12. The
STATE CAPITOL, Washington Street between Hunter and Mitchell streets, was completed in 1889 at an approximate cost of a million dollars. Built not of Georgia marble but Indiana limestone and modeled after the national capitol, it is one of the few buildings of such scope to be raised within the sum appropriated. Edbrooke and Burnham were the architects. The capitol grounds, provided with native trees and shrubs, form the setting for heroic monuments, and tablets commemorating Georgia personalities and events.
Within the hallways and rotunda, which are finished in Georgia marble, are numerous life-sized oil paintings of prominent state lead¬ers, as well as collections of historical and literary interest. A marble bust of Benjamin Harvey Hill is the work of Alexander Doyle. Through the efforts of the U. D. C., many historic flags, some battle torn, have been preserved and are on display.
The capitol dome, rising 237. feet above ground, is reached by a staircase from the top floor of the building. Surmounting the dome is an allegorical figure with torch in one hand, a sword in the other.
Today
The building continues to function as the Georgia State Capitol. The building was renovated in 1957 and the dome was gilded with gold mined in Dahlonega GA. Many new monuments and statues have been added on the capitol grounds.
The Georgia Capitol building was constructed between 1884 and 1889. It is built in the neoclassical structure with a gilded dome and is the perfect expression and symbol for the capitol of the ‘New South’ as Atlanta considered itself to be after the Reconstruction. The dome is gilded with Gold that was mined in north Georgia.
The grounds around the Capitol have many statues of the leaders of Georgia that played a significant role in the states history. There is also a museum inside the Capitol.
The Gilding of Georgia Capitols’ Dome
During a 1957 renovation of Georgia's capitol, Thomas Bradbury, the architect in charge of the project, and Gordon Price, a Dahlonega-born engineer living in Atlanta, proposed that the deteriorated tin-covered dome be replaced by a more attractive and durable surface. The citizens of Dahlonega and Lumpkin County offered to donate the gold. Within a week, twenty ounces of gold had been pledged by citizens from an area that 129 years earlier had been the site of the nation's first gold rushh.
The gold was expected to last thirty or forty years but the gold was applied during the winter months, and the engineers were unaware that gold leaf does not bond properly when it is applied during cold weather. By 1977 almost half of the gold was gone from the dome. Concern over the disappearing gold and the dome's appearance led a number of Georgians and state officials to explore how the dome might be regilded. The Dahlonega–Lumpkin County Jaycees committed their organization to raising the gold for the project, as they had done in the late 1950s, with overall responsibility for regilding to be assumed by the Georgia Building Authority.
The fund-raising effort was ambitious; a wagon train crossed the state, visiting each of the state's former capitals. In June 1979, after a journey of almost six weeks, the wagon train pulled up to the city limits of Dahlonega, where Governor George Busbee boarded the lead wagon and drove it for the final few miles. Before the end of the year, enough gold for the dome had been collected.
Only ten other states have capitol domes covered with gold leaf: Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Of these, the gilded domes of Iowa and Georgia are the largest.
Source: Georgia State Capitol
(visit link)
Guided tours begin at the Capitol Tour and Information Desk located near the Washington Street entrance. The tours consist of a brief overview of Capitol history and the lawmaking process; a visit to the public galleries of the House of Representatives or Senate; and conclude with a visit to the Georgia Capitol Museum. Visitors are also encouraged to visit the "Hall of Valor," which houses Georgia’s valuable collection of historic battle flags. Tours are approximately 45 minutes in duration; group sizes are limited to 50. You are welcome to schedule a tour by calling (404) 656-2844, e-mailing, or submitting an online request. Walk-in visitors are welcome.
The Georgia State Capitol is open to the public 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and holidays. Guided tours are available Monday through Friday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. The Georgia General Assembly is in session beginning the second Monday in January and continues for 40 working days.
The Capitol is located in downtown Atlanta at the intersection of I-20 and I-75/85, near Underground Atlanta and the Five Points and Georgia State MARTA station.