between Commonwealth Avenue and Third Avenue
Harrisburg, PA
1-800-868-7672
The Keystone State
The Keystone State
Senate: 60
House/ Assembly: 203
Architect: East Wing—Thomas C. Celli, Main Building-- Joseph Huston (1866-1940), who envisioned the building as a “Palace of Art.”
Building Completed: Dedicated 1906 (previous building burned); East wing 1987
Capitols located: Harrisburg third city (Philadelphia, Lancaster)
Style: American Renaissance—original building, 620X254 feet; east wing—“post modern”
The Rotunda/Dome/Dome topper: Five story, 272-foot, 52 million-pound dome inspired by Michelangelo’s design for St. Peter’s Basilica is faced with Vermont granite; the roof is composed of pea-green glazed terra cotta tiles. Commonwealth, a gilded bronze 14’6” “Miss Penn,” holds a garlanded mace in her left hand (symbol of statehood) and the right hand held in a benediction manner. Grand staircase is patterned after the Paris Opera House.
Art: Both the Senate and House have huge beautiful murals on the walls of their chambers…lot of historic events. House corridor has paintings of religious groups that founded Pennsylvania; the Senate corridor is line with fourteen paintings showing Pennsylvania’s industry and transportation. There are statues in marble and bronze throughout. Battle flags are housed near the rotunda.
And to me, the most impressive are the stained glass windows that line the side walls of the Senate (10) and House Chambers (14) each weighing 200 pounds, framed in gold leaf, depicting themes, attributes, and values.
Quarter: Commonwealth "Miss Penn" and keystone superimposed over image of state outline.
Liberty Bell—Each state and most territories have been gifted at least one replica of the liberty bell. Missouri seems to have two—one of which is located at the Harry S Truman Library (#54) in Independence, MO, given by the city of Annecy-le-Vieux to the city of Independence. My guess would be that this choice was made as Truman was President at the time of the gifting. The second one was given to the State of Missouri and resides on capitol grounds (#20).
The fifty five full-sized replicas were cast in 1950 by the Paccard Foundry in Annecy-le-Vieux, France and shipped as gifts to states and territories. They were funded by a savings bond drive. In thanks for America’s help in World War II.
In some states, the replica bells are located outside on the grounds of the capitol; some states have located them in other prestigious places such as state historical societies; some states don’t seem to have a clue where it is.
Pennsylvania is unique in that it has THE original liberty bell. It has a replica at the State Museum across the street from the Capitol Building first used at the New York World’s Fair in 1965. The Paccard Foundry reproduction (#4) is found in Allentown at the Zion Reformed Church (Liberty Bell Shrine). It was closed by the time of the day that we reached it. During time of War, bells are often recast for bullets and other munitions. To protect the bells of Philadelphia, the bells were brought by wagon train to Bethlehem and then to The Zion [German] Reformed Church in present day Allentown (then known as Northampton). This Church, therefore, was the place the original had been secreted behind a false wall when the British took over Philadelphia during the War for our Independence. The original returned to Philly in 1778.
Tours: Self Guided. Guided every half-hour M-F 8:30 am –4:30 pm, weekends/most holidays: four offered-- every two hours starting at 9am – 3pm (to make advance reservation: 1-800-Tour-N-PA or 717-787-6810.
Cornerstone—The facility was so huge that I did not find the cornerstone.
Getting there: I-81 Front Street Exit in Harrisburg. The ride to the Harrisburg capitol is picturesque and beautiful along the Susquehanna River. There is nothing between the Front Street road (one way in-bound) and the north side of the river. Easy in and easy out.
Parking: Yuk! Difficult! Metered street parking. $.25 for ten minutes. Two hours limit. Parking closest to the Capitol is reserved for State employees. There are some parking garages which I did not investigate. For parking “opportunities” http://www.harrisburgparking.org/.
What’s unique:
- T. Roosevelt called it “the handsomest Capitol I ever saw!”
- Pennsylvania has more printed material about the capitol than any other building I have visited.
- One pamphlet lists the 67 counties and from whence their names were derived.
- Three hundred seventy-seven Moravian mosaic picture floor tiles representing 254 scenes—artifacts, animals, birds, fish, insects, industries, workers, Civil war soldiers, buildings, and the keystone. Designed by Henry Chapman Mercer of Bucks County. Chronological order.
- The only place in the western hemisphere to have marble from the French Pyrenees Mountains.
- The fountain at its east wing entrance (Pennsylvania War Veterans’ Memorial Fountain).
- Soldiers Grove, a tree-lined approach, named in honor of war veterans.
- We missed this: Pennsylvania Medal of Honor Memorial—the names of each Pennsylvania recipient carved in granite and placed in an arc of a particular war or conflict. The arcs form a timeline dating from the Civil War.
The docent gave us wise advice to start with the fourth floor galleries for both houses as there was a press conference/protest for some potential legislation that filled the rotunda under the beautiful dome. It was good advice as we saw these places before the crowd let loose.
Both chambers were awesome from the gallery.
Quarter:
Commonwealth statue, state outline, keystone
Caption: "Virtue, Liberty, Independence"
Information drawn from various pamphlets and personal observation. Pamphlets produced by Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee
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