T h e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | Vo l u m e t h r e e | Nu m b e r t w o | Ju n e 2010
Exterior Masonry Project Nebraska Capitol Commission Nears Completion Membership Dave Heineman Governor he first exterior masonry project limestone facade at each floor level and Chairman to holistically address the care of eliminate stress on the mortar joints and T Mike Flood the Nebraska State Capitol’s Indiana limestone. Parapet walls were rebuilt Speaker of the Legislature Limestone facade and copper roof is and lead flashing installed to stop water Vice-Chairman entering its final construction season. from seeping down through exterior Office of the Capitol Commission staff walls. Concrete and concrete brick Janice Walker are optimistic that the restoration cores replaced the red brick cores of Court Administrator work being completed, with ongoing/ the wing walls at the entrances. The Wayne Drummond proper maintenance, will ensure the concrete is more stable under high Dean Capitol meets the needs of government moisture conditions. Weep holes were College of Architecture, UNL for hundreds of years. The Exterior installed to drain away any moisture. Masonry Restoration Project began The complete re-tuckpointing of the Michael Smith in 1995 with an inspection of the limestone facade was an important part Director/CEO entire facade and roof of the Capitol. of the exterior masonry project and will Nebraska State Historical Society After 70 years of Nebraska’s extreme help keep the exterior weather tight. Bryce Neidig climate and minimal maintenance, During the installation of a new Congressional District 1 the exterior no longer shed water as it copper roof, flashing was increased should. As the Exterior Masonry Project to deal with snow drifting and ice Stan Meradith progressed, consulting architects accumulation on the roof. A heavier Congressional District 2 and engineers from Bahr Vermeer copper was used on the roof and a Jim Cudaback Haecker/Lincoln and Wiss Janney waterproof membrane was installed. Congressional District 3 Elstner/Chicago encountered design More of the roof was covered with a details considered state of the art in batten system, reducing the number Robert C. Ripley 1932, which contributed to the decline of solder seams associated with the Administrator of the Capitol’s exterior integrity. The flatlock system. Office of Capitol Commission consultants used their knowledge As part of the Exterior Masonry Secretary of modern building materials and Project, Office of the Capitol construction detailing, in coordination Commission staff and the project with Office of the Capitol Commission’s consultants created detailed design years of collective experience caring for documents and photographed all phases the Capitol, to develop a plan to improve of the work, creating a valuable archive existing building technology and create for future caretakers of the Nebraska systems to ease maintenance. State Capitol. Future generations A major component of the tower of Nebraskans will be grateful that restoration was the attachment of shelf such time and care was taken to keep angle supports on the tower’s steel Bertram Goodhue’s monument to the frame. During original construction, citizens of Nebraska functional into the the limestone was faced on the exterior 21st Century and beyond. and left to carry its own weight, which caused stress and cracking. The shelf supports were inserted to carry the 1 t
T h e Ca p i t o l So w e r | Th e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | Ju n e 2010 The People of the OCC Capitol Staff Office of the Capitol Ground Maintenance Staff Commission OCC at Work rounds Maintenance Staff Lee Briggs takes the lead Administration Gserving the Office of the Capitol on the shrub beds and Bob Ripley, Administrator Commission and the State Building care of the courtyard’s Tom Kaspar, Architect Mark Tonjes, Capitol Manager Division have almost 150 years of flowering trees and Tammy Honnor, Facilities combined experience caring for the shrubs. Construction Coordinator trees, turf and shrubs planted at the Cecilia Curtis-Beard, Nebraska State Capitol. The Grounds Lee Briggs Adminstrative Assistant Maintenance Staff cares for 338,710 29years Archive square feet of landscape and provides Mike Hoppmann is a Karen Wagner, Archivist snow removal for 57,460 square feet of Nebraska Certified hardscape at the Capitol as part of their Arborist. Carpentry overall maintenance of 1,886,981 square Brett Daugherty, Shop Supervisor feet of state facility grounds. Mike Hoppmann Ron Dulas, Furniture Conservator 21years Roger Frink, Craig Kreiner has 36 years with Hardware Conservator State Building Division Steve Janssen, Furniture Finisher and has been Horticultural Chris Bohlen’s focus is Phil Lagoni, Mason Supervisor since 1995, he turf and the application of Mike Marshall, Cabinet Maker supervises a staff of four, fertilizers and herbicides. Bill McClurg, Furniture Conservator plus detail workers. The Chris Bohlen Grounds Keeper Leaders 25years Custodial oversee fertilizing and Craig Kreiner Perry Shuman, mowing the turf, mulching 36 years Mechanic Don Pracheil Capitol Conservation Supervisor and pruning the shrub cares for the fleet Richard Mallam, Custodial Leader Rich Naber, Custodial Leader beds, general care of the Capitol’s tree of trucks and snow resources and maintenance of the removal equipment, Grounds Capitol’s underground irrigation system. utility vehicles, turf Don Pracheil Mike Hoppmann, To perform their many duties they are 31 years equipment and tools Arborist/Groundskeeper forklift and platform lift certified, EPA the grounds staff use. Don Pracheil, Mechanic certified for chemical application, and With the help of the detail workers, the Maintenance have Commercial Drivers Licenses. seasoned Grounds Maintenance staff Michael Jordan, Shop Supervisor While grounds staff work cooperatively maintains the Landmark landscape Jerry Allen, Plumber to maintain the Capitol Grounds. setting for the Nebraska State Capitol. Kent Bonebright, Sheet Metal Fabricator Tahir Karimi, Electrician John Steele, Maintenance Specialist
Tours Capitol Commission Meeting Notes Roxanne Smith, Tourism Supervisor/ Special Events Coordinator he Nebraska State Capitol Commission met on February 2, 2010. Old business Gloria Witherspoon, Tfor the Commission included a review of renovation projects for the second Tourism Aide half of the fiscal year. Discussion focused on energy efficiency, including lighting in renovated space and the need to balance historic preservation with lighting improvements. The Capitol Administrator explained that general illumination in offices is supplemented with task lighting on work surfaces to increase energy efficiency. The Office of the Capitol Commission considers energy efficiency improvements in all projects. Currently insulation is being added to the roof of the Capitol as the new copper is being applied, previously there had been none. New business included the budget summary for the upcoming FY 2010-11 and the 5% cuts being made in Office of the Capitol Commission expenditures. Other business included discussion of the newly remodeled Landmark Store and the desire to see Capitol-related gift items become available as funding allows. 2 t
T h e Ca p i t o l So w e r | Th e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | Ju n e 2010
Lincoln Memorial Plaza Conservation Historic monument an attraction on Capitol Projects Grounds
n 1903, Nebraskans proposed to I celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the city’s namesake Abraham Lincoln by commissioning a statue of Lincoln within an architectural setting on the grounds of the Capitol. Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon were chosen to create Nebraska’s Lincoln Memorial. French and Bacon later collaborated on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Nebraska’s great orator, William Jennings Bryan, spoke to a crowd of thousands at the September 12, 1912 dedication of this project. The Lincoln Memorial at the west entrance of the Nebraska State Capitol predates Bertram The Lincoln Memorial has become Postcard from the Goodhue’s building and was required to Nebraska Capitol an important feature on the grounds of be included in the new Capitol’s design. Collections shows the Nebraska State Capitol. It is the site the Lincoln Originally enclosed with a granite wall of public ceremonies and rallies. Visitors Memorial shortly and separate from the entrances of the after dedication. are drawn to the site for commemoration second Capitol, Goodhue incorporated the and photography. Maintenance and Lincoln Memorial in the west entrance of restoration work have included cleaning his building. He opened the back wall of the statue, repairing and stabilizing the the Memorial Plaza allowing pedestrians bronze lamps and restoring the granite to move through the Memorial and into eagles. The red Colorado sandstone his Capitol. This required changes in paving at the Memorial has been removed grade and paving. Ernst Herminghaus, and relaid to improve drainage. These in his landscape plan for the Capitol, projects, and the ongoing conservation of created a planting plan using upright the Lincoln Memorial by the Office of the junipers to visually enclose the plaza. The Capitol Commission, ensure this significant shrub beds around the Lincoln Memorial historical monument to the 16th President were restored for Arbor Day 2000 with of the United States continues to have a funds from “Fourth Grade Friends of the significant place in the Capital City which Capitol,” a state wide fund raising effort bears his name. led by students and teachers at Kahoa Elementary in Lincoln.
Any public space open and accessible could be the target of vandalism. The eagles carved into the granite tablet backing the Lincoln statue have suffered from such damage. OCC has been able to find qualified restoration artists to repair the broken sections. These highly skilled professionals are in great demand to maintain public art. There is a need for more trained professionals in this field. 3 T h e Ca p i t o l So w e r | Th e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | j u n e 2010
Setting an Architectural Jewel Ernst Herminghaus, Landscape Architect
he Landscape Plan for the Nebraska end of 1934, the ornamental bronze street TState Capitol was created by lamps were installed and trees and shrubs Nebraska’s first professionally trained planted. Early postcard views of the new Landscape Architect, Ernst Herminghaus. Capitol show a just planted landscape and Following basic design concepts for the are compared with later views to track the grounds identified by Capitol architect many changes that have occurred on the Bertram Goodhue, Herminghaus Capitol Grounds. Arbor Day designed the landscape setting of Nebraska’s Capitol. Through tree planting careful placement of trees across the streets around the Capitol, helps to restore Herminghaus visually expanded the Capitol site, which Goodhue the Capitol’s thought too small; careful selection and siting of trees on the landscape. grounds then framed and visually expanded the entrances of the Capitol. As a trained landscape architect, Herminghaus picked tree and shrub species adapted to Nebraska’s temperate climate. His formal designs identified each tree and its location on After 50 years of the grounds. living in Nebraska’s The original climate, some of the landscape design original trees were documents guided showing their age or preparation and had died and been planting on the removed; shrubs had Capitol’s grounds outgrown their beds. following its Over time additional completion in 1932. plant material had After final grading been added without and concrete work regard for the were completed, original plan. In 1984, sod was laid. By the a Capitol Grounds Restoration Master Plan was created to guide restoration of the grounds. In the new Grounds Master Arbor Day 2010, First Plan, Landscape Lady Sally Ganem and Architect Richard Sutton, PhD. FASLA Cornhusker Council Boy Scouts of America plant amended Herminghaus’ plant list with a tree on the Capitol’s updated disease resistant and drought west lawn. The Sugar tolerant cultivars of the originally identified Maple Tree, circled in the Herminghaus plan and trees and shrubs. The Grounds Master historical postcard above, Plan is guiding current work to restore the is one of 45 trees and 50 grounds to Ernst Herminghaus’ original shrubs planted as part of the restoration of the setting for Goodhue’s jewel, the Nebraska 4 Capitol landscape . State Capitol. T h e Ca p i t o l So w e r | Th e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | j u n e 2010
Core Construction Behind Blending ancient the and modern techniquesScenes he ancient Romans set the standard for The west masonry construction thousands of years ago. promenade T stair, newly That masonry standard was used to construct restored, monumental architecture throughout the Western appears to be constructed World until the advent of steel frame construction of granite and at the turn of the 20th Century. Built in the 1920’s limestone. The Nebraska’s Capitol has both types of construction. concrete and brick core are Bertram Goodhue, Capitol Architect, relied heavily hidden from on masonry construction for the Capitol’s base and view. used a steel frame clad in stone for the 400 foot tower. In a manner similar to the Roman use of marble form the non-bearing partition walls. Limestone and for the exterior surface of temples around the plaster were used for many interior wall finishes. Mediterranean, Goodhue used high quality Indiana In the various phases of the Exterior Masonry Limestone for the Demolition Restoration Project, Mark 1 Restoration Company exterior facade of of the east has opened up the facade of the Capitol and Nebraska’s Capitol. promenade exposed its inner core. Restoration at the entrances stair reveals Local limestone, the brick has provided staff and visitors an excellent view used in the first core of the of the classical construction techniques used in the two Capitols, was limestone Capitol. In the final phase of restoration, the East walls. unable to withstand Entrance is being rebuilt using the same classical Nebraska’s climate. masonry techniques. However to increase stability However, Nebraska in Nebraska’s climate, concrete and concrete bricks is represented in An air hammer will form the the red clay bricks breaks the inner core. which make up much bond between Once the limestone and of the interior core of the brick backing. granite stairs building. The ancient Once freed and limestone Romans are credited from the walls are mortar the with inventing concrete. limestone installed, Goodhue also used this blocks can the Capitol’s ‘modern’ building material in his Capitol. The be lifted away interior core for storage until Capitol’s foundation is poured concrete with reassembly. will once again steel reinforcement. Upon that foundation rests disappear from the structural brick core and limestone facade of the view. Visitors square base. The tower rises from the foundation and staff will on steel columns enclosed in concrete and brick. On be left to imagine what the interior, red clay bricks form construction techniques bearing walls and red clay tiles were used to create the monumental Nebraska State Capitol.
To improve stability poured concrete and concrete bricks replace red brick. 5 T h e Ca p i t o l So w e r | Th e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | j u n e 2010
Worth one thousand words What’s Postcards fill Old in the blanks. Is New
he third Capitol has been the subject landscape soon after planting are part of Tof postcards since Goodhue’s design the collection, one of Wyatt’s postcards, was chosen in 1920. The Nebraska Capitol above, provides a glimpse of the building Collections contains over 100 postcard site and grounds after building construction images of the building. These postcards was completed in 1932, but before are useful tools for researchers. Capitol landscape planting in 1934. staff are always on the lookout for historic postcards and images of the Capitol which are unknown to the Capitol Archivist. Such is the case with postcards collected by Capitol Tourism Aide Jamison Wyatt. While views of the Capitol’s original
Lincoln historians and old car lovers can enjoy this 1920’s postcard, 15th Street is open and lined Mid-twentieth century with Model Ts. aerial views presented in two formats. Notice the trees flanking the south entrance.
Postcard companies often adapted the same image for day and night time views.
6 T h e Ca p i t o l So w e r | Th e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | j u n e 2010 What’s Old Is New Capitol Events Cornhusker Girls State Americans with Disabilities Act 20th Jr. Duck Stamp Exhibit June 10, 2010 Anniversary Display September 20 - October 4, 2010 The American Legion Auxilary will July 19-30, 2010 The United States Fish and Wildlife hold the Girls State Gubernatorial The Arc of Nebraska is sponsoring Service will showcase 36 pieces of Swearing In Ceremony in the 2nd a time line display of the history of art to recognize the winners of the floor Rotunda of the Capitol at 2:00 the American with Disabilities Act in 2010 Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest p.m. the 1st floor Rotunda. in a 1st floor Rotunda Display.
Cornhusker Boys State 20th Anniversary of the Americans The Governor will sign Proclamations June 11, 2010 with Disabilities Act Rally at 10:30 a.m. in the Warner The American Legion Boys State July 26, 2010 Chamber on June 9, July 7, August government office visits will begin The Arc of Nebraska and other 11, September 8, October 6 and with a brief orientation in the 2nd statewide disability organizations November 10. For proclamation floor Rotunda at 1:00 p.m. will be hosting a rally in celebration information please contact Kendra of the 20th anniversary of the ADA at in the Governor’s Office at Girl Scouts Girl Awards Ceremony 10:30 a.m. (402)471-2256. June 13, 2010 The Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska Swearing In Ceremony for Attorneys Council will hold its awards September 14, 2010 All events at the Nebraska State ceremony in the 2nd floor Rotunda The Nebraska Supreme Court will Capitol are free and open to the at 2:00 p.m. hold the ceremony to swear in newly public. admitted members of the Nebraska Independence Day State Bar Association at 10:00 a.m. in July 4, 2010 the 2nd floor Rotunda. Nebraska State Capitol The Nebraska State Capitol will Guided Tours are offered Monday- be open for hourly guided tours Annual Awards Ceremony Friday hourly from 9:00 am to 5:00 p.m. except at noon. Saturday and Holidays between 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. September 16, 2010 from 10:00 am to 5:00 p.m. except at The Nebraska Department noon and Sunday from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. of Corrections will recognize Please call 402.471.0448 or visit excellence in service of their staff in www.capitol.org for more information. the 2nd Floor Rotunda of the Capitol at 11:00 a.m.
First Day of Issue in Capitol Rotunda
overnor Dave Heineman and and territorial flags of the United GSecretary of State John Gale States are honored on first class joined Kerry Kowalski, United States stamps with artwork showcasing Postmaster for Lincoln, in the 2nd “American the Beautiful.” floor Rotunda Nebraska’s Flag on April 16, 2010, Stamp features to unveil the a center pivot Nebraska State irrigation system Flag Stamp on representing the the first day “amber waves of of issue of the grain” produced fourth set of the in Nebraska. Flags of Our Nation stamp series. The state 7 T h e Ne w s l e tt e r o f t h e Ca p i t o l Co m m i s s i o n | j u n e 2010
Nebraska Capitol Commission Nebraska State Capitol Seventh Floor 1445 K Street P.O. Box 94696 In this issue: Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln Statue. . . 3 68509-4696 www.capitol.org Landscaping . . . . 4 402.471.6691 core material. . . 5 Capitol Architect Archive News. . . . 6 Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, 1869-1924
Capitol events. . . 7
Senators Work to Create a Splash Four Fountains for Fourth Graders piece of Capitol detail that was delayed Capitol Administrator Bob Ripley Aduring the Great Depression may one describes the fountains as large, low bronze day become a reality. More than 75 years bowls lined with ornamental glass tile in after plans for four courtyard fountains the colors of red, gold, white and blue to were set aside to save costs, the Fourth represent the four seasons. The outside Fountains Project has been launched to of each bowl will have eight medallions raise $1.5 million to build the 8-foot diameter representing symbols of water. Each fountains. Four Fountains for Nebraska’s fountain will have a large central bubbler Fourth Graders. That’s what project leader that cause ripples in the water to refract The Capitol Sower, State Senator Scott Price of Bellevue calls sunlight off the glass lining. A lower fountain published by the Office of the the initiative he established in cooperation bowl will fill the rest of the designated Capitol Commission, with Senators John Harms of Scottsbluff 12- foot circles already built into the is available online at and Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids. Price courtyard landscape. www.capitol.org. Contact the Tourism and his colleagues want Nebraska Fourth Supervisor at Graders to begin raising money to make the Tax-deductible donations