Massachusetts State House
Part 1 of 4: The Architecture and Sculptural Monuments
The Common Wealth of Massachusetts was the 6th state to join the Union in 1788. It is located in the northeast New England region and borders Vermont and New Hampshire to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and southeast, Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, and New York to the west. Cape Cod and the cape islands are also a part of Massachusetts, which includes Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. In addition, Maine was part of the state until 1820 when the people voted to separate from Massachusetts and became the 23rd state. About 60 percent of the land area is forested and extends from the Appalachian Mountains in the west across the central foothills to a coastal plain in the east. The Appalachian Trail extends across the western part of the state from Connecticut to Vermont.
Colonization began in 1620 when the Pilgrims’ arrived on the Mayflower and established the Plymouth Colony. The name was changed in 1630 to the Massachusetts Bay Colony for the Indigenous Muhsachuweesut people. By that time diseases, like small pox, measles, and influenza, had spread from the Europeans to the indigenous people wiping out about 90 percent of their local population.
Boston is the largest city in Massachusetts and is home to the state capital. It is located along the east coast near the Atlantic Ocean, which is not in the center of the state, but instead, is in the center of its largest population area. The Massachusetts State House is located near the center of the city on Beacon Hill near the Charles River and inlets from Massachusetts Bay. It faces south overlooking a public park known as the Boston Common, and is one of the first stops on the Freedom Trail that begins on the Common and goes through the downtown to Bunker Hill.
The Massachusetts State House was built in 1798 in a Federal architectural style by the architect Charles Bulfinch, with later additions by architects Isaiah Rogers and G J F Bryant, Charles Brigham, and Richard Sturgis of Sturgis, Bryant, Chapman & Andrews.
Charles Bulfinch, 1763 to 1844, was among the first American architects. He was from Boston Massachusetts where he was educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University. From 1785 to 1788 he studied and toured in Europe including London, Paris, and Italy. He is noted for the origin of the Federal architectural style, and for his designs of the Massachusetts State House, Connecticut’s Old State House, the United States Capitol rotunda and dome, the State House in Maine, and numerous churches and residential projects in the Boston area.
A design drawing by Bulfinch show its elegantly proportioned exterior, and its simple plan, with the House Chamber in the center under the dome, the Governors Chamber to the left, the Senate chamber to the right, and a large portico across the front.
In the 1850s two additions were added to the back of the State House which can be seen in the 1862 photograph below. The additions were designed in the same architectural style by the architects Isaiah Rogers and G J F Bryant. Also, by this time the brick had been whitewashed, and then painted a wheat color to help with waterproofing, which had been an ongoing problem that was causing damage to plaster walls on the interior.
Isaiah Rogers, 1800 to 1869, was born in Marshfield, Massachusetts, and apprenticed under Solomon Willard. He became noted for many hotel designs including the Tremont House in Boston, which had the first known hotel with indoor plumbing. He practiced in Boston until about 1853 when he moved to Louisville, Kentucky where today the firm of Luckett and Farley Architects originated.
Gridley James Fox Bryant, 1816 to 1899, was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, and apprenticed with Alexander Parris. He was primarily self taught, studying building design, construction analysis, and the designs from books featuring European architecture found in London and Paris.
In 1895 a major addition was built behind the State House to the north in a Federal architectural style by the architect Charles Brigham. His firm, Brigham and Spofford, obtained the contract through a design competition that they won over 12 other competing designs. Brigham’s design included a larger chamber for the House of Representatives, supporting offices, and several memorial halls.
Charles Brigham, 1841 to 1925, was born and educated in Watertown Massachusetts, and apprenticed with Calvin Ryder and Gridley Bryant in Boston. He served as a sergeant for the Union Army during the Civil War and returned to Boston after the war in 1866 to open a partnership with John Sturgis, the uncle of Richard Sturgis.
In 1917 the East and West Wings were built in a Federal architectural style that uses a limestone exterior instead of brick, but still blends with the design by Bulfinch. The architect was Richard Sturgis of Sturgis, Bryant, Chapman, & Andrews.
Richard Clipston Sturgis, 1860 to 1951, was born in Boston Massachusetts and studied at the Noble and Greenough School, and Harvard College. He apprenticed with his uncle in the firm Sturgis and Brigham, and then in London with Robert William Edis, toured and studied in Europe, and then in 1886 he returned to the states to take over his uncle’s office.
Dome
The original dome was wood with a canvas covering that was whitewashed to simulate lead. It proved difficult to keep waterproof, so in 1802 the dome was covered in rolled copper sheets produced by the Revere Copper Company, owned by Paul Revere. He was among the first to successfully develop the roll technology for large scale production. As the copper sheets aged the color changed from copper to a natural greenish brown patina until 1874 when it was coated in a gold gilding.
During World War II the gold leaf was painted gray to hide its reflectivity because of concerns over areal bombing from Germany or Japan. Then in 1997 during restoration work on the capitol the dome was coated again with a gold leaf gilding.
Also, notice that the 1895 addition uses yellow brick as opposed to the red brick on the original State House by Bulfinch. This is because the original building was still painted a wheat color, and Brigham was trying to match that color. Later restorations returned the original red brick on the State House to its natural color.
State House Grounds
The State House grounds can be found across the front south face, and the east face where the visitor entrance is located. The monuments on the south side are behind a gated stone wall and metal railing system that looks nice but prevents access to the monuments, which means you cannot get close enough to read all of the inscriptions. The east face at the visitor entrance is open and the remaining monuments are accessible.
South Entrance
The South Entrance is gated and used only for ceremonial events. It is called the Bulfinch Entrance in honor of the architect that designed the State House. It leads to a grand staircase up to the main entrance into Doric Hall, where the Senate Chamber is located above the hall, behind the Corinthian columns.
On each side of the entrance are monuments to Horace Mann and Daniel Webster.
Horace Mann, 1796 to 1859, was a statesman and educator who played a significant role in the establishment of the public school system. He is often referred to as the Father of the American Public School System. His monument was sculpted by Emma Stebbins in 1865.
Daniel Webster, 1783 to 1852, was a prominent lawyer and statesman from Massachusetts, and served in the Senate and as Secratary of State. His monument was sculpted by Hiram Powers in 1859.
The sculptors for the Mann and Webster monuments were Emma Stebbins, and Hiram Powers.
Emma Stebbins, 1815 to 1882, was born in New York City and studied in Rome with neoclassical sculptors Harriet Hosmer, John Gibson, and Paul Akers.
Hiram Powers, 1805 to 1873, was born in Woodstock Vermont and moved with his family to Cincinnati where he produced figures as an assistant to the wooden clockmaker Luman Watson. In 1826 he studied under Frederick Eckstein, a local sculptor, and secured a position as an assistant and artist at the Western Museum. In 1837 he moved to Florence Italy where he opened a studio and became a teacher at the Florence Accademy. The statue of Daniel Webster is cast bronze, a technique he learned in Cincinnati, but some of his most notable works are in marble, a skill he developed in Italy.
In front of the West Wing are three monuments to Henry Lodge, John F Kennedy, and Anne Hutchinson.
Henry Cabot Lodge, 1850 to 1924, was a US Senator from Massachusetts, and influenced the formation of the United Nations. His monument was sculpted by Raymond Averill Porter in 1930.
John F. Kennedy, 1917 to 1963, was the 35th US President and died by assassination in 1963. He had previously served in the Pacific theater with the US Navy Reserve during World War II, and was later elected to the US House and the US Senate representing Massachusetts. His monument was sculpted by Isabel McIlvain in 1990.
Anne Hutchinson, 1591 to 1643, was a Puritan religious reformer that was at odds with the Puritan clergy and eventually tried and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her monument was sculpted by Cyrus Edwin Dallin in 1915.
The sculptors for the Lodge, Kennedy, and Hutchinson monuments were Raymond Porter, Isabel McIlvain, and Cyrus Dallin.
Raymond Averill Porter, 1883 to 1949, was born in Herman New York and lived and worked in Chicago and then Boston. He taught sculpture at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and became known for his monument sculptures and medallions.
Isabel McIlvain was born in 1943, and has an active studio today. He studied at Smith College, and the Pratt Institute, and is noted for his many sculpted nudes for public and private collections.
Cyrus Edwin Dallin, 1861 to 1944, was born in Springville, in the Utah Territory. In 1880 he moved to Boston where he studied with Truman Howe Bartlett, Heri Chapu, and at the Académie Julian in Paris. Dallin became a noted sculptor of Native Americans, and is also known for his equestrian statue of Paul Revere on the Freedom Trail in Boston.
In front of the East Wing are two monuments, Joseph Hooker, and Mary Dyer.
Joseph Hooker, 1814 to 1879, was a noted military general from Massachusetts that served in the Seminole Wars, the Mexican American War, and the Civil War. His equestrian monument was sculpted by Daniel French and Edward Potter in 1903.
Mary Dyer, 1611 to 1660, is one of four Boston martyrs that was executed for converting from Puritan to Quaker beliefs at a time when the Quakers had been banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her monument, dedicated to religious freedom, was sculpted by Sylvia Shaw Judson in 1959.
The sculptors for the Hooker monument was Daniel Chester French, and Edward Potter, and for the Dyer monuments, Sylvia Judson.
Daniel Chester French, 1850 to 1931, was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, and studied anatomy with William Rimmer and drawing with William Morris Hunt. He continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in Florence Italy in the studio of Thomas Ball. After returning to the States he opened a studio in Washington DC, which he later moved to Boston, and then New York City. French also taught sculpting and received honorary degrees from Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale.
Edward Clark Potter, 1857 to 1923, was born in New London, Connecticut, and grew up in Enfield, Massachusetts. He studied at Williston Seminary, Amherst College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with Frederic Crowninshield, Otto Grundmann, and Truman Bartlett. His life work focused primarily on equestrian and animal sculptures.
Sylvia Shaw Judson, 1897 to 1978, was born in Chicago Illinois, and studied at the University of Chicago Laboratory School and School for Girls, the Westover School, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with the sculptor Anna Hyatt, and in Paris with Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. She set up a studio in Chicago and later in Lake Forest, where most of her work focused on life size garden sculptures.
East Entrance
The East Entrance is known as the Ashburton Park Entrance and includes the visitor entrance. Monuments include the Beacon Hill Monument, the Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial, and several memorials to those that have served to protect the state and our country.
The Beacon Hill Monument, also known as the American Revolutionary War Memorial, honors those that served and died in the war. This location was known as Beacon Hill for the location of a beacon that was placed here in 1634 to help ships navigate into the harbor. In 1790 it was replace with a monument designed by Charles Bulfinch, but removed in 1811 when the hill was cut down. It was then reproduced and replaced in 1898 by an unidentified sculptor through the Bunker Hill Monument Association, but believed to be based on the original Bulfinch design.
There are several war memorials at the Ashburton Park entrance, but only one additional sculptural work, that of the Firefighters’ Memorial.
The Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial is dedicated to those that have fallen in the line of duty. The memorial was sculpted by Robert Shure in 2007.
Robert Shure, was born in 1948 in Brooklyn New York, and studied at the New York Institute of Technology, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and at Tufts University. His studio is in Woburn Massachusetts.
Commentary
This story continues with Part 2, which looks inside at the interior architecture and sculpture of the original State House by Charles Bulfinch, and then Part 3, with a tour of the interior architecture, sculpture, and murals of the North Annex by Charles Brigham, and finally Part 4 with a tour of the Old State House a few blocks to the east, built in 1713.
Travel Notes
On my first visit to the Massachusetts State House the interior was closed due to the pandemic. The sun angles were wrong too, because there are so many tall buildings in Boston casting shadows. When I returned in 2022 to tour the interior there was restoration work in progress with scaffolding across the front of the building. Finally in 2024 the exterior work was complete and I found the right time of day for some excellent photography.
I parked in the Boston Common Garage located under the Boston Common, which provided a convenient place to park in the middle of downtown Boston.
Notes and References:
Story and photographs by David Smitherman with data collected from onsite inscriptions and brochures, Wikipedia, Google Maps, and Google Earth Pro. Site visits were made in March 2021, May 2022, and November 2024.
Raymond Potter: https://www.askart.com/artist/Raymond_Averill_Porter/121754/Raymond_Averill_Porter.aspx
“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. The architectural drawings by Bulfinch and Brigham are from pages 41 and 209.