Kentucky State Capitol

Infobox_nrhp | name =Kentucky State Capitol
nrhp_type =

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caption=The front of the capitol
long_degrees = 84 | long_minutes = 52 | long_seconds = 33.01 | long_direction = W
area =
built =1905
architect= Frank Mills Andrews
architecture= Beaux-Arts
added = April 13, 1973
governing_body = State
refnum=73000804 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2006-03-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the seat of the three branches (executive, legislative, judicial) of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

From 1792 to 1830, Kentucky had two buildings serve as the capitol. Both burned down.

In 1830, a new capitol was built and was in use until 1910. A bitterly contested 1899 state governor election came to a climax when Democratic claimant William Goebel was assassinated at the capitol on his way to be inaugurated. The building was replaced due to the need for a larger building for a growing state government. Today, that capitol building is a museum.

In 1904, the Kentucky General Assembly chose Frankfort (over Lexington and Louisville) as the location for the state capital and appropriated $1 million for the construction of a permanent state capitol building, to be located in southern Frankfort.

The capitol was designed by Frank Mills Andrews, a distinguished and award-winning architect. He used the Beaux-Arts style and included many classical French interior designs. The staircases, for example, are a replicas of those that appear in the Opéra Garnier in Paris.

Layout

The main part of the Capitol is laid out over three floors. The first floor contains the offices of the governor (and his staff), secretary of state, and attorney general. It also features a rotunda with statues of famous Kentuckians and other exhibits (such as doll renderings of all of the state's first ladies and only female governor in their inauguration gowns).

The second floor contains the courtroom of the state Supreme Court, as well as the chambers of the justices. The state law library is nearby.

The chambers of the House of Representatives and Senate face each other on opposite ends of the third floor. Some high-level legislative offices (such as for the Speaker of the House) are also located there.

The Capitol also has a partial fourth floor which houses the galleries of the House and Senate, as well as a handful of offices for legislative committee staffers.

In addition, there is a partially buried basement level with mostly offices for clerks and maintenance personnel. However, it also contains a small gift shop and an underground tunnel to the neighboring Capitol Annex building.

ecurity

The Capitol used to be completely open during normal business hours, and local residents often used the marble hallways for exercise (the Frankfort equivalent of "mall walking"). Anyone without proper state credentials must go through a metal detector. Security for the complex is provided by the Kentucky State Police.

References

External links

* [http://www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/kycapitol.htm Kentucky's State Capitols] Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
* [http://history.ky.gov/sub.php?pageid=23&sectionid=8 Kentucky Historical Society page on the Old State Capitol]
* [http://sos.ky.gov Kentucky Secretary of State]