Historic Idaho Capitol Building Expansion
project profile HISTORIC IDAHO CAPITOL BUILDING EXPANSION By Robert D. Card, RBEC, RRC, RWC, REWC, REWO Idaho State Capitol Building. Courtesy of Idaho Capitol Commission. HISTORY 1919 and 1920. The building is 208 ft. (63 scagliola—a mixture of granite, marble dust, Although Lewiston, Idaho, briefly served m) high, occupies an area of 201,720 sq. ft. gypsum, and glue dyed to look like marble, as Idaho’s capital from the formation of (18,740 m2), and contains over 50,000 sq. created by a family of artisans in Italy in Idaho Territory in 1863, the territori- ft. (4,600 m2) of artistically carved marble. an arduous 15-step process that must be al legislature moved the capital to Boise Four types of marble were used in restarted if a single mistake is made. in December 1864. In 1905, 15 years the building: red from Georgia, gray from The building is clad with sandstone into statehood, the Idaho state legislature Alaska, green from Vermont, and black taken from Table Rock, near Boise. Convicts passed a bill authorizing construction of the from Italy. Architectural inspiration includ- from the old Idaho Penitentiary were respon- Capitol Building. ed St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, St. Paul’s sible for cutting and transporting the 10-ton The building was designed by John Cathedral in London, and the U.S. Capitol sandstone blocks from the quarry. E. Tourtellotte, a Connecticut native who in Washington, D.C. The most prominent Underground tunnels connect the moved to Boise in 1890; and Charles feature of the capitol is its dome, topped Capitol Building to the Supreme Court Hummel, a German immigrant who part- by a bronze-gilded eagle nearly 6 ft.
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