The corner stone was laid *July 4th 1840 before Iowa was an official state. December 29, 1846 we became the 29th state. The capitol moved to Des Moines in 1857. The large rocks are engraved with various class years.
The cupola was rebuilt after the fire in 2001.
The front yard, known as the Pentacrest, has lost allot of trees over the years.
The Supreme Court Chamber had room for 3 judges.
Territorial and State Library once held 1,500 books organized by the Parvin's cataloging system. I'm not sure what that means exactly. But I will ask around.
The library was not open to the public.
Treasurer's Office complete with safe.
Governor's Office
Old Capitol Staircase is a beautiful reverse spiral with very graceful lines.
The top step ends directly over the beginning step. I love this as it seems so left handed.
This is a 1850's reproduction chandelier that weighs about 110 pounds. My mother said that she and my dad cleaned all three chandeliers very carefully one prism at a time. The lived in Iowa City until 1960. They worked for the University.
This is my favorite photo of the weekend.Text by: Linzee Kull McCray.
Published by the University of Iowa Press, 2007.
Of course the photos are my own.
Let your pictures tell the story.
Kim
2 comments:
Greetings:
I'm the author of the Old Capitol book--just found your citation on a Google search. I thought you might be interested to know that Frank Lloyd Wright thought Old Capitol was a dreadful piece of architecture. According to A Pictorial History of the University of Iowa by John Gerber, FLW said, "forget your sentimentality for Old Capitol else you are doomed to destruction."
Regards,
Linzee McCray
Hello and thanks for writing Linzee. I hadn't seen the quote from FLW. Interesting. I believe I am sentimental for Old Capitol and am quite sure that He had no feelings to our beloved Dome.
I enjoyed your Old Capitol book and will be sharing it with my mom.
Take care,
Kim
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