The William G. Stratton Building, known more commonly on a local level as the Stratton Building, is an eight-story office building located on the grounds of the

Illinois State Capitol The Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, houses the legislative and executive branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. Becoming the seat of the legislature in 1876, the current building is the sixth to serve ...

in downtown

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...

History

Completed in 1956, the building is named after former Illinois politician William G. "Billy" Stratton, who served as the 32nd Governor of Illinois from 1953 until 1961. The Stratton Building currently houses

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

offices of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

and

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

, as well as other State of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

agency offices. The building has been targeted for closure in the past, with former

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Jim Edgar James Robert Edgar (born July 22, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 38th governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999. A Moderate Republican (modern United States), moderate Republican Party (United States), Republican, he previously s ...

criticizing the building's architecture and a former state representative, now the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the state parks and state recreation areas, enforces the fishing and game laws of Illinois, regulates Illinois coal mines ...

assistant director,

Rich Brauer Rich Brauer is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 87th district since 2003. A native of Petersburg, IL, Brauer upset incumbent Gwen Klingler in the 2002 Republican primary, after re-districting resul ...

, calling the Stratton Building, "way beyond its time", and championing the construction of a new office building on the Capitol grounds. In May 2004, the Illinois House voted, 94–18, to close the Stratton Building, but the bill was not called for a vote in the Illinois Senate. The building is also often the subject of articles in the Springfield State Journal-Register about its lights being on nearly around the clock, despite the absence of employees working in the building. As recently as January 2017, representatives of the state have pointed out that the building's age and lack of wiring upgrades since it was constructed would be cost prohibitive on the state's budget to repair.

References

External links

Google Maps

Stratton Building page on the website of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol's website
State government buildings in the United States Government buildings completed in 1956 Office buildings completed in 1956 Buildings and structures in Springfield, Illinois {{Illinois-struct-stub