Topeka, KS
Some state's have capitols that seer themselves into the imagination by thier architecture or history, other by thier location. Kansas's capitol is all about the dome.
Since I've started this crusade I've visited a number of capitols, but due to expediency or safety none have allowed me to visit the most interesting part of the structure, that being "the dome."*
Well the Jayhawk State has no such compunction as it is the onIy state that "dared" me to visit the uppermost reaches of its sactitiy. So at 10:15 am, I gathered just outside "the offical Kansas caged elevator" and waited for my guide/shepa Neil. Most capitol guides, shall we say, hew in the older direction. think xxxx meets xxx. Well Neil was a little younger and a lot more fit.
And we were off and a after too many steps I was in a void located between the exterior dome and interior cupola. It was a sureal place, puncusted with dated grafitti (xxx xxxx xxxxxxxx) and darkness. It remined me of that location where Hanibal Lecter, Mr. Freeze, or Magneto was imnprsioned. A placed filled with darklness, low railing and catwalk to olblivoin. I was hopeful that this was the end of thel ine and Neil would say something line "Liability concerns prevent visotes from acdesing the upper reaches of the dome, asa few years ago a tpiursit from XXXXX fgell to thier death."
Instrad Neil metioned that if you were not able to proceed further,m you could waiut here. Well, I'm no pussy and and though it may have taken me just a little longer than those, half my age, that prceed me I scalled an an incredbily narrow, steep and shackly strairway that reached into the heavens. As I put . . one . . step . . in . . front . . of . . .the . . .other, i could help thin king that this all might not mmet code. I also could hel admiring garfiitai that wasd placed on beams and shaeathing that could onyl be placed by Spiderman.
I alwat though the they in "they say the life is about the journey, not deisction": was full of it, but after I got the the roof of the Kanas State Capitol, I thought it might be true. The views were nice, but I couldnt help thinking about the joucney back
has built itself a very interesting statehouse¹, marrying a typical rectangular Greek Revival building with an atypical cylindrical cupola. Its design, was based on a composite of three designs, that was then redesigned by a fourth architect . . . and from the exterior it shows.
Inside though is a different (and better) story. The first floor that originally housed the coal-fired furnace is now a museum with the Map Room at its center. The Map Room has a mosaic tile floor that is a map of Ohio that consists of 88 tiles, one for each county. The balance of the first floor contains the Ohio Statehouse Museum Education Center and a gift shop. The entire floor is well laid out and a very good use of space.
The floor above contains the rotunda that contains both the Required and the Unique:
The Required:
The Dome: Although on the outside there is a cylindrical cupola, on the inside it is the traditional dome that most state capitols possess. According to our guide (and my research), Ohio is the only state capitol that has this arrangement.
Bust of Lincoln: Even though Lincoln has only a tenuous connection to Ohio (see below), there is a modest bust of him in the rotunda. I think this has to do with the fact that every politician wants to have a connection to the Great Emancipator if only to hope some of his luster rubs off on them.
The Flag: On one of the walls (opposite the Vicksburg sculpture - see below) is the historic flag that flew above the statehouse when the funeral train carrying the body of President Abraham Lincoln arrived on April 29, 1865. Besides the patriotism that is of course displayed by displaying this flag, it also reinforces the tenuous connection the building has to Lincoln (see above).
The Unique:
The Floor: Although the design directly beneath the dome is rather ordinary, the surrounding floor is anything but. The hexagon tiles are arranged in such a way that they swirl in different directions creating patterns in the floor that are both mesmerizing and jarring.
The Walls: Most capitols clog their walls with art that usually includes banal portraits of every governor, senate, and house leader. Not this one as Ohio has chosen quality of quantity, with hanging a huge canvas depicting The Battle of Lake Erie by William Henry Powell². It was so well received that the U.S. Congress requested that Powell paint him a larger copy which hangs in the U.S. Capitol. This one though smaller is still quite striking.
A relief sculpture of the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, to the three victorious Ohioan generals: Grant, McPherson, and Sherman.
The fourth wall of the rotunda is left bare as if to say "less is more," in essence a pre-Lincoln mic drop.
The rotunda walls are salmon.
