Massachusetts Statehouse - Boston, MA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The building is situated on 6.7 acres (27,000 m²) of land on top of Beacon Hill in Boston. It was built on land once owned by John Hancock, Massachusetts's first elected governor.

In his design for the building, architect Charles Bulfinch was inspired by two London buildings: William Chambers's Somerset House, and James Wyatt's Pantheon.


The original wood dome, which leaked, was covered with copper in 1802 by Paul Revere's company. (Paul Revere was the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets in a commercially viable manner.)
The dome was first painted gray and then light yellow before being gilded with gold leaf in 1874. During WWII, the dome was once again painted, this time black or gray (depending on the source), to prevent reflections during blackouts and to protect the city and building from bombing attacks. In 1997, at a cost of more than $300,000, the dome was re-gilded, in 23k gold.

The dome is topped with a pine cone, symbolizing both the importance of Boston's lumber industry in the early colonial days and of the state of Maine, which was a district of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts when the Bulfinch section of the building was completed.

From the Wikipedia

(visit link)

Street address: Beacon Hill Boston, MA United States 02108 County / Borough / Parish: Suffolk County Year listed: 1966 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1750-1799 Historic function: Government Current function: Government Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   10/17/2023 stevepre2 visited it 04/19/2022 _ILMOP_ visited it 07/10/2019 Sneakin Deacon visited it 09/23/2018 Duodenfer_ visited it 07/13/2018 lesden visited it 06/12/2018 ORDIMIC visited it 04/13/2018 veritas vita visited it 08/27/2017 wb96bobwhite visited it 08/12/2016 ToRo61 visited it 08/05/2016 JASTA 11 visited it 04/06/2016 Earthbound Chief visited it 07/02/2015 Castor007 visited it 06/25/2015 blackjack65 visited it 04/05/2015 LadyKarine visited it 10/25/2014 DrBrain visited it 08/22/2014 Amalthee visited it 08/22/2014 Amalthee visited it 05/05/2014 chrissyml visited it 12/10/2013 Weathervane visited it 11/05/2013 urpickle visited it 08/07/2013 tipete visited it 07/21/2013 buffalohiker visited it 05/07/2013 Chasing Blue Sky visited it 10/31/2012 oreillypatton visited it 09/04/2012 famaxe visited it

View all visits/logs