Delaware Legislative Hall and the Old State House

The Architecture and Sculpture of the Delaware Capitols

The Delaware State Capitol is known as the Delaware Legislative Hall, which is part of a group of buildings located in Dover near the center of the state. The surrounding areas are primarily agricultural lands on a coastal plain with Pennsylvania to the north, the Delaware Bay and New Jersey to the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and Maryland to the south and west with rivers feeding the Chesapeake Bay. Delaware delegates were the first to ratify the US Constitution, making Delaware the first State in forming our United States of America.

Delaware Legislative Hall

The Legislative Hall was constructed from 1931 to 1933 and built in a Georgian Colonial Revival architectural style by the architects William Martin with consultant Norman Isham. The north and south wings were added from 1965 to 1970 by the architect George Fletcher Bennet and another addition in 1994 was made by The Architects Studio, all in keeping with the original Colonial Revival architectural style.

Edward William Martin, 1891 to 1977, was born in Inverarnan Scotland and immigrated to the United States as a child with his parents. He was educated at both the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware and then completed his architectural degree at the University of Liverpool in England. Martin obtained many public commissions due in part to the influence of Pierre du Pont of the wealthy du Pont family for whom he designed many private and charitably funded public facilities. His early work included many classical revival architectural styles.

Norman Morrison Isham, 1864 to 1943, was born in Hartford Connecticut but grew up in Providence Rhode Island where he was educated at Brown University and later became a professor at both Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design. He was noted as an author, professor, and architectural historian contributing to the preservation of numerous homes and buildings in the New England area. He worked with William Martin on the Delaware Legislative Hall as a consultant on early American Colonial design.

Interior

The main west entrance to the Legislative Hall leads into a gallery with the Senate and House Chambers on each side and a stair up to viewing galleries and a variety of meeting and support office areas. Renovations were made by Moeckel Carbonell Associates in the late 1990s, also in keeping with the original design. In 1987, ten Bicentennial Murals were added to the Chambers depicting Delaware history, by artist Jack Lewis. On the day of this tour both House and Senate were having sessions so I could not enter, but while on a break I was able to see through the entrances and take a few photographs.

Most state capitols include the Governor’s Office, State Supreme Court, and State Library. Instead, the Legislative Hall has only the legislature with the other functions located in additional buildings around an open mall, in what is known as Capitol Complex approach to accommodating the state government facilities.

Capitol Complex

The Capitol Complex includes the Legislative Mall, a park often referred to as the Green, located between the Delaware Legislative Hall and the Old State House where on my second visit a high school graduation service was in progress. A variety of state buildings surround the Mall forming what is sometimes referred to as the Capitol Group. The Legislative Hall and the Old State House both face west, southwest, toward Washington DC.

Sculptures on site include The Delaware Continentals outside the east entrance depicting soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and inside a sculptural relief of the First Regiment Delaware Volunteers from the Civil War, both by Ron Tunison, 2008.

Ron Tunison, 1946 to 2013, was born in Richmond Hill New York. He was educated at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and the New York City National Academy. He established the company Historical Sculptures where his work can still be seen today.

Old State House

The Old State House served the state legislature from 1792 to 1933 when they moved to the new Delaware Legislative Hall. Today it is used as a museum where both self tours and guided tours are available. Construction of the State House commenced after Delaware became a state, and was built between 1787 and 1792 in a Georgian architectural style by the architect Alexander Givan. It was used as both the Kent County Courthouse and State House leading to the need for a number of additions in the 1800s. The additions were later removed and in the 1970s it was reconstructed and restored as best possible to the original design we see today.

Alexander Givan is noted as being an English architect, but no other information on his background has been found.

The entrance hall leads directly into a courtroom flanked by two spiral staircases designed by John Howe, 1791, leading up to the Senate and House Chambers. The design is reminiscent of its first use as both a courthouse and a state legislative building. Additional rooms accommodated US postal services and land records and deeds.

Delaware is a beautiful state as is Dover and the Legislative Mall area. I found that the capitol complex was significantly different from most that I have visited in the east so far. The building designs use a simple Georgian and Colonial Revival architectural styles influenced primarily from Britain as opposed to many others with more elaborate Greek and Roman influences. Check it out, great history and beauty in exploring our nations development.

Travel Notes

My first visit was during the pandemic in 2020 and then later for interior tours when they had opened back up. My road trip took me from Huntsville Alabama to Strasburg Virginia where there is a Tesla Supercharger about a block from the Fairfield Inn where I stayed the night.

This has been a familiar stop for a number of road trips between Huntsville and Boston where I have family. The next morning I continued on to Dover, pleased to find on my second trip that there are a number of new charging sites along the way.

Notes and References:

Story and photographs by David Smitherman, with data collected from onsite inscriptions and brochures, Wikipedia, and Google Maps. Site visits were made in August 2020 and May 2023.

Old State House: https://history.delaware.gov/old-state-house/

Delaware Legislative Hall: https://legis.delaware.gov/Resources/AboutLegislativeHall

Historical Sculptures: http://www.historicalsculptures.com

“Temples of Democracy: The State Capitols of the U.S.A.,” by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and William Seale, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, London, 1976.