State Capitols – Lansing, Michigan, Part 2

There were so many shots that I like from the Lansing visit that I divided them into two posts. Besides, if I’m going to keep this blog going, two stories are better than one.

A little more history. It’s noteworthy that the antipathy between Michigan and Ohio dates back long before the Wolverines and Buckeyes met on the football field. In 1835, the two states claimed the same 400-square mile strip of land that extended west from Toledo. Militias were mustered and skirmishes threatened to become a real Border War. Congress interceded and settled the dispute by giving the land to Ohio and granting Michigan what is now their Upper Peninsula which they sliced off the Wisconsin Territory (perhaps fueling animosity between the Badgers and Wolverines). Michigan thought they got the raw end of that deal until copper and iron deposits were discovered. Then the ‘U.P.’ was appreciated.

Jerry, a Deer and the Headlights (9 April 2008)

That glib title of a portrait of Gerald Ford is not fair. Michigan’s only president got a bad rap. He was very smart AND athletic AND a really nice guy. His portrait is in a hall with one of the capitol’s famous and unique chandeliers. The lamps incorporate casts of the elk and shield from the state seal. I posted an appreciation of the president on the anniversary of his passing in 2013.

Michigan Capitol, Lansing (9 April 2008)

A recent news story showed protesters from Flint filling this space on every floor, pounding on the railing and shouting their displeasure over being poisoned by the public water authorities. I guess you can’t please everybody.

Looking down from the fourth floor, in the space beneath the rotunda, one can see the first level where 976 thick, glass tiles form the floor. They allow light from the basement to illuminate the space and are arranged to give the illusion from above that the flat floor is a depressed bowl. Replicas of the state’s Civil War battle flags surround the floor in display cases. Just as the South has revered their rebellion in its public buildings, some northern capitols continue to memorialize their part in the conflict that ended 150 years ago. The only statue on the capitol grounds that honors a specific person is that of Austin Blair, the beloved “Civil War Governor”.

Statue of Austin Blair, Michigan Capitol, Lansing (9 April 2008)

As in the Indiana capitol, we have these allegorical female figures…muses that represent all the fine points of civilization like art, education and industry. Of course, here, doing the capitol on a budget meant that expensive statues were out. In their place are canvas paintings glued in spaces around the base of the rotunda. Given the news of late, maybe we should consider an updated collection of muses. I’d love to see how the new standards of civilization are depicted. Ineptness, corruption and of course, money might make for interesting interpretations.

Below the Rotunda, Michigan Capitol, Lansing (9 April 2008)

It was after this visit that my ‘capitol collecting’ got serious. I started taking more pictures at other state houses than I took here. As I have said before regarding digital photography, shoot away…the ‘film’ and developing are free.

I took some of the images using the SHADE white balance setting. That adds a warmer, redder hint to the image. The ‘Below the Rotunda’ image above used that setting.

However, the AUTO white balance setting helps in spacious, interior places like this where there can be natural, incandescent and florescent sources of light. It makes for a more realistic but cooler image. A favorite shot from this visit was this off-center close-up of the inside of the dome. The blue cast to the scene works with the stars in the oculus. I can’t think of a better central feature in any other capitol building.

Rotunda, Michigan Capitol, Lansing (9 April 2008)

Good luck to the Great State of Michigan and its leaders. As I said in a recent (and rare, for me), Facebook post, “Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do…”

State Capitols – Lansing, Michigan, Part 1

Michigan Capitol in Lansing (9 April 2008)

Constructed: 1872-1878

Architect: Elijah E. Myers

State Admitted to Union: January 26, 1837 (26th)

State Population (2010): 9,883,640 (8th)

When we introduced the state capitol series, I wisely avoided any commitment to a set schedule but said that new posts might appear when a state or its capitol was in the news. Well, the Great State of Michigan has generated some attention lately with its water supply SNAFU’s in Flint. When the news showed residents protesting inside the capitol, it was a sign to get this one posted.

2008 was a big year for me. The Dead Presidents Quest was completed and the State Capitol Odyssey, which began in earnest the year before, got its biggest bump of visits. But before that 24-day, 4900-mile road trip in June, there was a quick visit to Michigan. Beck had a job in St. Joseph and I went along, retired, chaser of images that I am. While she ran a workshop, I drove to Grand Rapids to pay my respects to # 38, Gerald Ford AND visit the state capitol in Lansing. A cool, cloudy day made stellar by adding to both collections.

Michigan House of Representatives (9 April 2008)

The House of Representatives is the largest room

in the building and seats 110 members. 

The area that became Michigan was first explored and settled by French-Canadian missionaries and fur traders in the 1600’s. They established Fort Detroit in 1701. The U.S. acquired the land as part of the settlement of our revolution of independence and Congress designated it as the Northwest Territory in 1787. After Ohio became a state in 1803, the Territory was remapped and the Michigan Territory was created. It became the 26th state in 1837.

Michigan Senate (9 April 2008)

The 38 Senators serve 4-year terms. The Senate and House 

members still use the original, solid walnut desks designed by 

Elijah Myers. They cost the princely sum of $13.65 each.

The current capitol was designed by Elijah Myers, renowned as the architect of three state houses (also Texas and Colorado). Completed for $1.4 million, the edifice is a remarkable example of elegance on the cheap. The interior ‘marble’ columns are cast iron, the ‘marble’ pilasters are plaster and the ‘walnut’ wainscoting is pine…all faux-painted to look like what they are not.

Grand Staircase, Michigan Capitol, Lansing (9 April 2008)

The cast iron stairs are complemented by some of the finest 

examples of Victorian decorative painting. Three years 

of restoration on the building were completed in 1992.

Michigan Capitol, Lansing (9 April 2008)

The style of the architecture has been called ‘Renaissance Revival’ or Neoclassical. Like many state houses that went up after the nation’s capitol was finished in Washington, they followed the pattern of balanced wings adjacent a lofty central dome. Since Myers was self-taught, he wasn’t immersed in the popular style of the day. This building is a stew of Greek, Roman and other influences. You will find Doric, Ionic and Corinthian capitals on columns here.

April 9 might have been a spring day in some parts of our land but it was still late winter in the North Country. Since the Lansing capitol grounds do not have as much in the way of monuments and commemorative artwork, it was better (and more comfortable) to wander the inside spaces in search of images.

Please return for Part 2 of this visit and see more of the captivating interior.