The Connecticut State Capitol

The Connecticut State Capitol, Hartford, Connecticut:
The Connecticut State Capitol is located in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. Today it houses the chambers of the Connecticut State Senate and the Connecticut House of Representatives. It also contains the offices of the Governor of Connecticut, Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, Connecticut Secretary of State, and several legislative committee offices. The Capitol Building is open to the public, with self-guided and guided tours available on weekdays.
The current building is the third capitol building for the State of Connecticut since the American Revolution. Historically, the General Assembly of Connecticut met alternately in Hartford and New Haven since before the American Revolution. After the Civil War, the complications of this plan began to be evident, and both Hartford and New Haven competed to be sole state capital. Hartford won, and the new sole capital needed one central capitol building. The General Assembly authorized a million dollar project, and two competitors, James G. Batterson and Richard M. Upjohn, vied to be awarded the project. Upjohn won, but Batterson, a stone importer and merchant and not an architect, was named the building contractor. Richard M. Upjohn’s design is in the Eastlake style, with French and Gothic Revival styled elements. Construction of the building began in 1871. The building was completed in 1878, and it opened for the session of the General Assembly of Connecticut in January 1879.The New York Times described the newly constructed building: “a vast mass of white marble (is) this imposing structure, and in the dazzling sunshine of a New-England Summer noon sparkles like a fairy palace of frost work.”
The site of the Capitol was chosen since it is adjacent to Bushnell Park and had access to more surrounding open space than the older building in the immediate downtown. The site was originally the location of the old Trinity College and was then known as “Trinity Hill”. Trinity College relocated to a new campus south of the downtown. The State Capitol was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1971.