Connecticut – The Cathedral

The style of this statehouse combined with an unusually tall drum under the dome sets it apart from other domed capitols. Peaks and turrets and finials are everywhere, including on top of the dome's cupola.

The detail image shows arches that are reminiscent of cathedrals, which isn't surprising since this capitol was designed by a cathedral architect.

image courtesy of Catherine Brulotte
Barraclou.com

An Association
The first picture I ever saw of the Connecticut capitol was this one with the rainbow. My first thought after "Gosh! What a gorgeous shot!" was that it looked like a castle. It is quite easy to associate a castle with Connecticut if you are familiar with Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." You don't even have to know the story, just the title will do it. That is the association I planned for this capitol until recently. Now I see the design is more like a cathedral than a Medieval English castle, so I have revised MT's title to "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's . . . Cathedral."

This association has more to it than I expected. Mark Twain wrote "Connecticut Yankee" (published 1889) while he was living in Hartford, Connecticut's capital (1871 to 1891), apparently soon after this capitol was constructed there (1872-79).

The Wisconsin capitol has four, equal-length wings, which give it the shape of an "X." There are colonnades with entrances at the ends of all four wings, and there are quarter-circle colonnades with entrances in all four inside angles of the "X." The length of the four wings and the inside angle entrances are unique to Wisconsin.

Many photos of this capitol show only one type of entrance or the other, like the two larger images at right. They don't look like the same building! If you see the rounded, inside angle entrance, you should remember it is the x-shaped capitol. When the image is from the end of a wing, you should be able to tell the wings are way back from the colonnade that looks like the main entrance. One hundred and eighty-seven feet back, as a matter of fact.

An Association
The shape of this capitol is an "X." Remember "X marks the spot?" That would be a treasure map. Wouldn't it be great to have a treasure map where "X" really does mark the spot and you could find real treasure? You Wish!   Wish - Wishconsin - Wisconsin.

image courtesy of
The Carl Guell Slide Collection at the Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

A much larger copy of the arial image above will be in my Favorites section on the page called "Footprints" (not created yet).