by Karl Kurtz
After posting "How did the Dome Become the Symbol of Government?", I received a number of comments and corrections via email. Rather than put those into the comments section of the original post, I decided to write a new one, in part so that I can include photos.
The first correction came from Anne Dunn of the Louisiana House of Representatives staff in response to my claim that there are seven capitols that don't have either exterior or interior domes. She said, "Louisiana's state capitol does not have a dome -- Huey Long wanted a skyscraper. The one that NCSL so often depicts [in the Eric Oxendorf collection] is from the old state capitol. Here's Huey's capitol--the current one."
This got me to thinking: if Oxendorf used the old Louisiana state capitol for his photo collection, then did he do the same in any other states? So I emailed this question to Eric, who responded that both the Florida and Louisiana photos in his collection are of old capitols, explaining:
The old State House of Louisiana has a dome of stained glass. the new State House is a skyscraper of Art Deco design with stone from all 48 states integrated into the building. The old Florida State House is more of a grand staircase ala Southern mansion style, with surrounding windows in the dome and a stained glass oculus. It was replaced with a "Skyscraper Complex" in the 50's-70's. [See photo of Florida's new Capitol at right.]
So the corrected list of nine statehouses without either exterior or interior domes is Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota.
In fact, I should have included a reference to Oxendorf's book, Domes of America, with text by William Seale, in my original post. The only reason I didn't was that I couldn't find a copy in the office at the time. Here are Seale's opening sentences in the book:
To Americans the dome is the architectural symbol of democracy. Rising over the prairies or from the hearts of cities, it announces the presence of a government as clearly as a steeple proclaims a church.