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Kentucky State Capitol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kentucky State Capitol | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Register of Historic Places) | |
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| Location: | Frankfort, Kentucky |
| Coordinates: | |
| Built/Founded: | 1905 |
| Architect: | Frank Mills Andrews |
| Architectural style(s): | Beaux-Arts |
| Added to NRHP: | April 13, 1973 |
| Reference #: | 73000804 [1] |
| Governing body: | State |
The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the seat of the three branches (executive, legislative, judicial) of the state government of the U.S. state of Kentucky. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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From 1792 to 1830, Kentucky had two buildings serve as the capitol. Both burned down.
In 1830, a new capitol was built and was in use until 1910. A bitterly contested 1899 state governor election came to a climax when Democratic claimant William Goebel was assassinated at the capitol on his way to be inaugurated. The building was replaced due to the need for a larger building for a growing state government. Today, that capitol building is a museum.
In 1904, the Kentucky General Assembly chose Frankfort (over Lexington and Louisville) as the location for the state capital and appropriated $1 million for the construction of a permanent state capitol building, to be located in southern Frankfort.
The capitol was designed by Frank Mills Andrews, a distinguished and award-winning architect. He used the Beaux-Arts style and included many classical French interior designs. The staircases, for example, are a replicas of those that appear in the Paris Opera House.
The main part of the Capitol is laid out over three floors. The first floor contains the offices of the governor (and his staff), secretary of state, and attorney general. It also features a rotunda with statues of famous Kentuckians and other exhibits (such as doll renderings of all of the state's first ladies).
The second floor contains the courtroom of the state Supreme Court, as well as the chambers of the justices. The state law library is nearby.
The chambers of the House of Representatives and Senate face each other on opposite ends of the third floor. Some high-level legislative offices (such as for the Speaker of the House) are also located there.
The Capitol also has a partial fourth floor which houses the galleries of the House and Senate, as well as a handful of offices for legislative committee staffers.
In addition, there is a partially buried basement level with mostly offices for clerks and maintenance personnel. However, it also contains a small gift shop and an underground tunnel to the neighboring Capitol Annex building.
The Capitol used to be completely open during normal business hours, and local residents often used the marble hallways for exercise (the Frankfort equivalent of "mall walking"). However, since 9/11, the building has been closed to the general public except for guided tours. Anyone without proper state credentials must go through a metal detector.
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2006-03-15).
- Kentucky's State Capitols Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
- Kentucky Historical Society page on the Old State Capitol
- Kentucky Secretary of State
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
