The North Carolina State House was built from 1792 to 1796 as the state capitol for

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. It was located at Union Square in the state capital,

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

, in Wake County. The building was extensively renovated in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

by William Nichols, the state architect, from 1820 to 1824. On December 24, 1821, the statue of George Washington by

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cla ...

was displayed in the rotunda. Both were destroyed by fire in 1831.

History

In 1792, Union Square in Raleigh was set as the location for the state capitol. The

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of pres ...

first met here in 1794. The original two-story brick state house was completed in 1796. On December 16, 1815, several months after the American success in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

, the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

soon afterwards, unanimously resolved to commission, with no limit on expense, a statue of George Washington for the state house. Governor William Miller asked U.S. senators James Turner and

Nathaniel Macon Nathaniel Macon (December 17, 1757June 29, 1837) was an American politician who represented North Carolina in both houses of Congress. He was the fifth speaker of the House, serving from 1801 to 1807. He was a member of the United States House of ...

to find the best sculptor for this work. While

William Thornton William Thornton (May 20, 1759 – March 28, 1828) was a British-American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol. He also served as the first Architect of the Capitol and first Superintendent of the ...

and

Benjamin H. Latrobe Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was an Anglo-American Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in t ...

, designers of the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

, thought it could be done in the United States,

Joseph Hopkinson Joseph Hopkinson (November 12, 1770January 15, 1842) was a United States representative from Pennsylvania and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Education and career Bor ...

and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

highly recommended

of Rome, Italy. In 1816, the state commissioned a copy of

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

's Lansdowne portrait of Washington to be painted by

Thomas Sully Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was a portrait painter in the United States. Born in Great Britain, he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He painted in the style of Thomas Lawrence. His subjects included nation ...

. The painting was displayed in the state house in 1818. In 1819, the state commissioned ''The Passage of the Delaware'' by Sully, but its dimensions were too large to fit in the state house. This painting is now at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

. To accommodate Canova's ''

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

'', William Nichols was hired in 1818 as the state architect to redesign and enlarge the state house by adding a third floor and two wings. He created a neoclassical building in the style of the United States Capitol, combining

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

and

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

architectures. The construction was done from 1820 to 1824. The original cupola was replaced with a central dome and rotunda for the statue. The statue arrived in Raleigh on December 24, 1821 and was installed that same day as part of an official ceremony. It was attended by Governor

Jesse Franklin Jesse Franklin (March 24, 1760August 31, 1823) was the Democratic-Republican U.S. senator from the U.S. state of North Carolina between 1799 and 1805 and between 1807 and 1813. In 1804, Franklin briefly served as President pro tempore of the Uni ...

and the legislature. Colonel William Polk, an officer in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, addressed the audience in the dedication speech, as reported in ''

The Raleigh Register ''The Register-Herald'' is six-day morning daily newspaper, Monday thru Friday with a Weekend Edition delivered on Saturday mornings and is based in Beckley, West Virginia, and also covering surrounding communities in Fayette, Greenbrier, Raleig ...

'' on December 28, starting: On June 21, 1831, while working to fireproof the building, workers accidentally set the roof on fire. Following the major fire of May 29 in Fayetteville, the state had decided to protect the wooden roof of the state house with zinc sheets. The accident occurred while soldering the nail heads to the zinc. The resulting destruction of both the state house and Canova's statue was described in ''The Raleigh Register'' on June 23 as follows: As the blaze burned from the roof towards the bottom of the building, North Carolina Secretary of State William Hill had time to save a significant amount of state documents, carrying them out of his office to the adjacent Union Square. From 1833 to 1840, a new

North Carolina State Capitol The North Carolina State Capitol is the former seat of the legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina which housed all of the state's government until 1888. The Supreme Court and State Library moved into a separate building in 1888, and the ...

was built on the same site. It also included a central domed rotunda, which now has a copy of Canova's statue. The Sully painting of Washington was rescued from the fire and reinstalled in the new building.

Gallery

File:North Carolina State House watercolor by Glennie.jpg, Watercolor by J.S. Glennie of original two-story brick state house, 1811 File:North Carolina State House - Jacob Marling 1818.jpg, Watercolor by Jacob Marling depicting renovated state house, 1825 File:Canova's Statue of General George Washington, lithograph by Newsam.jpg, Canova's ''

'' in the rotunda

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{cite web , title=The North Carolina State Capitol: Pride of the State , url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/61capitol/61capitol.htm , publisher=

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

Government buildings with domes Demolished buildings and structures in North Carolina William Nichols buildings Burned buildings and structures in the United States Neoclassical architecture in North Carolina