THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE DOME

by Pam North

An eastward view of the Denver skyline spotlights a remarkable building - our state Capitol.  Its gold-plated dome is instantly discerned and identifiable near the cluster of tall skyscrapers.   Our local familiarity with this landmark tends to make it blur into the banal, so perhaps it's time to take a fresh look at its construction and history.

Colorado was just a toddling ten years old when effort was initiated to envision a state house.  Still a territory, Colorado already had two other capitol cities when the Seventh Legislature gave recognition to Denver as being the official capitol.

Designed and built to resemble the nation's capitol, the building, of Corinthian style architecture, is constructed of white granite quarried from Gunnison County.  All materials are of Colorado origin with the exception of the brass and oak trimmings.  Large pillars at each entrance support the original pre-gilt ceramic-style roof, and pillars at the west entrance are adorned with carved stone statues.  Entrance posts are embedded with copper and glass, and each entrance landing has early nineteenth-century light posts, more of which are on the surrounding grounds.  A round brass cap embedded in the west entrance stairway proclaims the 5,280 foot elevation of the site, from which Denver derives its nickname "Mile High City."  The interior boasts wainscoting and pillar facings of Colorado Rose Onyx, also known as Beulah Red Marble, a material unique to the Denver Capitol, as the only known source of this rare mauve marble from Gunnison's Yule Creek, was completely depleted with the building's construction.  The cutting, polishing and installing of the marble took six years, from 1894 to 1900.  The basement are finished in white marble, and foundations and walls are of Fort Collins Sandstone.   Brilliantly-gleaming brass and glowing stained glass windows also highlight the interior, and hand-painted originals depicting each of the United States presidents, from George Washington to Bill Clinton .  The Capitol's center is a magnificent rotunda, built in the Greek cross-shaped plan,  which presents a soaring view 150 feet overhead into the ceiling of the dome.  The rotunda has 128 pilasters, 60 spotlights, and 16 stained glass windows, one of which depicts Gilpin County's own Clara Brown.  The dome, a total of 180 feet high at its highest exterior point and enclosing over 220,000 cubic feet of space, contains stained glass dedicated to the sixteen initial founders of Denver.  Ninety-three steps ascend into the dome, from which a superb 360-degree view of Denver, much expanded from its early days, may be enjoyed ( although the dome is temporarily closed due to recent events).

There are three main rooms where legislation takes place - the House of Representatives, the House Gallery and the Senate Gallery.  All three rooms are accented with embedded brass and stained glass, and have comfortable theater seating.  A visit here in the morning, before large tour groups arrive, will provide the observer with a view of democracy in action.

The Capitol Building was built in the 1890s, and took twenty-two years to build.  In 1908, to complete the building's construction, the dome was encased in 24-carat gold to commemorate Colorado's gold rush days, and the early pioneers and miners who were so intrinsic in the history of the state.  Colorado's gold rush days began with John H. Gregory's discovery in 1859 of his lode in Gilpin County's own Gregory Gulch.  His strike drew 10,000 people there within two months, and was the impetus for the settlement of this area of the West.

The Capitol Building was designed by E.E. Myers, W.D. Richardson and R.C. Greiner in 1886.  The north and south side dimensions are 294 feet 4 inches, and the east and west sides are 230 feet 10 inches.  The height from grade line to the bulb on top of dome is 272 feet, and the diameter of the dome is 42 feet.  The projected cost in 1886 was $1,000,000, and the final cost in 1896
(before gilding the dome) was $2,800,000.  The building contains 240,000 cubic feet of granite, and the dome incorporated over
7 tons of lead. The cornerstone, laid in 1890, weighs 20 tons, and it took 20 mules to haul it.  Two hundred ounces of pure leaf gold was required to gild the dome.  There are 122 cast iron columns weighing approximately 1.7 tons each;  5,482,114 bricks were used in construction; and the foundation is made up of 332,616 cubic feet of stone (in case you need assorted and miscellaneous trivia to display at your next cocktail party, there you go).

The Capitol grounds has a variety of memorials dedicated to Civil War veterans, to men who served on the U.S.S. Colorado and U.S.S. Gettysburg, and to other Coloradans who gave their lives on foreign soil.  Fifty varieties of trees grow on the grounds, and the walnut trees once belonged to Abraham Lincoln.

The Capitol Buiding is worth a leisurely, studied visit.  Daily 45-minute tours are given Monday through Friday.  Get better acquainted with a unique piece of Colorado's history.
 
 
 

Next week:  The history of the Capitol Building, and how it almost wasn't built.
 
 
 

NOTE:

Illustrations for this this week's article and the second part next week can be found at following websites:

http://www.archives.state.co.us/tour/pcde8.htm
Denver Capitol Buildin
Use for this week's article.

http://www.archives.state.co.us/cap/gold.htm
E.E Myers proposed version of Denver Capitol Building.
Use for next week's follow-up article on the history.