State Capitols – St. Paul, Minnesota – Outside

Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Constructed: 1896-1905

Architect: Cass Gilbert

State Admitted to Union: May 11, 1858 (32nd)

State Population (2020): 5,706,494 (22nd)

Since I followed posting the Kentucky vice presidents with the Frankfort capitol, I’m following Minnesota VP Hubert Humphrey with the stunning state house in St. Paul...a building so fine, I need two posts to do it justice.

The Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAPB) web site describes the state house as one that “many acknowledge today as one of the five most beautiful in the country.” The entire country. All of it. Five out of fifty. Top ten percent. I won’t argue with them. In 2011, two years after I was there, the Board undertook a $310 million restoration that addressed a number of structural and aesthetic issues. I bet the place gleams now...outside and in.

The current building is the state’s third capitol, all of which have been in St. Paul. The first, completed in 1854, began as the territorial capitol and burned down in 1881. The second, completed on the same site in 1883, was inadequate from the start and soon prompted the legislature to order the current structure.

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Born in Ohio and raised in St. Paul, the capitol’s architect, Cass Gilbert, was one of the great designers of public buildings. His work on the Minnesota capitol put him on the map and he moved his practice to New York City where he went on to design two other state houses in Arkansas and West Virginia, the Customs House in New York and the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. Another Gilbert project, the Woolworth Building in New York, was the world’s tallest skyscraper from 1913-30.

Statue of Knute Nelson, by John Karl Daniels [1928]

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Born in Norway, Knute Nelson was an important political figure in the early days of Minnesota and Wisconsin. He served as governor in the 1890’s. The accompanying figures are of him as a boy with his mother and as a Civil War soldier. Sadly, we rarely name our boy-children ‘Knute’ anymore.

Statue of John Johnson by Andrew O’Connor [1912]

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Although Minnesota entered the Union in 1858, it did not have a native-born governor until John Johnson was elected in 1905. The popular three-term governor was responsible for civic reforms. He died in office at the age of forty-eight. The additional figures represent the state’s important early industries – agriculture, iron mining, timber and manufacturing.

 

Dome, Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

After St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the capitol dome is the second largest self-supporting marble dome in the world. The dome actually has three layers with a brick and steel middle dome for additional support and water drainage and the inner dome that is seen from inside.

Architect Gilbert insisted on using bright Georgia marble for the dome instead of locally-mined stone. This upset some folks whose memories of the Confederate rebellion were still fresh but Gilbert prevailed and Minnesota rock was used in most other places.

The main (south) entrance does not have the Greek revival columns and triangular pediment common in many state houses. The portico is awash in allegorical statuary. Classically-draped women represent Prudence, Truth, Wisdom and Bounty while the males represent Integrity and Courage. Radiant above the Six Virtues is the golden quadriga (a chariot drawn by four horses abreast), shining like nothing else on the building.

‘Progress of the State’ [1906] by Daniel Chester French

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Daniel Chester French was one of our great late 19th and early 20th century sculptors. He created the iconic seated figure of the president in the Lincoln Memorial. Architect Gilbert saw French’s ‘Columbus Quadriga’ at the Chicago World Exposition in 1893 and wanted one for Minnesota. Called ‘Progress of the State,’ it has four horses that represent the classical elements of nature – earth, fire, water and air. The two women embody industry and agriculture...civilization. (Remember – Man conquers. Woman civilizes). Instead of Columbus, the man driving it all is Minnesota. He holds a cornucopia of plenty.

The architect and planners wanted the rest of the country to know that Minnesota was more than immigrant miners, lumberjacks and farmers.

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

The next post will take us inside the capitol.