The Red Rose of Texas

By Christina B. Farnsworth

As a state and a Republic in its own right, Texas prides itself on size. As the saying goes, "Everything is bigger in Texas." The state capitol building in Austin is a grand example. The official website is quick to note the building is second in square footage only to our nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C. However, Texas' building is more than seven feet taller — 311 feet tall (measured to the Texas lone star held aloft by Goddess Liberty's hand).

And it's home grown, something of a "Red Rose of Texas," sporting 15,000 rail carloads of "sunset red" granite quarried just 50 miles from the site. And that glorious exterior is entirely structural.

However glorious, the building is not without a seamy side. The 1881 design competition that netted architect Elijah E. Myers (who also designed the Michigan and Colorado capitols) was indeed on the up-and-up, earning Myers $1,700 for the "Renaissance Revival" style project. After that, it got interesting in many ways, including how Texas negotiated its way to the current capitol by trading a huge tract of land for the building and materials. When some of the materials had to be replaced, the state negotiated a donation and then set convicted criminals and imported scab labor to work over the objection of union members.

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986 for its "significant contribution to American history," the building actually is the third incarnation of the Texas capitol.

Texas' first capitol was an unprepossessing building of "Bastrop plank lumber." The second was a Greek Revival structure composed partially of limestone that was completed in 1853. When it burned in 1881, The Capitol Board happened to be meeting in the building to discuss the plans for the "new capitol." They quickly moved themselves and the plans to safety.

Sited on high land, the 566-foot-long by 288-foot-wide structure has a commanding view of the Colorado River. As in the nation's capital, state law protects Austin's views of the Texas capitol from being obscured by other structures (including Texas's own additions to the capital, which are consequently subterranean). When completed in 1888, the building had 392 rooms, 18 vaults, 924 windows and 404 doors. Today, it has some 8.5 acres of floor space and nearly 500 rooms.

	The Texas state capitol building in Austin was originally constructed with local, "sunset red" granite. Photo courtesy of JupiterImages 2007

Texas paid for the 1888 building not in dollars, but by trading three million acres of the Texas Panhandle for the building and construction to developer Mattheas Schnell of Chicago. The land later became the famous XIT Ranch.

Schnell, who was of German descent, had many contacts with European building suppliers from whom he purchased materials for the building, such as the copper dome and colored glass.

Construction began in February 1882. Builders placed the capitol cornerstone on March 2, 1885, the 49th anniversary of Texas independence. The 12,000-pound cornerstone contains a zinc box enshrining such relics as a stone from the previous limestone capitol, currency from the Republic of Texas and the Confederate States of America, an Austin city directory, and an 1862 meal ticket worth 25 cents.

The foundation and basement of the final building are limestone. The owners of a granite quarry, in what is now Marble Falls, Texas, donated their sunset red granite. But the gift stone needed some TLC — it was still in the ground and needed to be quarried. Texas gave the stone to Schnell along with 1,000 convicts to quarry it. Incensed by the use of convict labor, the granite cutter's union boycotted the site in 1885. Schnell responded by importing experienced stonecutters from Scotland.

Estimates are that more than 1,000 people worked on the building, including engineers, contractors, laborers and craftspersons. It took seven years to build, at an estimated cost of more than $3.7 million based on the land trade value.

The building officially opened on San Jacinto Day, April 21, 1888. San Jacinto Day is important in Texas history because it officially marks the day on which the Republic of Texas' "800-Texian" army surprised Mexican General Santa Anna's 1,600 soldiers and won the Texas War of Independence. Officially, "six flags" have flown over Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States. All of these histories are honored in marble on the floor of the capitol's grand rotunda along with the Lone Star, the symbol of Texas. Texas became the 28th state on Dec. 29, 1845.

Temple Houston, son of Sam Houston (who was present at the famous San Jacinto battle), said at the dedication ceremony: "This building fires the heart and excites reflections in the minds of all ... the architecture of a civilization is its most enduring feature, and by this structure shall Texas transmit herself to posterity."

As with most century-old buildings, changes came over the years, and not all of them were good, despite several restoration campaigns. Parts went missing, and another fire (in 1983) sparked a renovation project in 1990 that led to the replacement of the original zinc Goddess of Liberty with an aluminum re-creation.

Today, the capitol is fully restored to its original 1888 splendor. In 1993, after a $75-million expansion that doubled the building's square footage, the underground extensions now include a parking garage and 615,000 square feet of government offices.

Two exterior elevators take visitors down to the capitol extension. Their copper roofs and granite enclosures complement the historic structure without copying it. The only real evidence of the sub-grade empire is an atrium poking out of the capital gardens, known locally as the "shark tank" because of the lawyers who mill about under the glass. Apparently, the atrium is the only place in the underground complex where cell phones work.

Some of the elaborate building details have histories of their own. The original iron dome was fabricated in Belgium and, as with many materials imported for the building, came through the historic port of Galveston.

Sargent and Company of New Haven, Conn., designed custom bronze hinges and hardware using glass molds. The eight- by eight-inch hinges each bear the words "Texas Capitol" and weigh more than seven pounds. The hinges came under special assault over the years, with many falling victim to souvenir hunters or remodeling projects. Finally, reproductions were installed using security screws.

Classic details once lost and now restored include 24 "blue oculi windows." Originally installed in the skylight structure located on the north wing roof, the compound glass was made by fusing together two thin panes of glass; one clear and one blue. A diamond-cutting wheel shaved away selected areas of the blue layer to create the design. By the 1980s, the original oculi had all been replaced with plain clear glass. Only seven of the blue gems remained undamaged, stored in a special crate.

In 1995, a comprehensive interior and exterior restoration of the original building was completed at a cost of approximately $98 million. This restoration reinstalled six of the original oculi; the other 18 windows were replicated. The seventh blue oculus is in careful storage for preservation and study. Those working on the project found it interesting that the oculi are so thoroughly inconspicuous from both inside and outside the building. Only when the sun shoots through them and casts rays of bright blue light is anyone aware of them.

In details both permanent and sublime, the Red Rose of Texas shines.

• Return to table of contents

www.buildingstonemagazine.com

Building Stone Magazine
©2007 by Building Stone Institute
www.buildingstoneinstitute.org
All rights reserved

Web Site by:
Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
506 Roswell Street, Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060
Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969
lpi@lionhrtpub.com
www.lionhrtpub.com