Alaska State Capitol

The Alaska State House is the state capitol of Alaska. It is located on Main Street in Juneau, the capital city of Alaska and is home to the legislative branch of Alaska and the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor of Alaska.

History

1792 Kodiak became the first capital of Russian America. In 1808, Sitka, or New Archangel, was made ​​the capital. With the Alaska Purchase of 1867 Sitka became the headquarters of the Department of Alaska under U.S. Army Major General Jefferson C. Davis. After the army unit was needed in 1877 for the campaign against the Nez Perce, Alaska was until 1879 without management. Then founded the U.S. Navy under Lester A. Beardslee in Sitka a location. With the law of 1884, the Congress of the United States, the District of Alaska, with the temporary seat of government and a Sitka determined by the President government established under the leadership of Governor John Henry Kinkead. The Congress decided in 1990 by law, that capital is Juneau, Sitka because it had overtaken on economic growth and importance.

The construction of the Capitol

The United States Congress approved 1911 funds for the construction of a government building for the then- Alaska Territory. The construction was delayed by the Congress of the United States, the First World War and because of difficulties in the acquisition of the required land. Locals donated a portion of the need funds and construction began on 18 September 1929. The building, originally called the Federal and Territorial Building, was dedicated on February 14, 1991. It was designed by the architects of the United States Treasury under the direction of James A. Wetmore in the Art Deco architectural style. The building was initially used by the Government of the United States and home to a federal court and a post office. Since then, Alaska has been appointed as the State with the Alaska Statehood Act 1959, the building is used by the state government.

Relocation controversy

1960 started Robert Atwood, editor of the Anchorage Daily Times, a campaign to transfer of the capital to the economic center of Alaska. These efforts culminated in referendums. Concerning a transfer of the capital in the Cook Inlet area (1960) and according to western Alaska (1962, at least 30 miles from Anchorage ), but each failed A third initiative in 1974 success, after 1976 Willow was chosen as the new capital. 1978 and 1982 failed efforts to finance the relocation. An initiative to move to Wasilla failed in 1994 as well as 2002, the requirement that the legislation should hold their meetings in the Matanuska- Susitna Borough.

Redesign of the Capitol

2004 was launched by the Juneau Capitol Planning Commission, a competition for the design of a replacement building. After controversies about the unconventional nature of many of the proposed designs, lack of support from the state government and lack of financial all plans in 2005 were stopped. Originally from Alaska architect Marianne Cusato presented a plan for a traditional government building, which was very well received.

Architecture and Interior

The building is six stories high and made of veneered with brick reinforced concrete. The first two floors have a facade of Indiana limestone. The portico has four columns of marble Tokeen of the Prince of Wales Island, which was also used for the interior trim. Because unlike most state capitols, there is no large landscaped park, the building may look like a normal office building. It is next to Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Virginia to the eleven state capitols that have no dome.

Outside the building is a copy of the Liberty Bell. Each state and territory in 1950 such a copy of the Government of the United State receive to increase the sales of government bonds.

In the lobby you will find the clay reliefs Harvest of the Land and Harvest of the Sea, which are hunting and fishing, as well as a bust of the Alaska Native Elizabeth Peratrovich leading civil rights activist. On the ground floor and the first floor there are offices and committee rooms.

In the second floor are the boardrooms of the Senate of Alaska and the House of Representatives from Alaska, and committee rooms. On the walls of the early work of local photographer Lloyd Winter and Percy Pond and busts of the first two U.S. senators from Alaska, Edward Lewis Bartlett and Ernest Gruening, can be seen.

The offices of governor and lieutenant governor are on the 3rd floor. The doors of the executive offices are made of black birch, with hand carvings showing the manufacturing industry of Alaska. The "Hall of Governors " presents portraits of governors and vice- governors of the era of the District of Alaska to this day.

Other offices and meeting rooms of the legislation are on the 4th floor. On the fifth floor are the finance committees.

Many areas of the building were restored to the state of the 1930 's, especially the second and the fifth floor, which formerly were the courtrooms of the Federal Court.

Pictures of Alaska State Capitol

41017
de