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Nevada State Capitol
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nevada Historical Marker No. 25
West Front façade
Location	101 North Carson Street Carson City, Nevada
Coordinates	39°9′51″N 119°45′59″W / 39.16417°N 119.76639°W / 39.16417; -119.76639
Built	1869-1871
Architect	Joseph Gosling (1818-1885)
Architectural style	Neoclassical Italianate styles of architecture
NRHP reference No.	75002126
No.	25
Added to NRHP	June 10, 1975

The Nevada State Capitol is the capitol building of the U.S. state of Nevada located in the state capital of Carson City at 101 North Carson Street. The building was constructed in the Neoclassical / Italianate style architecture between 1869 and 1871. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (maintained by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior). It is also on the lists of Nevada Historical Marker number 25.

Construction

Abraham Curry (1815-1873), the founder of Carson City then of the federal Utah Territory (1850-1896), then separated into the new federal Nevada Territory (1861-1864), until admitted into the federal Union in 1864 as the 36th state.

Land was reserved with an area equivalent to four city blocks (10 acres or 4.04 ha) at the center of the town when it was laid out and platted, for the future territorial / state capitol. When the first Capitol building was constructed, it was naturally located on "the plaza", which had, some ten or eleven years earlier, been designated for it, and given as public property for that purpose. Samuel Clemens, later famed author, humorist and lecturer Mark Twain (1835-1910),wrote in his book of army memoirs Roughing It (written 1870-1871, and published 1872), that the capitol site was in 1861 "a large, unfenced, level vacancy, with a liberty pole in it, and very useful as a place for public auctions, horse trades, mass meetings, and likewise for teamsters to camp in."

The "act to provide for the erection of a State Capitol" was passed by the Nevada Legislature (state legislature), and signed into law by the first Governor of the new 36th State of Nevada, Henry G. Blasdel (1825-1900, served 1864-1871) in 1869, during his second term. Architect Joseph Gosling (1818-1885), was chosen to design the prominent public building of the state. The appointed Board of Capitol Commissioners received bids of $84,000 to $160,000 dollars for the construction project and they chose the lowest bid, submitted by the firm of Peter Cavanaugh and Son of Carson City. The 1869 legislative act authorized $100,000 dollars for construction, with money to come from a special tax levy, plus the proceeds from the sale of some public lands. To reduce costs, the building's sandstone was obtained free of charge from the Nevada State Prison quarry, just outside Carson City. In spite of this, the construction costs still increased to some $170,000 dollars, exceeding even the highest design and construction bid, let alone any additional funds designated for interior furnishings / decoration.

The Capitol cornerstone was laid on June 9, 1870. A brass box that served as a time capsule was deposited in the stone. The cornerstone was a solid block of sandstone, laid on top of blocks which contained the capsule. The capsule was inspected and returned to the cornerstone location (the northeast corner of the original building) during reconstruction / renovation project 110 years later in the 1979–1981 period.

The fourth session of the Nevada state legislature met in the still-incomplete building under construction two years later at the beginning of 1871. Construction was finally completed by May 1, 1871. Several of the architect's original blueprints, drawings and sketches are preserved in the state archives.

Architecture

The original governmental building was cruciform in shape, with a central rectangle / rotunda hall 76 feet (23 m) wide by 85 feet (26 m) deep (23 x 25.8 m). It had two wings, each 35 feet (11 m) wide by 52 feet (16 m) deep (10.6 x 15.8 m), with steps and porch / porticoes over the three entrance doors, one on each wing and center section. The windows' glass panes are made of 26-ounce (737 g) French crystal, as are those above the doors. Floors and wainscotting are of Alaskan marble, shipped south by cargo steamship to San Francisco, California in 20-ton (18,144 kg) blocks and there cut and polished for installation in Carson City.

The first floor contained a major office at each corner connected by central halls, while the wings of the second floor were filled by the two legislative chambers—the lower Assembly and the upper Senate. The octagonal dome topped with a cupola admitted light to the second story and rotunda below. During 1906, an octagonal-shaped annex wing was added to the rear (east) side of the capitol to house the additional Nevada State Library.

By the early 20th century, the legislature had outgrown the capitol, and prominent Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps (1882-1969), was contracted to design northern and southern legislative wings as annexes, These were completed in time for the 1915 legislative sessions during the First World War era (1914/1917-1918),. These compatible wings used similar gray stone from the same quarry as the original 1869-1871 portion of the capitol, built only 44 years earlier, and provided more office space and expanded sizes of the legislative chambers.

Artwork and exhibits

A painted decorative frieze in the hallways of the first floor celebrates industry in Nevada, listing agricultural products and minerals found in Nevada mines. An old antique bank vault door in the office of the current Secretary of State of Nevada is painted with a beautiful scenic scene of prominent landmark Cave Rock and Lake Tahoe. Portraits / paintings of all of the earlier 30 of 31 governors of Nevada hang throughout the building.

Near the office of the Nevada Commission for Women, a historical exhibit display named Silver State Sisters documents about 100 individuals (mostly women) who have contributed to Nevada history — such as Barbara Vucanovich, Bernice Mathews, and Wild Horse Annie — and groups of women, such as the first non-racial segregated performances of showgirls at the Moulin Rouge Hotel.

Artifacts of Nevada history on display include Paiute crafts and a section of the rope used in April 1868 of the state execution to hang John Millian, the man convicted of the unfortunate sensational murder in January 1867 of legendary folk heroine Julia Bulette (c.1832-1867), of old Virginia City, who supposedly was the madame and ran a house of ill-repute in the 19th century booming silver mining town. She was the focus of a TV episode visiting the Cartwrights family on the huge Ponderosa Ranch of Nevada on the famous old 1960s era Western television series program Bonanza of 1959-1973.

Usage

For more than 50 years (1871-1937), all three branches (legislative, executive and judicial) of the Nevada state government were housed in the Capitol in Carson City. The Supreme Court of Nevada which held its sessions here until 1937, when it was the first governmental branch to leave, when it relocated into an adjacent courts building of its own. The two houses of the Nevada Legislature met here for a century until 1971, when they relocated to its new Nevada Legislative Building just south of the old Capitol. Every Governor of Nevada of the 31 that have served in the 160 years since in the history of Nevada, except for the two territorial - first temporary / provisional Isaac Roop (1822-1869, served 1859-1861), and followed by presidential appointee chief executive James W. Nye (1815-1876, served 1861-1864); and then the first elected state chief executive, Henry G. Blasdel (1825-1900, served 1864-1871), who ended his term just as the two-years construction project of the Capitol was completed and being dedicated in 1871), has had his offices and staff in the historic Nevada Capitol in Carson City.

Nowadays, the Nevada Capitol continues to serve the Governor, and also contains historical exhibits of the history of Nevada on the second floor. Former chambers of the Supreme Court and two former old chambers (Assembly and the Senate) of the bicameral State Legislature have been restored to their original 19th century appearance and are on view for visits and tours.

Gallery

• Interior views of Nevada State Capitol, the old chamber formerly used 1871-1914, of Nevada Assembly, lower house of the Nevada Legislature,
• adjacent Nevada Legislative Building of the Nevada Legislature, built 1970-1971, with the current chambers for sessions of the Senate and Assembly, plus cloak rooms and additional offices and committee / conference rooms
• Interior views at Nevada State Capitol, showing installed marble floor and lower wall wainscotting
• Nevada State Capitol, Chairs in the old Nevada Supreme Court chamber, used 1871-1937
• Interior view of Nevada State Capitol, old antique bank vault doors painted with a decorative scene of prominent landscape landmark Cave Rock at Lake Tahoe, still situated in the old Capitol office of the Secretary of State of Nevada.
• Elk horn chair
• Interior views of Nevada State Capitol, Original Nevada Supreme Court chamber, used 1871-1937
• Historical exhibits inside Nevada State Capitol, Rope used in April 24, 1868 state execution to hang infamous John Millain, convicted of killing famed madame of house of ill-repute Julia Bulette (c.1832-1867), unfortunately murdered January 19/20, 1867, of old 19th century Virginia City
• Historical exhibits in Nevada State Capitol, replica of a carved canvasback duck decoy of ancient North America Native Americans culture, dating from about 250 B.C., (created by Mike Williams, from Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of the Fallon Reservation and Colony at Fallon, (county seat of Churchill County), Nevada)

See also

• List of Nevada state legislatures
• List of state and territorial capitols in the United States

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
2. "Nevada's Capitol". Carson City Historical Markers. Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
3. "Women Transforming Nevada exhibit christened at Capitol in Carson City". Nevada Appeal. September 14, 2018.

• "Nevada State Capitol" (data pages). Historic American Buildings Survey. National Park Service. Summer 1973. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
• "Nevada State Capitol". Three Historic Nevada Cities. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2007-03-22.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Park Service.

External links

• Media related to Nevada State Capitol at Wikimedia Commons
• State of Nevada Information about the State Capitol
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. NV-13-5, "Nevada State Capitol, Plaza at Carson Street, Carson City, Carson City, NV", 23 photos, 16 data pages

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