Well I guess most of you have figured out by now that I like to take pictures and I then like to share all those pictures with you. What I have also developed a like for is State Houses. Basically this all started from a trip to Helena Montana (to write my US RN exam). Steve (my brother), Heather (Steve’s girlfriend) and I were very pleasantly surprised to find that you can wander into the State House in Helena and wander around freely (we found a lot of open doors and just walked in because I figure if they wanted to keep us out they would have locked the door).
Well the same goes here in Harrisburg. I guess the thing is that as citizens (and tourists) you are allowed free access to all government officials including any senator and the Governor so after you pass through the metal detectors (which were totally missing in Helena by the way) you can wander from room to room. To my disappointment however they did lock the doors to the floors of the Senate and the House of Representatives but I did get to check out the Supreme Court.
Of course this posting would not be complete without a little bit of history (I also like history in case anyone was not quite sure). The main part of the building was officially opened in 1906 (October 4th to be exact. They just had a big party for its 100th birthday). It replaced the original building that was destroyed by fire in 1897. It was designed to be the most beautiful State house in the country and compared to the others I’ve seen I have to agree. Just in case you wanted to know the green dome weighs 52 million pounds. I can’t even fathom how heavy that really is. But everything else in the building seems to be very heavy too. There are light fixtures that weigh about 2 tons each, stained glass windows that weigh 200 pounds each and drapes that weigh 87 pounds each. Some of the marble was imported from France, some from Ireland (it couldn’t all come from the same place). Most the desks were constructed from mahogany that was imported from Belize. 
The most interesting thing about the building is that it contains hundreds of clocks all that need to be hand –wound. Apparently there is one man that does this. It takes him something like 7 hours to do it. What a job.
The State House by the way is also the home of the security guards that I posted a picture of a little while ago. They were very nice.
Julie
Well the same goes here in Harrisburg. I guess the thing is that as citizens (and tourists) you are allowed free access to all government officials including any senator and the Governor so after you pass through the metal detectors (which were totally missing in Helena by the way) you can wander from room to room. To my disappointment however they did lock the doors to the floors of the Senate and the House of Representatives but I did get to check out the Supreme Court.
Of course this posting would not be complete without a little bit of history (I also like history in case anyone was not quite sure). The main part of the building was officially opened in 1906 (October 4th to be exact. They just had a big party for its 100th birthday). It replaced the original building that was destroyed by fire in 1897. It was designed to be the most beautiful State house in the country and compared to the others I’ve seen I have to agree. Just in case you wanted to know the green dome weighs 52 million pounds. I can’t even fathom how heavy that really is. But everything else in the building seems to be very heavy too. There are light fixtures that weigh about 2 tons each, stained glass windows that weigh 200 pounds each and drapes that weigh 87 pounds each. Some of the marble was imported from France, some from Ireland (it couldn’t all come from the same place). Most the desks were constructed from mahogany that was imported from Belize. 
The most interesting thing about the building is that it contains hundreds of clocks all that need to be hand –wound. Apparently there is one man that does this. It takes him something like 7 hours to do it. What a job.
The State House by the way is also the home of the security guards that I posted a picture of a little while ago. They were very nice.Julie
1 comment:
I love old buildings and history, so keep 'em coming!!
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