Six Years...
After almost six long years of construction both in and around the Capitol building we are finally complete. Everyone on Capitol Hill has put up with the noise and dust, the changes to parking and landscaping and now, at long last, this part of the project is drawing to a close. The Capitol is complete!
Initially, in 2002, everyone was excited that changes were occurring. The demolition of the roundhouse, as it is called, was the first huge change. This was followed by the excavation and construction of the Senate and House buildings, which have been a welcomed and needed addition to Capitol Hill. During this time, however, the plaza parking and the plaza itself was changed to create the beautiful space and fountain which now sits between the buildings. The plaza, as it is seen today, is a realization of Richard K.A. Kletting’s (the Capitol’s original architect) vision of Capitol Hill.
On September 1, 2004, with the completion of the Senate and House buildings and plaza, the Capitol was closed. Demolition began and the process of seismically stabilizing and renovating the capitol commenced. This was just the beginning of the impact that Capitol Hill employees and the public felt over the next four years. Not only were the Legislature and Governor’s offices inconvenienced by being forced into the House and Senate buildings, but Capitol Hill employees had to endure increasingly reduced parking space year by year until we were able to reopen approximately 600 new parking stalls this year. They had to put up with dust and dirt from the landscape alterations as well as confusion from changing access ways.
To everyone on Capitol Hill and to those who had business here during the past six years – I would personally like to express my appreciation for your patience and endurance. I know it has not been easy, and it is not what anyone wanted to put up with. Yet you have all borne it with grace and dignity, which I have greatly appreciated, and I would like to thank you for it.
I hope that, as you enter the Capitol, you will enjoy the historic restoration. As spring rolls around, I hope you enjoy the memorial walkway with over 500 cherry trees and touring the grounds during the summer. I hope you will feel that your sacrifice for the past six years has been worth it. We hope that you will enjoy the improvements and that, in the long run, your lives and the lives of the public will have been changed for the better.
Thank you for all you have put up with and thank you for allowing me this once in a lifetime opportunity. Welcome back to your Capitol!
David H. Hart, AIA
Architect of the Capitol &
Executive Director of the Capitol Preservation Board