The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado, United States, is the home of the

Colorado General Assembly The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in ...

and the offices of the

Governor of Colorado The governor of Colorado is the head of government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor (United States), governor is the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of Government of Colorado, Colorado's state government and is cha ...

, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, and the

Colorado State Treasurer The Treasurer of the State of Colorado is an elected official in the U.S. state of Colorado. The position is responsible for managing the Colorado State Treasury and the Colorado Department of the Treasury, a principal department of the state's ...

History

The building is intentionally reminiscent of the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the United States Congress, the United States Congress, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, federal g ...

. Designed by Elijah E. Myers, it was constructed in the 1890s from Colorado white granite, and opened for use in November 1894. The distinctive gold dome consists of real

gold leaf upA gold nugget of 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 sq ft). The Japan.html" ;"title="Toi gold mine museum, Japan">Toi gold mine museum, Japan. Gold leaf is gold that has ...

, first added in 1908, commemorating the Colorado Gold Rush. The building is part of Denver's

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains of one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, ...

area. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as part of the Civic Center Historic District in 1974, With Includes __ photos. () and became part of the Denver Civic Center

National Historic Landmark District A National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) is a geographical area that has received recognition from the United States Government that the buildings, landscapes, cultural features and archaeological resources within it are of the highest signific ...

in 2012. A major safety upgrade project, funded by the Colorado State Historical Fund, was started in 2001 and completed in 2009. The design by

Fentress Architects Fentress Architects is an international design firm known for large-scale public architecture such as airports, museums, university buildings, convention centers, laboratories, and high-rise office towers. Some of the buildings for which the fi ...

added modern safety features, like enclosed stair towers, that blended in with the original architecture. The Colorado Capitol Building is featured on many of Denver's architectural tours.

Building

Serving as the beginning of the Capitol Hill district, the historic building sits slightly higher than the rest of downtown Denver. The main entrance hall is open 180 feet (55 m) to the top of the dome, about the height of an 18-story building. Additionally, the official elevation of Denver is measured outside the west entrance to the building, where the fifteenth step is engraved with the words "One Mile Above Sea Level". From this step, at , the sun can be seen setting behind the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. A second mile high marker was set in the 18th step in 1969 when

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

students resurveyed the elevation. In 2003, a more accurate measurement was made with modern means, and the 13th step was identified as being one mile (1.6 km) high, where a 3rd marker was installed.

Materials

The

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

of the building was constructed using

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

from the

Aberdeen Quarry The Aberdeen Quarry is an abandoned granite quarry in Gunnison County, Colorado, Gunnison County, Colorado. It is located along South Beaver Creek, south-southwest of Gunnison, Colorado, Gunnison. The Aberdeen Quarry was most active from 1889 ...

near

Gunnison, Colorado Gunnison is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gunnison County, Colorado. The city population was 6,560 at the 2020 United States census. The city was named in honor of John W. Gunnison, a ...

. Approximately or 24,000 tons of the granite were quarried for the building. This gray granite forms the exterior of the building. The interior of the building uses a large amount of Colorado Rose Onyx, a rare rose

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

from a quarry near

Beulah, Colorado Beulah is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and a post office located within the Beulah Valley, Colorado, Beulah Valley census-designated place in Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The B ...

. The amount used in the building consumed the entire known supply. White

Yule Marble Yule Marble is a marble of metamorphosed Leadville Limestone found only in the Yule Creek Valley, in the West Elk Mountains of Colorado, southeast of the town of Marble, Colorado.Marble Quadrangle, Colorado; USGS 7.5-minute series topogr ...

from the quarries near

Marble, Colorado The Town of Marble is a List of cities and towns in Colorado#Statutory town, Statutory Town in Gunnison County, Colorado, Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 133 at the 2020 United States census. History The Town o ...

was also used throughout the capitol for the floors. Many designs have been found in the marble including an image resembling

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and another of

Molly Brown Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a survivor of the RMS ''Titanic'', which sank in 1912, and she unsuccess ...

. Many of the windows are made of

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

, depicting people or events related to the

history of Colorado The region that is today the U.S. state of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major mi ...

. The halls are decorated with portraits of every

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

, with all the presidents from

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

being painted by Lawrence Williams. Painter Sarah A. Boardman took over from Williams, and has since painted

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Colorado artist Kirsten Savage painted President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's portrait. President Trump's portrait was removed from the gallery after he publicly criticized it on social media. One of the contractors for the construction of the Colorado State Capitol building was Illinois building contractor William Douglas Richardson, who was the president of the W. D. Richardson Construction Company. Richardson had participated in numerous major building contracts throughout the United States, and was interconnected with the Jacob Bunn and

John Whitfield Bunn :''This article concerns John Whitfield Bunn, Jacob Bunn, and the entrepreneurs who were interconnected with the Bunn brothers through association or familial and genealogical connection.'' John Whitfield Bunn (June 21, 1831 – June 7, 1920)Ill ...

network of corporations.William Douglas Richardson was the father of Jacob Bunn's daughter-in-law.

Gallery

Image:Coloradocapitolhill1.JPG, Colorado State Capitol (back view) Image:ColoradoStateCapitolSupremeCourtChambers gobeirne.jpg, Old

Colorado Supreme Court The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the court was established in 1876. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices who are appointed by the Governor of Colorado from a ...

chambers Image:Denver Capitol IMG 20180416 150216.jpg,

Rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...

interior Image:COCapitolDirectView.jpg, Rotunda interior direct view Image:ColoradoStateCapitolSenateChamber_gobeirne.jpg, Colorado Senate Chamber Image:ColoradoStateCapitolHouseOfRepresentatives_gobeirne.jpg,

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distri ...

Image:ColoradoStateCapitolGalleryOfPresidents_gobeirne.jpg, Gallery of Presidents Image:Colorado_state_capitol_aerial_1.jpg, Aerial view Colorado - Denver - NARA - 23936019 (cropped).jpg, Aerial view, 1932

References

External links