BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Richmond -- State Capitol -- Interior Images

VA -- Richmond -- State Capitol -- Interior Images:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 3.138.200.66 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] SCAVAI_120603_001.JPG	[2] SCAVAI_120603_005.JPG	[3] SCAVAI_120603_008.JPG	[4] SCAVAI_120603_012.JPG	[5] SCAVAI_120603_016.JPG	[6] SCAVAI_120603_019.JPG	[7] SCAVAI_120603_027.JPG	[8] SCAVAI_120603_030.JPG	[9] SCAVAI_120603_035.JPG
[10] SCAVAI_120603_040.JPG	[11] SCAVAI_120603_043.JPG	[12] SCAVAI_120603_047.JPG	[13] SCAVAI_120603_056.JPG	[14] SCAVAI_120603_060.JPG	[15] SCAVAI_120603_064.JPG	[16] SCAVAI_120603_068.JPG	[17] SCAVAI_120603_073.JPG	[18] SCAVAI_120603_076.JPG
[19] SCAVAI_120603_079.JPG	[20] SCAVAI_120603_084.JPG	[21] SCAVAI_120603_087.JPG	[22] SCAVAI_120603_091.JPG	[23] SCAVAI_120603_097.JPG	[24] SCAVAI_120603_105.JPG	[25] SCAVAI_120603_109.JPG	[26] SCAVAI_120603_114.JPG	[27] SCAVAI_120603_118.JPG
[28] SCAVAI_120603_123.JPG	[29] SCAVAI_120603_126.JPG	[30] SCAVAI_120603_128.JPG	[31] SCAVAI_120603_133.JPG	[32] SCAVAI_120603_139.JPG	[33] SCAVAI_120603_143.JPG	[34] SCAVAI_120603_146.JPG	[35] SCAVAI_120603_148.JPG	[36] SCAVAI_120603_154.JPG
[37] SCAVAI_120603_156.JPG	[38] SCAVAI_120603_159.JPG	[39] SCAVAI_120603_163.JPG	[40] SCAVAI_120603_167.JPG	[41] SCAVAI_120603_169.JPG	[42] SCAVAI_120603_172.JPG	[43] SCAVAI_120603_175.JPG	[44] SCAVAI_120603_179.JPG	[45] SCAVAI_120603_182.JPG
[46] SCAVAI_120603_185.JPG	[47] SCAVAI_120603_188.JPG	[48] SCAVAI_120603_191.JPG	[49] SCAVAI_120603_194.JPG	[50] SCAVAI_120603_198.JPG	[51] SCAVAI_120603_201.JPG	[52] SCAVAI_120603_204.JPG	[53] SCAVAI_120603_209.JPG	[54] SCAVAI_120603_213.JPG
[55] SCAVAI_120603_217.JPG	[56] SCAVAI_120603_220.JPG	[57] SCAVAI_120603_224.JPG	[58] SCAVAI_120603_230.JPG	[59] SCAVAI_120603_233.JPG	[60] SCAVAI_120603_239.JPG	[61] SCAVAI_120603_241.JPG	[62] SCAVAI_120603_244.JPG	[63] SCAVAI_120603_252.JPG
[64] SCAVAI_120603_257.JPG	[65] SCAVAI_120603_263.JPG	[66] SCAVAI_120603_265.JPG	[67] SCAVAI_120603_272.JPG	[68] SCAVAI_120603_275.JPG	[69] SCAVAI_120603_278.JPG	[70] SCAVAI_120603_281.JPG	[71] SCAVAI_120603_284.JPG	[72] SCAVAI_120603_287.JPG
[73] SCAVAI_120603_290.JPG	[74] SCAVAI_120603_292.JPG	[75] SCAVAI_120603_295.JPG	[76] SCAVAI_120603_300.JPG	[77] SCAVAI_120603_305.JPG	[78] SCAVAI_120603_306.JPG	[79] SCAVAI_120603_308.JPG	[80] SCAVAI_120603_310.JPG	[81] SCAVAI_120603_313.JPG
[82] SCAVAI_120603_314.JPG	[83] SCAVAI_120603_316.JPG	[84] SCAVAI_120603_319.JPG	[85] SCAVAI_120603_323.JPG	[86] SCAVAI_120603_324.JPG	[87] SCAVAI_120603_327.JPG	[88] SCAVAI_120603_330.JPG	[89] SCAVAI_120603_334.JPG	[90] SCAVAI_120603_336.JPG
[91] SCAVAI_120603_339.JPG	[92] SCAVAI_120603_342.JPG	[93] SCAVAI_120603_346.JPG	[94] SCAVAI_120603_352.JPG	[95] SCAVAI_120603_355.JPG	[96] SCAVAI_120603_359.JPG	[97] SCAVAI_120603_361.JPG	[98] SCAVAI_120603_364.JPG	[99] SCAVAI_120603_368.JPG
[100] SCAVAI_120603_370.JPG	[101] SCAVAI_120603_373.JPG	[102] SCAVAI_120603_377.JPG	[103] SCAVAI_120603_381.JPG	[104] SCAVAI_120603_384.JPG	[105] SCAVAI_120603_386.JPG	[106] SCAVAI_120603_390.JPG	[107] SCAVAI_120603_392.JPG	[108] SCAVAI_120603_396.JPG
[109] SCAVAI_120603_398.JPG	[110] SCAVAI_120603_401.JPG	[111] SCAVAI_120603_403.JPG	[112] SCAVAI_120603_408.JPG	[113] SCAVAI_120603_411.JPG	[114] SCAVAI_120603_413.JPG	[115] SCAVAI_120603_416.JPG	[116] SCAVAI_120603_421.JPG	[117] SCAVAI_120603_424.JPG
[118] SCAVAI_120603_430.JPG	[119] SCAVAI_120603_431.JPG	[120] SCAVAI_120603_435.JPG	[121] SCAVAI_120603_439.JPG	[122] SCAVAI_120603_442.JPG	[123] SCAVAI_120603_447.JPG	[124] SCAVAI_120603_450.JPG	[125] SCAVAI_120603_453.JPG	[126] SCAVAI_120603_457.JPG
[127] SCAVAI_120603_463.JPG	[128] SCAVAI_120603_468.JPG	[129] SCAVAI_120603_469.JPG	[130] SCAVAI_120603_474.JPG	[131] SCAVAI_120603_477.JPG	[132] SCAVAI_120603_479.JPG	[133] SCAVAI_120603_482.JPG	[134] SCAVAI_120603_485.JPG	[135] SCAVAI_120603_492.JPG
[136] SCAVAI_120603_495.JPG	[137] SCAVAI_120603_504.JPG	[138] SCAVAI_120603_506.JPG	[139] SCAVAI_120603_513.JPG	[140] SCAVAI_120603_516.JPG	[141] SCAVAI_120603_517.JPG	[142] SCAVAI_120603_521.JPG	[143] SCAVAI_120603_524.JPG	[144] SCAVAI_120603_528.JPG
[145] SCAVAI_120603_533.JPG	[146] SCAVAI_120603_539.JPG	[147] SCAVAI_120603_541.JPG	[148] SCAVAI_120603_543.JPG	[149] SCAVAI_120603_547.JPG	[150] SCAVAI_120603_549.JPG	[151] SCAVAI_120603_552.JPG	[152] SCAVAI_120603_554.JPG	[153] SCAVAI_120603_559.JPG
[154] SCAVAI_120603_562.JPG	[155] SCAVAI_120603_565.JPG	[156] SCAVAI_120603_568.JPG	[157] SCAVAI_120603_569.JPG	[158] SCAVAI_120603_570.JPG	[159] SCAVAI_120603_572.JPG	[160] SCAVAI_120603_575.JPG	[161] SCAVAI_120603_576.JPG	[162] SCAVAI_120603_578.JPG
[163] SCAVAI_120603_581.JPG	[164] SCAVAI_120603_583.JPG	[165] SCAVAI_120603_586.JPG	[166] SCAVAI_120603_589.JPG	[167] SCAVAI_120603_591.JPG	[168] SCAVAI_120603_594.JPG	[169] SCAVAI_120603_597.JPG	[170] SCAVAI_120603_601.JPG	[171] SCAVAI_120603_604.JPG
[172] SCAVAI_120603_606.JPG	[173] SCAVAI_120603_611.JPG	[174] SCAVAI_120603_612.JPG	[175] SCAVAI_120603_615.JPG	[176] SCAVAI_120603_618.JPG	[177] SCAVAI_120603_622.JPG	[178] SCAVAI_120603_624.JPG	[179] SCAVAI_120603_625.JPG	[180] SCAVAI_120603_629.JPG
[181] SCAVAI_120603_635.JPG	[182] SCAVAI_120603_639.JPG	[183] SCAVAI_120603_644.JPG	[184] SCAVAI_120603_647.JPG	[185] SCAVAI_120603_652.JPG	[186] SCAVAI_120603_654.JPG	[187] SCAVAI_120603_657.JPG	[188] SCAVAI_120603_661.JPG	[189] SCAVAI_120603_664.JPG
[190] SCAVAI_120603_670.JPG	[191] SCAVAI_120603_678.JPG	[192] SCAVAI_120603_684.JPG	[193] SCAVAI_120603_689.JPG	[194] SCAVAI_120603_694.JPG	[195] SCAVAI_120603_700.JPG	[196] SCAVAI_120603_701.JPG	[197] SCAVAI_120603_709.JPG	[198] SCAVAI_120603_710.JPG
[199] SCAVAI_120603_715.JPG	[200] SCAVAI_120603_719.JPG	[201] SCAVAI_120603_720.JPG	[202] SCAVAI_120603_724.JPG	[203] SCAVAI_120603_728.JPG	[204] SCAVAI_120603_729.JPG	[205] SCAVAI_120603_733.JPG	[206] SCAVAI_120603_740.JPG	[207] SCAVAI_120603_742.JPG
[208] SCAVAI_120603_748.JPG	[209] SCAVAI_120603_753.JPG	[210] SCAVAI_120603_757.JPG	[211] SCAVAI_120603_769.JPG	[212] SCAVAI_120603_771.JPG	[213] SCAVAI_120603_777.JPG	[214] SCAVAI_120603_779.JPG	[215] SCAVAI_120603_787.JPG	[216] SCAVAI_120603_790.JPG
[217] SCAVAI_120603_791.JPG	[218] SCAVAI_120603_799.JPG	[219] SCAVAI_120603_804.JPG	[220] SCAVAI_120603_805.JPG	[221] SCAVAI_120603_808.JPG	[222] SCAVAI_120603_811.JPG	[223] SCAVAI_120603_813.JPG	[224] SCAVAI_120603_815.JPG	[225] SCAVAI_120603_823.JPG
[226] SCAVAI_120603_837.JPG	[227] SCAVAI_120603_841.JPG	[228] SCAVAI_120603_843.JPG	[229] SCAVAI_120606_01.JPG	[230] SCAVAI_120609_008.JPG	[231] SCAVAI_120609_014.JPG	[232] SCAVAI_120609_021.JPG	[233] SCAVAI_120609_026.JPG	[234] SCAVAI_120609_032.JPG
[235] SCAVAI_120609_036.JPG	[236] SCAVAI_120609_039.JPG	[237] SCAVAI_120609_043.JPG	[238] SCAVAI_120609_052.JPG	[239] SCAVAI_120609_057.JPG	[240] SCAVAI_120609_065.JPG	[241] SCAVAI_120609_069.JPG	[242] SCAVAI_120609_078.JPG	[243] SCAVAI_120609_086.JPG
[244] SCAVAI_120609_088.JPG	[245] SCAVAI_120609_092.JPG	[246] SCAVAI_120609_097.JPG	[247] SCAVAI_120609_103.JPG	[248] SCAVAI_120609_108.JPG	[249] SCAVAI_120609_111.JPG	[250] SCAVAI_120609_112.JPG	[251] SCAVAI_120609_119.JPG	[252] SCAVAI_120609_121.JPG
[253] SCAVAI_120609_125.JPG	[254] SCAVAI_120609_128.JPG	[255] SCAVAI_120609_134.JPG	[256] SCAVAI_120609_136.JPG	[257] SCAVAI_120609_143.JPG	[258] SCAVAI_120609_157.JPG	[259] SCAVAI_120609_162.JPG	[260] SCAVAI_120609_164.JPG	[261] SCAVAI_120609_167.JPG
[262] SCAVAI_120609_172.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SCAVAI_120603_001.JPG: Henry Clay
2. SCAVAI_120603_008.JPG: Henry Clay Joel Tanner Hart, 1847; completed in 1859 Height -- 77 1/4 inches Inscription -- On front of base "HENRY CLAY"; on back of base at lower left "J.T. Hart, Sculpt.r. 1847." The Statesman: Born in Hanover County, Virginia, Henry Clay gained national prominence after his move to Kentucky in his early twenties. A Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a leading member of the U.S. Senate, Clay ran unsuccessfully for President in 1824, 1832, and 1844. Extolling policies of economic growth that led to the creation of the Whig Party, Clay came to be known as the "Great Compromiser," in recognition of his ability to preserve the Union with bipartisan support during times of political division. The Statue: Led by Lucy Maria Barbour, widow of Virginia Governor James Barbour, the Virginia Association of Ladies organized in 1844 to erect a statue of Henry Clay in Capitol Square. After a series of delays, the statue was finally completed and dedicated on Clay's birthday, April 12, 1860. (Clay had died eight years earlier.) The statue was originally housed in a cast-iron gazebo, which by 1930 had become unstable. The gazebo was razed and the Clay statue was moved into the Capitol's Old Hall of the House of Delegates. It was relocated to the Capital Extension in 2008.
3. SCAVAI_120603_016.JPG: George Washington Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1788 Bronze casting by Ferdinand Barbedienne, Paris, ca. 1860 Height of bust -- 23 inches Inscriptions -- -- Left shoulder at truncation: "houdon f 1788" -- Right shoulder at truncation: "F. Barbedienne, Foundeur." -- Bottom interior of round base: "Washington, grandeur, original."
4. SCAVAI_120603_027.JPG: Brothers Gary Casteel, Sculptor, 2010 On loan -- Privately Owned The "Brothers", a two-figure, life-size setting in bronze, is reminiscent of the harsh realities of the American Civil War. The figures, brother against brother, represent the real possibility of familial recognition by opposing soldiers, one Union, one Confederate, but brothers nonetheless, after the horrific battle that engulfed the countryside near Fredericksburg. The image displays fatigue and grief, but also hope and solace that the struggle is over and a future lies ahead of hope and promise for a unified country bound together in liberty.
5. SCAVAI_120603_030.JPG: Bronze ‘Brothers' on Display in Virginia Capitol by Brian Strother on Jul 14, 2011 • 7:34 am Civil War Portraits Brother by Gary Casteel on temporary display in the Virginia CapitolOn temporary display in the Virginia Capitol at Richmond is a new bronze statue from the sculptor Gary Casteel. The statue depicts a fictional scene of two brothers embracing after battle representing the very real fact that family members of all types (brothers, fathers, cousins) fought against each other during the Civil War. The sculpture is on loan from it's private owner for the observance of the Sesquicentennial. ... The sculptor, Gary Casteel, has created many Civil War pieces including the Gen. James Longstreet equestrian piece erected in the Gettysburg National Military Park. He is currently commissioned to work on the National Civil War Memorial ....
6. SCAVAI_120603_040.JPG: During the last year of the Civil War, Governor William Smith asked Sallie Radford Munford and Margaret Munford, daughters of Colonel George Wythe Munsford, to make a Virginia flag to fly over the State Capitol. On the morning of 3 April 1865, Major Artherton H. Stevens, Jr., one of the first Federal officers to enter Richmond, led troops from the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry onto the grounds of Capitol Square. As the warehouse district burned and flames threatened Capitol Square, Major Stevens and his troops hauled down the Confederate and Virginia flags. The Confederate flag was immediately torn up into pieces that were claimed by souvenir hunters. Major Stevens carried away the large Virginia flag. This historic flag remained in the possession of the Stevens family in Massachusetts for the next sixty-two years. In 1927, Frederick A. Stevens personally returned to the Commonwealth the Virginia flag that his grandfather had taken from the roof of the Capitol. The flag was briefly raised over the Capitol during the impressive ceremony on 28 November 1927. Fittingly, Sallie Munford attended the ceremony to see the flag flying about the Capitol one final time.
7. SCAVAI_120603_043.JPG: Virginia's Capitol More than any other American, Thomas Jefferson was the founder of monument civic architecture in the United States. Virginia's Capitol examines how Jefferson's achievement in civic design began with the Virginia State Capitol in which he united the lofty principles and grand scale of the Classical tradition with established Virginia customs. In Paris as minister to France, Jefferson designed the new Capitol in 1785 with the help of the celebrated draftsman Charles-Louis Cl�risseau. Hoping to safeguard the conception from changes in Richmond, Jefferson commissioned a scale model of the exterior from the model-maker Jean-Pierre Fouquet. Recent conservation of the model, displayed for many years in the Capitol, offers fascinating insights into Jefferson's aspirations for the Capitol and how this model reflected changes made to the Capitol throughout its history.
8. SCAVAI_120603_047.JPG: Jefferson and Architectural Books As a young man Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) trained himself to be an architect. Jefferson's reading taught him a basic premise of European culture, the principle that the Greeks and Romans had established the basis for all the arts. The ancient principles of architecture differed sharply from the buildings that Jefferson saw around him in Virginia. He understood that he had to become an architect himself if he was to have a house that embodied the correct principles of architecture. Jefferson designed public buildings and private houses as models to reform the taste of the colonies and the new nation. His pivotal effort at monumental civic architecture was the Virginia State Capitol, for which he started his first design about 1772-1776, and his second and third designs in 1785. Jefferson combined lessons from Virginia buildings with what he learned from European books. Americans had often designed new structures based on existing buildings and modeled architectural details on illustrations in imported books. Jefferson turned to the buildings that stood around him for practical lessons in planning, and he consulted European books for lofty architectural principles and ornaments. Shortly after publishing his Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson began his second design for the Virginia State Capitol. He envisioned the Capitol as embodying the great tradition in Western monumental architecture, built of enduring masonry and employing the Orders as the principal ornament.
9. SCAVAI_120603_056.JPG: Beyond Jefferson: Changes to Virginia's State Capitol The Capitol underwent alterations almost from the beginning of construction. The Cl�risseau drawings and the Fouquet model reached Richmond separately in 1786. The existing construction on the Capitol site was adapted to Jefferson's conception, but Jefferson's design was modified, too, during the long period of construction from 1786 to 1798. The low podium that Jefferson intended was replaced by a full basement to hold the offices. The front steps were eliminated so the basement offices along the south front could have windows. The Richmond builders executed a colossal single portico two columns deep and wrapped this Ionic Order around the entire exterior in the form of pilasters. The Ionic Order now had a kind of capital popularized by Palladio's successor Vincenzo Scamozzi (1548-1616). Jefferson wrote that he had "yielded, with reluctance," to Cl�risseau's preference for this capital. Cl�risseau's sunken panels were included minus their garlands. The top story was a garret with no windows in the outer walls and briefly had some kind of "flat" roof. Jefferson's idea for a Conference Room, with forty columns and no dome, gave way to a room with a dome, no columns, and a gallery boldly supported on brackets. Most of the detail inside and out was altered into un-Jeffersonian patterns. Thomas Jefferson's dismay at the changes in the design of the State Capitol was understandable. His design was altered to fit an already-begun foundation, its embellishments were altered, it was placed on a high basement, and the portico was shorn of its steps. Nonetheless, the practical layout and the grandeur of the conception survived. Jefferson himself wrote in 1789 that "our new Capitol … whenever it shall be finished … will be worthy of being exhibited along side the most celebrated remains of antiquity." The Capitol was completed in 1798 and throughout the 19th century, maintenance cycles of attention and neglect, almost always driven by the availability of state funds, forced the structure to change. Albert Lybrock Trained in Germany and came to the United States in 1849. He was first employed in New York City before moving to Richmond. He became one of the leading professional architects in the city and is best remembered for designing both the cast-iron canopy over the grave of James Monroe in Hollywood Cemetery and the U.S. Customs House. In 1857 a joint committee of the Virginia General Assembly was formed to receive proposals to enlarge the facilities of the Capitol building, and Lybrock was paid $100 for submitting drawings. He proposed adding a bay to the rear of the Capitol, expanding the space available for the General Assembly, and rearranging some of the interior spaces. Lybrock's most dramatic change was to remove the side entrances and build the front steps that were intended by Jefferson and modeled by Fouquet. The Civil War interrupted the project, and Lybrock's proposals were never put in place. For historians, Lybrock's drawings are important not for what the architect proposed, but for what he recorded on these sheets. Lybrock made measured drawings of the Capitol building as it stood in 1858. These drawings represent the most-complete documentation of the Virginia Capitol before the sweeping changes to the building that took place between 1904 and 1906. During these later modifications, front steps, similar to those Lybrock had suggested almost fifty years earlier, were built, giving the Capitol the distinctive appearance of today.
10. SCAVAI_120603_060.JPG: Disaster Age and overcrowding took its toll on the Capitol's structure. Plans for the Capitol's improvement ceased with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, as both the Virginia General Assembly and the Confederate Congress. Photographs of the Capitol at the end of the war depict a building badly in need of repair. The worsening condition of the Capitol became tragically apparent when the balcony of the third-floor courtroom collapsed in April 1870 during arguments before the Supreme Court of Appeals about a hotly disputed Richmond mayoral election. The floor of the courtroom crashed down into the chamber of the House of Delegates one floor below. More than 60 persons died in what came to be known as the "Capitol Disaster." Despite some calls to raze and replace the damaged Capitol, the legislators approved funds and repaired the building. The Capitol remained overcrowded and poorly maintained until the General Assembly decided in 1901 to enlarge and modernize the building. Sponsoring a design competition, the General Assembly rejected proposals that would significantly alter the exterior appearance of Jefferson's conception. The design finally chosen acknowledged the primacy of Jefferson's "temple on the hill" by creating new, separate assembly halls for the Senate and the House of Delegates, each flanking Jefferson's Capitol and attached to the Capitol by hyphens. Early in the 1960s the hyphens were widened, yet the original section of the Capitol remains the dominant architectural feature in the composition.
11. SCAVAI_120603_068.JPG: The Temple on the Hill For more than 150 years, the Virginia State Capitol on Shockoe Hill dominated the Richmond skyline. The earliest views of the Virginia State Capitol were made by B. Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), the British-born founder of the American architectural profession, who lived in Virginia between 1796 and 1798. A skillful amateur artist, Latrobe prepared a series of views of the Capitol that documents the appearance of the building from different perspectives. In later years, Latrobe's and Jefferson's architectural careers intertwined inseparably, and Latrobe designed several public buildings that were influenced by Jefferson's conception for Virginia's Capitol.
12. SCAVAI_120603_076.JPG: Howard W. Montague, a Baptist minister from Essex County, captured the building's exterior paint scheme. The colors of the Capitol varied from grays to tan to brown throughout much of the 1800s. The Capitol became a white building late in the 19th century.
13. SCAVAI_120603_079.JPG: Noble-looking from a distance, the Capitol had quite a different effect up close in its early days, as this unsparing Latrobe view reveals. Twenty years before the landscaping of the site began, Shockoe Hill was bare and bald. At the top loomed the unfinished exterior of the Capitol. The facades, still of red brick with areas of whitewash, lacked their window frames, their coats of stucco, and their Ionic capitals, which were not put into place until late in 1797. The adjacent government buildings were wholly alien to Jefferson's conception -- on the right is a modest wooden house for the governor, and on the left is a shanty on stilts that served as a belfry.
14. SCAVAI_120603_091.JPG: Ben Barnes
15. SCAVAI_120603_118.JPG: Extension Mezzanine West: Although Thomas Jefferson designed the Capitol to be built on a low base, other members of Virginia's Committee on Public Buildings decided to enlarge the base and create an additional story of usable office space. To provide access, light, and ventilation to the new offices under the Portico, a central door and flanking windows were inserted on the Capitol's south side. The steps that Jefferson had envisioned leading up to the Portico would not be installed until the renovations of 1904-06.
16. SCAVAI_120603_198.JPG: First Legislature in the New World by Jack Clifton The General Assembly of Virginia, oldest offshoot of the Parliament of England, convened at Jamestown 30 July - 4 August 1619 by Governor Sir George Yeardley. It consisted of the governor, six councilors, and 22 elected burgesses. John Pory, a former member of Parliament, was chosen as speaker.
17. SCAVAI_120603_284.JPG: To the Virginians who wrote, signed and substantiated the Declaration of Independence George Wythe Richard Henry Lee T.H. Jefferson Benj. Harrison Thos. Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton
18. SCAVAI_120603_355.JPG: The Mace of the House of Delegates: A ceremonial object symbolizing power and authority, a mace representing English authority was presented by Virginia;s royal governor at Williamsburg in 1700. The House of Burgesses ordered a new mace about 1722. After the American Revolution, the House of Delegates sold the royal mace and deposited the money into the public treasury. This modern sterling silver mace with 24-karat-gold finish was made in England in 1938 and presented to the Virginia House of Delegates by the Jamestown Foundation in 1974. When the House is in session, the Sergeant of Arms carries the mace to the House Chamber each day where it is displayed in front of the Speaker's podium. Today the mace is a symbol of the important political and legal traditions shared by the Commonwealth of Virginia and Great Britain.
19. SCAVAI_120603_359.JPG: Old House Chamber: This large chamber was used by the House of Delegates from 1788 until 1904. Various Virginia conventions also met here between 1829 and 1956 to amend the U.S. Constitution and create four new state constitutions for the Commonwealth. In April 1861, Virginia voted in this room to secede from the Union and Robert E. Lee accepted command of Virginia state forces from the governor. Virginia's first elected African American Delegates began meeting here in the late 1860s.
20. SCAVAI_120603_361.JPG: George Mason
21. SCAVAI_120603_368.JPG: Richard Henry Lee 1732-1794 Author of the Westmoreland Resolutions of 1766 mover of the resolution for independence signer of the Declaration of Independence President of the Continental Congress United States Senator from Virginia Presented by the Society of the Lees of Virginia Bryant Baker, sculptor, 1954
22. SCAVAI_120603_377.JPG: McCormick
23. SCAVAI_120603_381.JPG: Meriwether Lewis
24. SCAVAI_120603_384.JPG: Meriwether Lewis 1774-1809 Private secretary to President Thomas Jefferson Co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Governor of the Louisiana Territory Presented by Family and Friends Across America The Locust Hill Graveyard Foundation Home Front Chapter of the L&C Trail Heritage Fndn John A. Lanzalotti, MD, Sculptor, 2008
25. SCAVAI_120603_386.JPG: Fitzhugh Lee
26. SCAVAI_120603_390.JPG: Fitzhugh Lee 1835-1905 Major General of Cavalry, CSA Governor of Virginia Consul General at Havana Major General, US Vols. Brigadier General, USA G. Trentanove, Sculptor 1908 Purchased by the Commonwealth
27. SCAVAI_120603_392.JPG: Alexander Stephens
28. SCAVAI_120603_396.JPG: Alexander H. Stephens 1812-1883 Vice President of the Confederate States 1861-1865 Bryant Baker, Sculptor Presented by the State of Georgia to the Commonwealth of Virginia 1953
29. SCAVAI_120603_398.JPG: Joseph Johnston
30. SCAVAI_120603_401.JPG: Joseph E. Johnston February 3, 1807 - March 21, 1891 Brigadier General USA General CSA Edward V. Valentine Sculptor After the original from life in the Valentine Museum
31. SCAVAI_120603_408.JPG: Patrick Henry
32. SCAVAI_120603_411.JPG: Patrick Henry 1736-1799 Orator of the Revolution and first Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia F. William Sievers, Sculptor 1932 Presented by John Henry Miller
33. SCAVAI_120603_413.JPG: George Wythe
34. SCAVAI_120603_416.JPG: George Wythe 1726-1806 Born in Elizabeth City County, Virginia First Professor of Law in America Revisor of the Laws of Virginia Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Chancellor of Virginia, 1789-1806 Presented in 1964 by the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia Bryant Baker, Sculptor
35. SCAVAI_120603_421.JPG: Stonewall Jackson
36. SCAVAI_120603_424.JPG: Thomas Jonathan Jackson "Stonewall" 1824-1863 Lieutenant General, Army of the Confederate States of America Presented by Virginia Division United Daughters of the Confederacy Bryant Baker, Sculptor, 1957
37. SCAVAI_120603_430.JPG: Andrew Lewis
38. SCAVAI_120603_431.JPG: Brigadier General Andrew Lewis 1720-1781 Aide to General George Washington Advisor to Governor Thomas Jefferson Surveyor of Western Virginia Commander of the military victories at Point Pleasant and Gwynn's Island Presented by Salem Educational Foundation Anne Bell, Sculptor, 2010
39. SCAVAI_120603_435.JPG: JEB Stuart
40. SCAVAI_120603_439.JPG: James Ewell Brown Stuart 1833-1864 Major General and Chief of Cavalry Army of Northern Virginia E.V. Valentine, Sculptor 1866
41. SCAVAI_120603_447.JPG: Jefferson Davis
42. SCAVAI_120603_450.JPG: Capitol Disaster This tablet was erected under an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, approved March 16, 1918 -- to mark the scene of the capitol disaster which occurred on April 27, 1870, when the floor of the court room of the Supreme Court of Appeals which was then above this hall fell. Resulting in the death of sixty-two and the injuring of two hundred and fifty-one other persons, the falling of the court room was occasioned by the attendance of an unusual number of persons assembled to hear the decision of the court in the case of Ellyson vs. Cahoon, known as the Richmond Mayoralty Case. Reported in XIX Grattan, page 673.
43. SCAVAI_120603_453.JPG: Matthew Maury
44. SCAVAI_120603_457.JPG: Matthew Fontaine Maury "Pathfinder of the Seas" Born 1806 Spotsylvania County, Virginia Edward V. Valentine Sculptor after the original from life in the Valentine Museum
45. SCAVAI_120603_468.JPG: "Profoundly impressed with the solemnity of the occasion, for which I must say I was not prepared, I accept the position assigned me by your partiality. I would have much preferred had your choice fallen on an abler man. Trusting in Almighty God, an approving conscience, and the aid of my fellow-citizens, I devote myself to the service of my native state, in whose behalf alone will I ever again draw my sword."
46. SCAVAI_120603_477.JPG: On this spot Robert Edward Lee accepted the command of the armed forces of Virginia April 23 1861
47. SCAVAI_120603_479.JPG: R[udulph] Evans 1931
48. SCAVAI_120603_492.JPG: Zachary Taylor
49. SCAVAI_120603_495.JPG: Woodrow Wilson
50. SCAVAI_120603_504.JPG: Marquis D. La Fayette
51. SCAVAI_120603_513.JPG: The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused this statue to be erected, as a monument of affection and gratitude to GEORGE WASHINGTON; who, Uniting to the Endowments of the Hero the Virtues of the Patriot, and exerting both in establishing the Liberties of his Country has rendered his name dear to his Fellow-Citizens, and given the World an immortal example Of true Glory. ~ Done, in the year of CHRIST One thousand seven hundred and eighty eight and in the year of the Commonwealth the twelfth
52. SCAVAI_120603_516.JPG: The Rotunda: In his design for the Virginia Capitol, Thomas Jefferson included a central conference room for the display of a statue honoring George Washington. It was probably Richmond builder Samuel Dobie who later created a sky lighted dome, hidden beneath the Capitol's gable roof. French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon's magnificent sculpture, George Washington, has been the centerpiece of this room since its arrival in 1796. It is surrounded by Houdon's 1786 bust of the Marquis de Lafayette and by portrait busts of the seven other Virginia-born U.S. presidents, which were unveiled in 1931.
53. SCAVAI_120603_517.JPG: Thomas Jefferson
54. SCAVAI_120603_521.JPG: James Madison
55. SCAVAI_120603_524.JPG: James Monroe
56. SCAVAI_120603_528.JPG: William Henry Harrison
57. SCAVAI_120603_533.JPG: fait par houdon Citoyen frangais 1788
58. SCAVAI_120603_635.JPG: Governor's Gallery: The third-floor gallery features portraits of Virginia's former governors. To the right of the door leading to the 1906 Governor's Office hangs the portrait of Virginia's most recent incumbent, followed by earlier governors in chronological order. Every four years a new portrait is hung, the remaining portraits rotate to the right, and the oldest portrait is retired from the gallery.
59. SCAVAI_120603_661.JPG: Dial Clock: Called variously an "Act of Parliament" clock, tavern clock, or coaching-inn clock, this eighteenth-century English dial clock was a gift to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1947 by Lady Astor, born Nancy Witcher Langhorne (1879-1964). Born in Danville, Virginia's Lady Astor married William Waldorf Astor, her second husband the heir to one of the largest American fortunes at the time, and they lived exclusively in England. In 1919, she became the first woman to take a seat in the British House of Commons.
60. SCAVAI_120603_670.JPG: This replica shows how the model of the Capitol may have looked as constructed by Jean-Pierre Fouquet from the design provided by Jefferson and Clerisseau. Details reveal the Capitol design as an architectural testimony to Jefferson's British Palladianism influenced by Clerisseau's French neo-Classicism. The form and proportion of the building are chiefly Jefferson's design, as was the decision to use the Ionic order of architecture. Details such as the garlands and rosettes, the third-story attic windows, and the form of the scrolled consoles supporting the door cornices come from Clerisseau's tradition. Colonial Williamsburg conservators used a combination of modern technology and traditional craftsmanship to construct the replica. X-radiographs of the original model revealed the intricate detail in Fouquet's artisanry. The X-ray images were translated into three dimensions using a 3D computer modeling program, enabling accurate prototype elements to be produced using a computer-assisted scanning and milling machine. Working with the prototypes, modern and traditional moldmaking and casting techniques were used to fabricate the plaster replica. From http://hodcap.state.va.us/publications/Capitol_Visitor_Guide.pdf : Jefferson once wrote that "architecture is my delight." After the Revolution, Virginians instinctively turned to Jefferson and asked him to design a new state Capitol, combining "economy with elegance and utility." Jefferson was responsible for recommending the Shockoe hilltop location, choosing the Classical temple form, and arranging the interior fl oor plans to accommodate the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Virginia's new "Commonwealth" government. Intending to leave no doubts about the exterior form of the great specimen of Classical architecture that would rise in Richmond, Jefferson adopted the costly European practice of commissioning a scale model of the proposed building and turned to the eminent model maker Jean-Pierre Fouquet (1752-1829). Jefferson justified the additional expense of the model by proclaiming it "absolutely necessary for the guide of workmen not very expert in their art." The plaster model for the Virginia Capitol shipped from France in December 1786 and arrived in Richmond in late February 1787. Jefferson intended to provide "models of the front and side in plaster of Paris" along with the drawings of his design prepared by Cl�risseau. He described the maker of the model, Jean-Pierre Fouquet, as "an artist who had been employed by the ambassador of France to Constantinople, in making models of the most celebrated remains of ancient architecture in that country." Fouquet was one of the most accomplished artisans working in the French architectural model making tradition of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The model for the Virginia Capitol is his earliest extant work. Fouquet's model, constructed of plaster of Paris at a scale of 1:60, or one inch to every fi ve feet, and reinforced with internal iron rods, displayed architectural details with precision.
61. SCAVAI_120603_678.JPG: Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826 Burgess, 1769=1775 Member of Committee of Correspondence 1773 Member of Virginia Convention 1775 Member of Continental Congress 1775-1776, 1783-1785 Author and Signer of the Declaration of American Independence 1776 Member of House of Delegates 1776-1779, 1782 Governor of Virginia 1779-1781 Author of the Statue of Virginia for Religious Freedom 1785 Minister to France 1785-1789 Secretary of State 1790-1793 Vice President of the United States 1797-1801 President of the United States 1801-1809 Father of the University of Virginia 1819 By George Catlin 1796-1872, from a portrait by Thomas Sully now in United States Military Academy at West Point
62. SCAVAI_120603_684.JPG: In Paris as minister to France, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) designed the new Capitol in 1785 with the help of the celebrated draftsman Charles-Louis Clerisseau (1721-1820). Jefferson turned to the buildings in both Virginia and France that stood around him for practical lessons in planning, and he consulted European books for lofty architectural principles and ornaments. He envisioned the Capitol as embodying the great tradition in Western monumental architecture, built of enduring masonry and employing the classical Orders as the principal ornament. Intending to leave no doubts about the exterior form of the great specimen of classical architecture that would rise in Richmond, Jefferson adopted the costly European practice of commissioning a scale model of the proposed building and hired the eminent modelmaker Jean-Pierre Fouquet (1752-1829). The plaster model for the Capitol of Virginia arrived in Richmond late in 1786. Jefferson intended to provide "models of the front and side... in plaister of Paris" along with the drawings of his design prepared by Clerisseau. Jefferson justified the additional expense of the model by proclaiming it was "absolutely necessary for the guide of workmen not very expert in their art." He described Fouquet, the maker of the model, as "an artist who had been employed by the ... ambassador of France to Constantinople, in making models of the most celebrated remains of ancient architecture in that country." Fouquet was one of the most accomplished artisans working in the French architectural modelmaking tradition of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The model for the Capitol of Virginia is his earliest surviving work. Fouquet's model, constructed of plaster of Paris at a scale of 1:60, or one inch to every five feet, and reinforced with internal iron rods, displayed architectural details with precision. Fouquet's model served as a working prototype for the builders of the Virginia Capitol, but upon the building's completion it became an object of historic interest. The rear wall was added in Richmond, probably to make the model more complete for exhibition in the executive mansion. At that time, the entire model was given a thick coat of gray primer, apparently to unify the old and new surfaces. The model was then painted to match the appearance of the stucco on the Capitol building, beginning a tradition of re-painting the model each time the color scheme of the Capitol changed. Fouquet's original plaster surface is now obscured by as many as fifteen layers of paint. During recent conservation of the model at Colonial Williamsburg, five nineteenth-century paint schemes were uncovered on the rear wall, each relating to images from particular periods of the Capitol's history (left to right): 1798-1820, the original appearance of the Capitol. 1820-1840, the second paint scheme. 1840-1865, the Capitol before and during the Civil War. 1870-1885, the Capitol during the Reconstruction years. 1885-1904, the Capitol at the turn of the twentieth century. The Capitol was not painted white until the additions of the wings in 1904-1906.
63. SCAVAI_120603_710.JPG: Jefferson Room: Several smaller office spaces were combined during the Capitol's restoration of 2005-2007 to create the Jefferson Room, a mirror image of the Old Senate Chamber. The 2007 woodwork on the east wall between the windows replicates the details of a former Senate chamber and state courtroom in the northeast corner of the third floor. The third-floor space is depicted in this 1865 print.
64. SCAVAI_120603_724.JPG: Storming of a British Redoubt by American Troops at Yorktown Eugene Louis Lami 1840 French artist Eugene Lami depicts the decisive moments leading to the end of the Revolutionary War as American forces overtake the British at Yorktown, Virginia. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, sword arm raised, leads his men to the capture of British Redoubt 10. The British flag is being lowered in surrender while the American flag is rising in victory. The background shows the incoming French fleet on the horizon to the right and the trapped British supply fleet in the center. In 1878 art collector William Corcoran donated this painting to his native Virginia, which he noted "has been justly designated as the Mother of Statesmen and Heroes."
65. SCAVAI_120603_729.JPG: Three Ships Griffith Baily Coale 1949 On May 14, 1607, three ships carrying 104 English settlers arrived at the site they would name Jamestown to establish the first permanent English colony in the New World. The ships -- the Susan Constant (at center), the Godspeed (left), and the Discovery (right) -- are shown preparing the drop anchor in the waters of the James River. This painting was used for the 2007 stamp issued by the United States Postal Service to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the ships' landing.
66. SCAVAI_120603_748.JPG: Doorknob
67. SCAVAI_120603_771.JPG: Fossil
68. SCAVAI_120603_815.JPG: This is where the mace goes
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].