The Arizona State Capitol Building does not have a gold plated dome, copper chandeliers or turquoise gems. It is small and simple.
- Bryan Deppa designed the Capitol building in 1898. The US president gave Arizona $100,000.00 to help with expenses. It was renovated by Gerald Doyle in the 1970s.
- James Reily Gordman donated the land on which the Capitol sits. He owned the buildings around the property and was hoping to make a profit from the homes and apartments. The land he donated was a park.
- The builders used local materials and manual labor. The granite came from South Mountain and makes up the first floor of the building. Malapai rock came from Camelback Mountain and used for the second floor. Tuff stone came from Yavapai county and was used on the top floor. The wood was collected from five different states.
- The Weather Vane is in the shape of NIKE, the Greek goddess of victory, sits on top of the dome. The Weather Vane was given the name Winged Victory. She was purchased for $160 from an architectural catalog. When she was first installed the cowboys of the days would ride by and use her for target practice. Bullet holes riddled her body until they took her down to give her a makeover. She still has a few bullet holes left.
- The Original dome was not made of copper. It was too expensive at the time. It was built of sheet metal and painted the color of copper.
- Arizona is known for the five Cs. Copper, Climate, Cotton, Cattle and Citrus. The state seal is missing the cow. An Ohio man designed the seal without ever visiting Arizona. The seal arrived and was installed as a mosaic. The mistake of the missing cow was expensive to fix. The seal was left in its original condition.
- In 1957 Frank Lloyd Wright submitted his proposal for a new capital building. It was rejected because of the expense. He wanted to move the capitol building to Tempe which would have violated the Arizona Constitution.
7 Things to Know about the Arizona State Capitol Building
Thanks for the great tour of the Arizona Captiol – I haven’t been there but will add it to my wish list – I do tours at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia – if you are ever up this way let me know and I’ll give you a private tour!