Pennsylvania State Capitol
Part 1: The Architecture and Sculpture
The Pennsylvania State Capitol is in Harrisburg, a city on the Susquehanna River in the southern part of the state along the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The state borders New York to the north and northeast, New Jersey to the east, Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, and Lake Erie and Canada to the northwest. The land area spans the Appalachian Mountains from the Great Lakes region in the northwest across the mountains to the Delaware River valley in the southeast. About 60 percent of the land area is forested mountains with farmlands filling many valleys. In 1682, William Penn was granted the Province of Pennsylvania for Britain. And in 1787 after the American Revolution, delegates from Pennsylvania ratified the new US Constitution to become the 2nd state to join the Union, known officially as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania State Capitol was built from 1902 to 1906 in the Beaux Arts, and American Renaissance Revival architectural styles by the architect Joseph Huston. The capitol is in active use which includes the meeting Chambers for the House, Senate, and State Supreme Court, and the Governor’s offices.
Joseph Miller Huston, 1866 to 1940, was born in Philadelphia and studied at Princeton University and apprenticed with the architects Frank Furness and Sons. In 1895 he formed his own firm and then toured in Europe and Asia studying the historic styles from those regions.
Huston envisioned the capitol as a Palace of Art featuring artistic works by some of the best artisans of that day. It includes his artistic expression of the Italian Renaissance with the modeling of the dome after Michelangelo’s Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and interior architectural detailing with both Italian and French Renaissance themes.
The capitol is five stories tall with an exterior of Vermont granite and a roof of terracotta tiles with an Empire Green glazing. The dome is a poured concrete double shell construction with massive brick masonry piers that extend about 70 feet down to bedrock. The lantern above the dome is a Caen Stone, a type of sandstone from France.
Crowning the dome is the sculpture “Commonwealth” representing Justice and Mercy. It was designed by Huston, sculpted by Roland Hinton Perry, and cast by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company of Mount Vernon New York in 1905. Commonwealth, sometimes called Ms. Penn, holds a garlanded mace in her uplifted hand symbolizing statehood. She is about 17 feet tall and made of cast bronze finished with a gold leaf gilding.
Roland Hinton Perry, 1870 to 1941, was born in New York City and studied at the École des Beaux Arts, the Académie Julian, and the Académie Delécluse in Paris. He set up a studio in New York where most of his work can be found, but he also provided sculptures in Washington DC and additional locations across the east.
The southwest entrance is the front main entrance and includes the visitor entrance. It overlooks State Street toward downtown Harrisburg and the Susquehanna River. The entrance is flanked by two sculpture groupings, “Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law,” and “The Burden of Life: The Broken Law,” which together include a composition of 30 figures sculpted by George Grey Barnard. He modeled the larger than life groupings in clay and plaster over several years at his studio in France, and the Piccirilli Brothers carved the final sculptures in white Carrara marble at their studio in New York City.
The north group is called “Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law” and includes figures representing Adam and Eve, The Thinkers, The Young Parents, Two Brothers, Prodigal Son, The New Youths, Baptism, Philosopher and Teacher. The grouping as a whole represent positive emotions that depict parenthood, family love, education, religion, and the promise of humanity advancing through work and brotherhood.
The south group is called “The Burden of Life: The Broken Law” and includes figures representing Adam and Eve, Angel of Consolation, Burden Bearer, Kneeling Youth, Forsaken Mother, Two Brothers, Mourning Woman, Despair and Hope. The grouping as a whole represent negative emotions that depict toil, despair, grief, degradation, and spiritual burdens, but with the possibility of hope.
Together, in Barnard’s view, the two groupings speak to the tasks of the Legislature and the people’s fulfilling or not fulfilling the laws of God and nature.
George Grey Barnard, 1863 to 1938, was born in Bellefonte Pennsylvania, but grew up in Kankakee Illinois. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and then the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, while working with Pierre-Jules Cavelier in Paris.
In 1911, when the sculptures were installed, there was a great deal of controversy over their nudity. Of the 30 total figures, 27 were nude. In response, the Piccirilli Brothers provided loincloths to cover the male genitals, which are still in place today. Here are some 1911 images showing how some of the sculptures looked originally.
The Piccirilli Brothers were a noted Italian family led by Giuseppe Piccirilli. He and his sons were marble carvers and sculptors known for their stone sculptures produced from the clay and plaster models of other sculptors, and for the architectural sculptures designed by architects that adorn many public and private buildings in the United States built in the early 1900s.
Giuseppe Piccirilli, 1844 to 1910, brought his family to New York City in 1888. He was born in Rome and trained in the studio of Stefano Galletti, part of an unbroken line of sculptors since the early Renaissance. His six sons continued his work up until 1945 in a studio that took up an entire city block in the Bronx. There work was likely one of many tragedies resulting from changes in design and construction trends brought on by more modern architectural styles that are still in use today.
The architectural sculpture for the capitol was originally planned to be even more elaborate with Barnard and the Piccirilli Brothers working with Huston to create sculpture groupings at the other entrances, and sculptural reliefs in each of the pediments. But the costs became an issue and some of the more elaborate plans had to be abandoned.
As you enter the capitol between the sculpture groupings, notice the bronze entrance doors. They were designed by Huston, sculpted by Otto Jahnsen, and cast by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company. The design, modeled after the work of Italian sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, includes relief images of several historical events in Pennsylvania history, and the politicians, contractors, and the architect responsible for the Capitol construction.
Otto Jahnsen and his work are relatively unknown, but he is assumed to have had an affiliation with the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company as a sculptor in the early 1900s when the door castings were completed.
The northeast entrance to the Capitol is a relatively new addition known as the East Wing, and completed in 1987 in a Post Modern architectural style by Thomas C. Celli. It provides legislative office space and an underground parking complex for state employees. The design, a mix of classical and modern forms, compliments the Classical style of the original Capitol building, and it along with the Veterans’ Memorial Fountain, completes the plaza focal point called for in the Capitol Park master plan discussed in Part 3.
Thomas Cherubini Celli, 1944 to 2022, was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and studied at the School of Architecture at Cornell University in Ithaca New York.
Former Capitols
The capital of Pennsylvania was originally Philadelphia, then Lancaster, and finally in 1812, Harrisburg. Most of the state capitols are near the center of the state to minimize travel distances for the people and their representatives. But the center of Pennsylvania is in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains where there were few roads and no navigable rivers. The Appalachian Trail is closer to the center, and stretches up from Maryland and Virginia southwest of Harrisburg and then turns more northeast to the northern tip of New Jersey and then just north of New York City. In the early 1800s the major population centers were in Pittsburgh in the west and Philadelphia in the southeast, so Harrisburg is somewhat central to both.
Pennsylvania’s first State House was Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and was used as the new seat of government until 1789. The building has significant history as it was the site where delegates met to adopt the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and then served as the first Capitol of the United States.
Independence Hall was built from 1732 to 1753 in a Georgian architectural style by Andrew Hamilton, Edmund Woolley, and William Strickland, and used as a statehouse for the Province beginning in 1774.
Andrew Hamilton, 1676 to 1741, was born in Scotland and immigrated to the Colonies around 1697. He became a prominent lawyer and statesman in Philadelphia, and later became a leader in the planning and construction of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall.
Edmund Woolley, 1695 to 1771, was born in England and immigrated with his family to the Colonies around 1705 where he learned his trade as a master carpenter and architect in Philadelphia. He worked with Andrew Hamilton to design and construct the State House, and later added the first bell tower and steeple containing the Liberty Bell.
William Strickland, 1788 to 1854, was born in Navesink New Jersey, and trained under his father, a master carpenter, and then as an apprentice architect in Philadelphia under the architect Benjamin Henry LaTrobe who was the Architect of the Capitol in Washington DC. In 1781 the original steeple had to be removed due to deterioration, which was replaced in 1828 with the more elaborate design by Strickland that we see today.
In 1799 the legislature voted to relocate to Lancaster where the capital resided until 1812. The seat of government was established in their Old City Hall, which was completed in 1797, and designed in a Federal architectural style by an unknown architect. The building has served as the State House, Lancaster county and city offices, Masonic lodge, post office, library, and visitor center.
In 1812 the general assembly moved the capital to Harrisburg where they met in the old Dauphin County Courthouse until a new capitol was completed. The courthouse had been remodeled by Stephen Hills to accommodate the General Assembly, and then he went on to build two flanking buildings on the site of the planned capitol to provide further accommodations. A competition was held for the final capitol building and Stephen Hills design was selected. It was designed in a Greek Revival architectural style with colonnades extending to the two side buildings and finished in a matching Flemish bond brick to form a complete complex.
Stephen Hills, 1771 to 1844, was born in Ashford Kent England where he apprenticed with a house builder. In 1794 he emigrated to Boston and then moved to Lancaster Pennsylvania to design and build houses, and then Harrisburg to work on the capitol projects.
Stephen Hills’ design is important because it was the first to stage a recognizable form for the nation’s seat of government.
Its Greek Revival architectural style, speaking to the first democratic institutions, the flanking wings of the House and Senate Chambers, the Portico and central Rotunda crowned with a dome marks the beginning of what will soon be common to many State Houses and Capitols to come. The capitol building was supposed to be fireproof, but in 1897 a fire completely destroyed the building.
After the fire that destroyed Stephen Hills capitol, another competition was held and construction proceeded on a new capitol by the architect Henry Ives Cobb. It was a simple building that Cobbs had anticipated being able to complete with a more elaborate facade, but instead the general assembly considered it an interim building and put out notice for a new competition.
Henry Ives Cobb, 1859 to 1931, was born in Brookline Massachusetts and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, and apprenticed in Boston at Peabody and Stearns architects. In 1882 he moved to Chicago and partnered with Charles Frost where he designed many notable buildings in Chicago and in major cities across the northeast, often in Romanesque and Gothic styles.
The third competition for the capitol, which we see today, was somewhat controversial, as it required use of the former capitol by Cobb, but restricted the competitors to Pennsylvania resident architects only. Cobb was from Chicago, so he was prevented from competing. In response, the American Institute of Architects, the AIA, a national professional organization, objected to the competition rules and forbade its members from competing. Nine Pennsylvania architects submitted designs anyway, with Joseph Huston ultimately winning, but loosing his membership in the AIA.
The final capitol by Joseph Huston is a beautiful work that has been carefully maintained and preserved. Part 2 of this story will look at the art and interior architecture inside the capitol, and Part 3 will look at the architecture, sculpture and monuments on the Capitol Park grounds.
Travel Notes
Harrisburg Pennsylvania is about seven hours southwest of Boston, which I visited on my trek home to Huntsville Alabama. I toured the Connecticut State Capitol grounds in the morning, and the Pennsylvania State Capitol grounds that afternoon. The next day I continued my trek home taking a detour off Interstate 81 to tour a section of Skyline Drive overlooking the Shenandoah Valley.
This was in 2020 during the pandemic when there were few smog producing vehicles on the roads. The views were a spectacular sky blue over forrest green mountains, which made for a beautiful and peaceful sight for such a troubling time.
Notes and References
The sculpture groupings at the southwest entrances by George Grey Barnard are truly amazing. I hope that someday the original plans can be completed by removing the loin cloths and adding the four sculpture groupings and two pediment reliefs at the other two entrances. My reading on the work leads me to believe that there are artist sketches, models and photographs available on at least some of his original work.
Story and photographs by David Smitherman, with data collected from onsite inscriptions and brochures, Wikipedia, and Google Maps. Site visits were made in July 2020, November 2021, and November 2024.
“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. Hills 1819 competition drawing is from page 61.
Thomas Cherubini Celli, https://obituaries.post-gazette.com/obituary/thomas-cherubini-celli-1085984300