The
California State Capitol sits in
Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital of the U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive Central Valley. With a 2007 estimated population of 460,242, it is the seventh-largest...
at the west end of Capitol Park. The grounds are framed by L Street to the north, N Street to the south, 10th Street to the west and 15th Street to the east. The capitol houses the
California State LegislatureThe California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
and the office of the
Governor of CaliforniaThe Governor of California is the highest executive authority in the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual "State of the State" addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced.The position was...
. The building was constructed in the neoclassical style between 1861 and 1874 and is listed on the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as of 1973.
The building is based on the distant
CapitolThe United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the Federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though not in the geographic center of the District of...
in Washington D.C. The west facade ends in projecting bays as well as a portico projecting from the center of the building.
The
California State Capitol sits in
Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital of the U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive Central Valley. With a 2007 estimated population of 460,242, it is the seventh-largest...
at the west end of Capitol Park. The grounds are framed by L Street to the north, N Street to the south, 10th Street to the west and 15th Street to the east. The capitol houses the
California State LegislatureThe California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
and the office of the
Governor of CaliforniaThe Governor of California is the highest executive authority in the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual "State of the State" addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced.The position was...
. The building was constructed in the neoclassical style between 1861 and 1874 and is listed on the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as of 1973.
Exterior
The building is based on the distant
CapitolThe United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the Federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though not in the geographic center of the District of...
in Washington D.C. The west facade ends in projecting bays as well as a portico projecting from the center of the building. At the base of the portico, seven granite archways brace and support the porch above. Eight fluted Corinthian columns line the portico. A cornice supports the pediment above which depicts
MinervaMinerva was the Roman goddess whom Hellenizing Romans from the second century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic and the inventor of music...
surrounded by Education, Justice, and Mining.
Above the flat roof with balustrade rise two drums supporting a dome. The first drum consists of a colonnade of Corinthian columns, the second with Corinthian pilasters. Large arched windows line the drum walls. The dome rises 220 feet, matching the aforementioned dome of the U.S. Capitol. The dome itself supports a lantern with a smaller dome capped with a bright gold ball.
Interior
The California Senate Chamber seats the forty members in big chamber room. The color
redRed is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked human eye...
envelopes the room in a nod towards the British House of Lords, which like the California Senate is the
upper houseAn upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.- Possible specific characteristics :An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of the following respects:...
of a
bicameral legislatureIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
. The chamber is entered through a second floor corridor. The red carpeting has a
Victorian-era designVictorian decorative arts refers to the style of decorative arts during the Victorian era. The Victorian era is known for its eclectic revival and interpretation of historic styles and the introduction of cross-cultural influences from the middle east and Asia in furniture, fittings, and Interior...
. From the coffered ceiling hangs an electric reproduction of the original
gasGas lighting refers to a technology used to produce light from a gaseous fuel including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, or ethylene....
chandelierA chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light....
. A hand-carved dais caps off a recessed bay framed by
Corinthian columnsThe Corinthian order is one of the three biggest classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. It is the most ornate, characterized by a slender fluted column and an elaborate capital decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls. The other two orders were the Doric and the Ionic...
.
The
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
phrase "
Senatoris est civitatis libertatem tueri" ("It is the duty of a senator to protect the liberty of the people") lines the cornice. A portrait of
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
by Jane Stuart (daughter of
Gilbert StuartGilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island.Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists...
) looks down from the wall above. The state seal hangs above.
Gilded Corinthian columns support the gallery above, and dark red curtains are tied back along the columns, but may be drawn for privacy. High arched windows run along the bottom, above are rectangular pane windows. Behind the rostrum are two chairs with red velvet cushions, reserved for the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly, but are never used.
The California Assembly Chamber is located at the opposite end of the Senate. Like the Senate, its green tones are based on
British House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
, the lower house. The dais rests along a wall shaped like an "E", with the central projection housing the rostrum. Along the cornice appears a quotation from
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
in Latin:
legislatorum est justas leges condere ("It is the duty of legislators to pass just laws"). Almost every decorating element is identical to the Senate Chamber.
2001 attack
On January 16, 2001, Michael Bowers, a semi-trailer truck driver with a criminal history, rammed his truck into the southern portico of the California State Capitol, causing his truck's fuel tank to ignite, killing the driver[1] and causing fifteen million dollars in damage.[2]
External links