Madison skyline across Lake Monona
Madison and Lake Mendota from the Capitol's observation deck
Note in both pictures that there are no buildings taller than the observation deck around the Capitol's dome (about half way up the dome). It's obvious there's a city ordinance on height. A security guard told us builders have pushed to exceed the height limit but have not got away with it so far.
The dome is higher than the Capitol in Washington DC
This Capitol is the third one, built from 1906 to 1917, taking longer than planned because of WWI. It replaced the 2nd Capitol, built in the 1860's, which burned down in 1904. The story of the fire is a perfect storm scenario. A small fire broke out when a gaslight ignited a recently varnished ceiling. The building had an advanced sprinkler system for its day, but because engineers had recently drained the water boilers to clean them, the sprinklers didn't work. When the fire department got there they had no water to fight the fire. They eventually switched to city water pumps but by then the fire was out of control. The governor called for assistance from the Milwaukee fire department, but by the time they got there 90 minutes later, subzero temperatures had frozen their water supply. To top it all off, the state had cancelled its insurance on the building the previous month to try to save money. Damage was estimated at $800,000 to $1,000,000 (about $21.6M to $27M today).
The present Capitol underwent an extensive renovation and restoration project from 1988 to 2002 which cost $158.8 million. So many layers of paint and smoke and grime had to be removed by specialists, then the first layer restored to its original colors and designs, it's no wonder it took so long and cost so much. The results are that everything looks like new now.
Rotunda dome
Rotunda from third down to first floor
The building is remarkably open. There are no metal detectors or guards at the doors. People are free to walk around everywhere. There was a receptionist and security guard in the entry area to the governor's suite but the tour group walked straight through to the conference room without any questions. A gaggle of protesters with signs chanted around the 2nd floor rotunda railing for about ten minutes and no one bothered them. They said their piece and left peacefully. It was nice to see everyone being so low-key.
After the Capitol we wandered around looking for lunch. We found a good one at Monty's Blue Plate Diner, a 1950's gas station converted into a restaurant. The acoustics left a lot to be desired (very noisy), but the food was great.
Historic Barrymore Theater
The diner was in an interesting neighborhood, across the street from the old Barrymore Theater which is still in business. The houses were really cute, a mix of well-kept to not-kept, but it all had a great deal of character.
Our final stop was the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, a lovely (and free) place to visit. The most notable part of the gardens is the Thai Pavilion which was given to the University of Wisconsin-Madison by the government of Thailand and the Thai chapter of the Wisconsin Alumni Association in 2001. It's a really big deal because there are only three of them outside Thailand. This one is much more elaborate than most.
Thai Pavilion ceiling
Everything gold-colored is covered in 24-kt gold leaf. People are instructed not to touch it but it's still wearing off in a lot of places. However, it's in remarkably good shape after 16 years of Wisconsin's winters.
The pavilion was constructed by Thai artists in Thailand, then dismantled and shipped to Madison. The artists accompanied the shipment in order to put the pavilion back together. They were on one of the last planes allowed to land in Chicago on 9/11/2001.
It turned into a longer day than we were anticipating so we scurried out of the gardens to try to avoid the rush hour traffic. It was 4:30 but the traffic was still quite manageable....unnervingly fast but no back-ups anywhere. Unfortunately, we had to skip the conservatory in our haste.
Tomorrow we'll check out Wisconsin Dells.
No comments:
Post a Comment