Oklahoma — The Surprised Expression
Note to those familiar with this capitol: Petunia is very unique but is not in many pictures, so I couldn't use it.

current capitol
image courtesy of Danny Merz

capitol before dome addition
image courtesy of UnCommonPhotos.com

All around the lower part of the Oklahoma capitol dome are windows with a gable over each of them. They look like eyes and eyebrows. No other capitol has gabled windows there. There are also buttresses between and below the windows, which are far from unique. They add a nose to each pair of eyes and make faces.

Those pointed-eyebrow gables give a surprised expression to the faces around this capitol dome. Try hard, I know you can see it!

An Association
Imagine the eyebrows being raised because the owner of the face is surprised and saying "OK!" OK for Oklahoma.

image courtesy of
Jeffrey Alan Van Grevenhof

The dome on the Oklahoma capitol was added recently and finished in 2002. The lower picture at right shows how the capitol looked before - all is the same except the upper section of the rotunda was replaced with the drum, dome, cupola, and statue.

This capitol was designed to have a dome from the very beginning.

Many of our state capitols have domes, and several of them are gilded, as is West Virginia's. Many also have cupolas, or lanterns, on top of the domes. This is the only one with a lantern that is completely gilded.

An Association
I think, "Look at all that gold!" when I see the gilded lantern. In the history of our country, the most famous gold rushes have been westward. West to "all that gold." West. We have two states that start with "North" and two that start with "South," but only one that starts with "West." West Virginia.

This dome doesn't always look the same!
Late in 2005, the West Virginia capitol dome renovation was completed. The job included regilding. That normally does not mean a change in appearance, but in this case it meant a third change in appearance. There are photos out there showing the dome in all four of these finishes.

late 2005 dome
image courtesy of
Linda Weekley

The original gilding on the West Virginia capitol dome was somewhat similar to how it looks now. The exact difference I'm not sure about. In the Middle 1970s, the dome was finished with gold paint instead of gilding, with the background painted blue, giving it another similar but dull finish. In 1988 it was entirely gilded, as the two pictures at far right show. The third change came with the 2005 renovation.