned in 1950 by theU.S. Treasury Department and presented to each of the states and is accessible to passersby who can ring it.[6][7]
The capitol faces southwest and looks down Capitol Boulevard, about a mile (1.6 km) in length. At its opposite end is theBoise Depot, built in 1925 on the rim of the firstbench.
Idaho's Capitol Building is the only one in the United States heated by geothermal water. The hot water is tapped and pumped from a source 3,000 feet (910 m) underground.[8]
Media related toIdaho State Capitol at Wikimedia Commons
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