Connecticut – The Cathedral

The style of this statehouse combined with an unusually tall drum under the dome sets it apart from other domed capitols. Peaks and turrets and finials are everywhere, including on top of the dome's cupola.

The detail image shows arches that are reminiscent of cathedrals, which isn't surprising since this capitol was designed by a cathedral architect.

image courtesy of Catherine Brulotte
Barraclou.com

An Association
The first picture I ever saw of the Connecticut capitol was this one with the rainbow. My first thought after "Gosh! What a gorgeous shot!" was that it looked like a castle. It is quite easy to associate a castle with Connecticut if you are familiar with Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." You don't even have to know the story, just the title will do it. That is the association I planned for this capitol until recently. Now I see the design is more like a cathedral than a Medieval English castle, so I have revised MT's title to "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's . . . Cathedral." So, the Castle/Cathedral capitol is in Mark Twain's Connecticut.

This association has more to it than I expected. Mark Twain wrote "Connecticut Yankee" (published 1889) while he was living in Hartford, Connecticut's capital (1871 to 1891), apparently soon after this capitol was constructed there (1872-79).

Iowa — The Corn Capitol

The state capitol of Iowa has five domes. The central one is gilded, and the four at the corners are green with gilded details. This is the only capitol with five actual domes, instead of one dome and one or more cupolas. But why the Corn Capitol? Because the domes can be seen to resemble ears of corn, and corn is immensely important to Iowa. The four green domes resemble ears in the husk; the edges of the green husk leaves are the ribs of the dome, and the silk tip is the cupola. The central gilded dome resembles a husked ear, with all the golden kernels showing.

An Association
The capitol with the five domes resembling ears of corn, four green in the husk and one husked and shining golden, is in the corn capital state, Iowa.

image courtesy of Sarah Serendipity
through Creative Commons

 
Corn
Iowa is an agricultural state, covered largely with crop fields and livestock pastures. Corn is the dominant crop in Iowa, and it has been for 150 years. Iowa has produced the largest corn crop of any state for 14 years in a row, and they're still counting. In 2007, Iowa farmers harvested more than 2.5 billion bushels on 13.9 million acres of land. That's a crop about the size of 2.5 billion large bags of dog food. Usually Iowa produces more corn than most whole countries. Three things that help make Iowa farms great for growing corn are the long growing season and normally adequate rain there, and the deep, rich soil. And all that livestock produces plenty of easily accessed fertilizer. Iowa seems to be the Corn Capital of the World.
 

New Jersey — Mix and Match

Front / North or State Street Side
image courtesy of pikespice

It seems each new capitol architect used a new style and built a new wing. The result is an odd assortment of sections that look very different from every side. The dome makes the different sides recognizable as parts of the same building. From the front, the dome is mostly hidden behind the third floor. The front shows only one wing, but not having a good view of the dome makes it hard to connect it with the other sides.

East Side
image courtesy of Donnie Shackleford

What makes this capitol so different?
New Jersey's capitol building has a long and complicated history. The original structure, built in 1792, has been added onto many times. In 1885, a fire destroyed much of the newer part. It was rebuilt, and several more additions came after that. The exterior has remained basically the same now since 1911, but over those 119 years of construction, styles changed.

Rear / South Side
image courtesy of mtstrading

Today most people treasure historic buildings, and this one is appreciated perhaps even more for its unusual qualities. Based on the images I've seen, the New Jersey capitol has some noteworthy architectural features, including a beautiful entrance porch and, when you can see the whole thing, a dome that is striking. While the outside of the structure is unusual, the interior is reportedly very comfortable and beautifully renovated. Looking a bit odd isn't such a bad thing.

An Association
This association does not use the "Mix and Match" quality of the capitol. Instead, it uses one of the unique features of the front facade.

This is our only state capitol that has two tiers of columns at the main entrance with different numbers of columns in their front rows. The top tier has four columns, and the bottom has six. Four over six. In math, that's a fraction; four sixths. Simplified, that fraction is two thirds.

It's rhyme time:

        The columns, they make two thirds, see?
        This capitol's in New Jersey!

Wisconsin — It's An "X"

image courtesy of Jon Booker

image courtesy of Jon Booker

The Wisconsin capitol has four, equal-length wings, which give it the shape of an "X." There are colonnades with entrances at the ends of all four wings, and there are quarter-circle colonnades with entrances in all four inside angles of the "X." The length of the four wings and the inside angle entrances are unique to Wisconsin.

Many photos of this capitol show only one type of entrance or the other, like the two larger images at right. They don't look like the same building! If you see the rounded, inside angle entrance, you should remember it is the x-shaped capitol. When the image is from the end of a wing, you should be able to tell the wings are way back from the colonnade that looks like the main entrance. One hundred and eighty-seven feet back, as a matter of fact.

An Association
The shape of this capitol is an "X." Remember "X marks the spot?" That would be a treasure map. Wouldn't it be great to have a treasure map where "X" really does mark the spot and you could find real treasure? You Wish!   Wish - Wishconsin - Wisconsin.

image courtesy of
The Carl Guell Slide Collection at the Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

A much larger copy of the arial image above is in my Favorites section on the page called "Footprints."