Капитолий штата Техас: История и архитектура

State capitol of the U. S. state of Texas

The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and seat of government of the American state of Texas. Located in downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. Designed in 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, it was constructed from 1882 to 1888 under the direction of civil engineer Reuben Lindsay Walker. A $75 million underground extension was completed in 1993. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The Texas State Capitol is 302.64 feet (92 m) tall, making it the sixth tallest state capitol and one of several taller than the United States Capitol in Washington, D. C. The capitol was ranked 92nd in the 2007 "America's Favorite Architecture" poll commissioned by the American Institute of Architects.

The current Texas State Capitol is the fourth building to serve that purpose in Austin. The first was a two room wooden structure (located on the northeast corner of 8th St and Colorado St) which served as the national capitol of the Texas Republic and continued as the seat of government upon Texas' admission to the Union. The second Texas capitol was built of limestone in 1853, on the same site as the present capitol in Austin; it was destroyed by fire in 1881, but plans had already been made to replace it with a new, much larger structure. A temporary capitol was then constructed across the street at 11th St and Congress Ave in 1882. The temporary capitol later burned down in a fire also in 1899.

Construction of the Italian Renaissance Revival–style capitol was funded by an article of the state constitution, adopted on February 15, 1876, which authorized the sale of public lands for the purpose. In one of the largest barter transactions of recorded history, the builders of the capitol (John V. Farwell and Charles B. Farwell), known as the Capitol Syndicate, were paid with more than three million acres (12,000 km2) of public land in the Texas Panhandle; this tract later became the largest cattle ranch in the world, the XIT Ranch. The value of the land, combined with expenses, added to a total cost of $3.7 million for the original building. It was constructed largely by convicts or migrant workers, as many as a thousand at a time. The building has been renovated several times, with central air conditioning installed in 1955 and the most recent refurbishments completed in 1997. The designers originally planned for the building to be clad entirely with hill country limestone quarried in Oatmanville (present day Oak Hill), about 10 mile (16 km) to the southwest. However, the high iron content of the limestone led it to discolor rapidly with rust stains when exposed to the elements. Learning of the problem, business partners George W. Lacy, Nimrod L. Norton, and William H. Westfall, who were the owners of Granite Mountain near Marble Falls, offered to donate to the state, free of charge, the necessary amount of sunset red (also known as pink) granite to sheathe the building. A new 2.3 mile (3.7 km) spur of the Austin and Northwestern Railroad was constructed to transport the stone from Granite Mountain Quarry to the Austin train terminal. This new branch of the railway line had one fault however: there was a bend in the tracks that was a bit too sharp and trains would occasionally derail, accidentally dumping some of the pink granite. Many of the fallen rocks remain in place and are a local point of interest. Oak Hill limestone does comprise much of the Capitol but most is hidden behind the walls or is in the foundations. Granite Mountain red (or pink) granite was subsequently used for many state government buildings in the Austin area. The project's 900 workers included 86 granite cutters brought from Scotland. The cornerstone for the building was laid on March 2, 1885, Texas Independence Day, and the building was opened to the public on April 21, 1888, San Jacinto Day, before its completion. The building was officially dedicated by Texas State Senator Temple Houston on May 18, 1888.

In 1931, the City of Austin enacted a local ordinance limiting the height of new buildings to a maximum of 200 feet (61 m), aiming to preserve the visual preeminence of the capitol. From that time until the early 1960s, only the University of Texas Main Building Tower was built higher than the limit, but in 1962, developers announced a new 261 feet (80 m) high rise residential building to be built adjacent to the capitol, called the Westgate Tower. Governor Price Daniel voiced his opposition to the proposed tower, and State Representative Henry Grover of Houston introducing a bill to condemn the property, which was defeated in the Texas House of Representatives by only two votes. The Westgate was eventually completed in 1966, but the controversy over the preservation of the capitol's visual presence that dogged its construction continued to grow. The Westgate was followed by even taller structures: first the 307 feet (94 m) Dobie Center (designed in 1968), and then a series of ever larger downtown bank towers, culminating in the 395 feet (120 m) One American Center (designed in 1982). The bill was signed into law on May 3, 1983, defining 30 state protected viewing corridors and prohibiting any construction that would intersect one of them. The City of Austin has adopted similar rules, so that the majority of the corridors are also protected under municipal zoning code, as well as under state law.

On February 6, 1983, a fire began in the apartment of William P. Hobby Jr., then the state lieutenant governor. A guest of Hobby's was killed, and four firemen and a policeman were injured by the subsequent blaze. The capitol was crowded with accumulated archives, and the fire was intense and came dangerously close to destroying the structure. It caused severe damage to the east wing and compromised much of the framing, which was largely composed of exposed cast iron posts and beams. Following the fire, the state took advantage of the extensive rebuilding to update the mechanical and structural systems to modern standards. In November 1985, the original Goddess of Liberty statue on top of the dome was removed by helicopter. A new statue, cast of aluminum in molds made from the original zinc statue, was placed on the dome in June 1986 by the Mississippi National Guard, since Texas lacked the capacity to lift the approx. 3,000 pound statue. The original statue was restored and displayed on the Capitol grounds in a special structure built for it in 1995; it was later moved to the Bullock Texas State History Museum in 2001. The Old Texas Land Office, on the Capitol grounds, was rebuilt and updated between 1988 and 1990, after which the Capitol Visitors Center was moved there, freeing space in the Capitol. Previously, the building had housed the Texas Confederate Museum, which began in a ground floor room of the Capitol (1903–1920), before moving to the Land Office building. Additionally, the state sought to address the intensifying shortage of space in the old building, deciding that a new office wing should be added. The logical place for an addition was the plaza immediately to the north; however, a large building there would have eliminated the historic north façade and covered what had traditionally been seen as an important public space. Instead, an expansion to the capitol was built beneath the north plaza, connecting to the existing capitol underground. In 1993, the $75 million, four story, underground capitol extension was completed to the north, doubling the square footage available to capitol occupants and providing much improved functionality. Though the extension encompasses (nearly twice the floor space of the original building), little evidence exists of such a large structure at ground level, except for extensive skylights camouflaged as planter rows, and the four story, open air, inverted rotunda. In 1995, a comprehensive interior and exterior restoration of the original building was completed at a cost of about $98 million. In 1997, the park like grounds surrounding the capitol received an $8 million renovation and restoration. In 2016 the Texas Capitol Complex began a master renovation project. Involving the participation and collaboration of The Texas Facilities Commission, the Partnership Advisory Commission, Texas General Land Office, Texas State Preservation Board, Texas Historical Commission, the project sought to create the Texas Mall—an expansion of the Capitol Extension open space. Another goal was to address the rising cost of leased office space for state agencies which were then dispersed around the city by concentrating them in State owned facilities. After the project completion, Congress Avenue became a pedestrian only tree lined mall with lawn panels extending north of 15th Street to 18th Street. Vehicular access for these blocks is now limited to emergency and service vehicles. The lawn panels continue from 18th Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with travel
lanes for vehicular drop off. In the spring of 2013, ground was broken for the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument; dedication took place on March 29, 2014. A granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol was the topic of a 2005 U. S. Supreme Court case, Van Orden v. Perry, in which the display was challenged as unconstitutional. In late June 2005, the Court in a 5–4 ruling declared that the display was not unconstitutional.