October 3, 2018
A little more from the State Capitol in Sacramento…
The State Capitol in Sacramento was built between 1860 and 1874, it took 14 years due to floods, the Civil War, lack of funds from the Legislature, and building construction issues(the project literally drove the architect insane). As state government grew during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, some functions that were housed in the building(the judiciary and library) were moved to other buildings and the building was remodeled to accommodate state business. In 1949 construction of the east annex was started to provide additional space for legislative offices and new offices for the Governor and Lt. Governor. This addition required the demolition of the Aspe at the rear of the building. In the mid 1970’s it was determined that the original building was seismically unsafe to continue to be used and the choices were to completely raze the building or restore the existing structure. The state government(headed by Chairman Jerry at the time) decided to undertake a costly restoration that involved gutting the original structure, leaving just the exterior walls, and rebuilding the internal structure using steel frame construction methods. The Legislature met in large trailers at the sides of the building while their chambers were being reconstructed. The old portion of the Capitol was restored to it’s 1906 appearance and the original artwork was restored.
Read MoreThe State Capitol in Sacramento was built between 1860 and 1874, it took 14 years due to floods, the Civil War, lack of funds from the Legislature, and building construction issues(the project literally drove the architect insane). As state government grew during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, some functions that were housed in the building(the judiciary and library) were moved to other buildings and the building was remodeled to accommodate state business. In 1949 construction of the east annex was started to provide additional space for legislative offices and new offices for the Governor and Lt. Governor. This addition required the demolition of the Aspe at the rear of the building. In the mid 1970’s it was determined that the original building was seismically unsafe to continue to be used and the choices were to completely raze the building or restore the existing structure. The state government(headed by Chairman Jerry at the time) decided to undertake a costly restoration that involved gutting the original structure, leaving just the exterior walls, and rebuilding the internal structure using steel frame construction methods. The Legislature met in large trailers at the sides of the building while their chambers were being reconstructed. The old portion of the Capitol was restored to it’s 1906 appearance and the original artwork was restored.
Governor's Office.
As I noted in the introduction, the Governor’s office was moved from the old Capitol building to the annex upon it’s completion in 1951. The bear is our state animal(the California Grizzly, which was hunted to extinction). This view may be short lived, there are current discussions to raze the annex, it’s suffering from seismic deficiencies and other problems that may prove too expensive to correct. Some proposals have them rebuilding the apse to return the old building to it’s original layout and connecting the old building and new annex via a more aesthetically pleasing method.
