Kentucky’s Capitol Building…A Tour (1)

Another day in the general area around Lexington Kentucky… On this morning we decided to drive over to Frankfort, the capital of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  Frankfort has to be one of the most difficult state capitals for most American’s to identify.  Other similar challenges include Carson City Nevada, Salem Oregon and Olympia Washington.

Frankfort was first established in 1786 and it was chosen as the State or Commonwealth’s capital in 1792.  As of the 2020 census, only 28,602 people live in this city…

FYI, my computer decided to do its own thing here and there so the print tone and size isn't always consistent...plus there are those white 'bars' that inserted themselves below many of the photos.  I'm sure that the both problems can be attributed to 'operator errors'!

Our/my first mistake was parking at the base of the hill occupied by the Capitol building!  The first photo was taken from the base of the first long set of stairs and the second photo shows just how much further we had to go before reaching the building…and the stairs in front of it.  We surely got our exercise on this day.

Kentucky’s capitol is the fourth iteration of the Commonwealth’s seat of government since statehood was realized in 1792.  It replaced the previous capitol building, which was constructed in 1830.  That earlier structure is still standing in Frankfort’s downtown area.  This building was dedicated in June of 1910.

The exterior of Kentucky’s Capitol is faced with Indiana limestone and granite from Vermont.  This beautiful sculptured pediment over the classical front portico to the building was designed by Charles Henry Niehaus and was carved by an Australian sculptor named Peter Rossack.  I could not determine why or how an Australian received this commission.  Allegorical figures comprising the sculpture represent Kentucky (the central female figure), with Progress, History, Plenty, Law and Labor as her attendants.

I’m curious regarding the reason the Niehaus didn’t carve the pediment himself.  After all, he was a renowned sculptor with many famous works to his credit.  Perhaps he was too busy… At one point Niehaus had 8 sculptures in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol and he still has 6 in the hall…more than any other artist.

Speaking of statues… There are several in the Capitol building.  This 14 foot tall statue of Abraham Lincoln was completed by Adolph Alexander Weisman, a German immigrant, in 1911.  It is made with bronze placed on a serpentine green marble pedestal.  President Lincoln was born near Hodgenville Kentucky in 1809 and he is our best known and most significant President after George Washington.  President William Howard Taft dedicated this work in November of 1911.  

Of course, President Lincoln is perhaps our best known President.  If you would like to peruse a basic history of his life and accomplishments, just go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln.

Weisman was an architectural sculptor whose works can be found on the Wisconsin, Missouri and Louisiana State Capitols as well as at the Jefferson Memorial and at the U.S. Supreme Court Building.  Despite his objections, Weisman is still best remembered as the designer of the Walking Liberty Half Dollar…now used on the American Silver Eagle one-ounce coin, the “Mercury” dime and many medals for the US Armed Services.

This statue of Henry Clay is yet another work by Charles Henry Niehaus.  It was completed in 1930.  Niehaus also completed a statue of Ephraim McDowell, a frontier physician from Kentucky.  Both of these statues are actually painted plaster models of the original bronze cast statues that represent Kentucky in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol Building. 

Henry Clay was Kentucky’s most celebrated 19^th century politician and statesman.  His efforts to avoid conflict between the North and South prior to the American Civil War earned him the nickname, “The Great Compromiser”.  Clay served in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives.  He was the 7^th Speaker of the House and he was the 9^th US Secretary of State.  Clay was nominated and ran for President of the US on 3 different occasions.  To learn more about Henry Clay, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Clay.

This statue was completed in 1963 by Walter Kirtland Hancock.  This bronze on a Swiss marble base depicts Alben Barkley, a former US Senator and member of the US House of Representatives.  Barkley served as a Senator from Kentucky from 1927 – 1949 and then again from 1955 until 1956, when he died from a heart attack while giving a speech.  He was majority leader of the Senate for 10 years and served as Harry Truman’s Vice President from 1949 – 1953.  Truman, who was famously ignored by President Franklin Roosevelt, included Barkley in cabinet meetings and many other issues…hence, Alben Barkey is frequently referred to as “the first working vice-president in United States history.  For more information re: Alben Barkley, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alben_W._Barkley.

The list of sculptures created by Walter Kirtland Hancock is very extensive… We are personally familiar with the “Zuni Bird Charmer” at the St. Louis Zoo. (Hancock was born in St. Louis.  A statue of General Douglas MacArthur occupies a place of honor at the US Military Academy at West Point New York.  On display in Washington D.C, Hancock also created busts of Hubert Humphrey, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Chief Justices Earl Warren and Warren E. Burger.  The list of his designs and sculptures is very extensive.  To learn more go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Hancock. 

And who is this famous Kentuckian?  If you can’t figure it out, you must not like fried chicken!  Harland David Sanders (1890 – 1980) was the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain.  His name and image are still symbols of the company.  Although he is generally referred to as Colonel Sanders, the title is purely honorific…the highest honor that the State of Kentucky can bestow on someone. 

Harland Sanders began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in North Corbin Kentucky during the Great Depression.  The building is now a National Historical Landmark.  It was during that period of time that Senders developed his ‘secret recipe’ and his patented method of cooking chicken in a pressure fryer.

Despite completion of Kentucky’s State Capitol in 1910, it really wasn’t ‘finished’.  It wasn’t until 2009 that a project to complete the dome pendentives (inside corners) of the building was realized.  The original design had included spaces for murals in these 4 corners.  A private donation finally provided the funds needed to complete this decorative art project.  These 4 murals, oil on canvas with aluminum gilded borders, were completed in 2010.  Evergreene Architectual Arts of New York City created these works of art.  To see a number of examples of the new and restorative works by this company, go to https://evergreene.com/about/awards/. 

The first of these 4 murals is titled “The Bounty of the Land”.  Ceres, the classical representative of agriculture and prosperity, symbolizes the bounty of Kentucky’s agrarian history.  It includes a bas relief of 3 Native American women preparing corn.  The border is comprised of Indian corn, tobacco leaves, hemp rope and sunflowers.  To the right of Ceres, a young female jockey holds the bridle of her thoroughbred horse.  The farmer to Ceres’ left is holding a scythe, a symbol of the nourishment provided by nature and the reaping of her gifts.

This second mural is titled “The Power of Commerce”.  Mercury or Hermes, the left hand female figure represents the allegorical god/goddess of commerce and trade.  The figure on the right is moving a barrel of bourbon, a key industry in the state.  The central figure is thought of as Vulcan or a blacksmith with his anvil and hammer, honoring the State’s/Commonwealth’s history of manual labor, craftsmanship and industry.  As in each of these murals, subtle but more distant portions of the total picture, symbolize various related activities.

This third mural relates to culture and it’s titled “The Fruits of Knowledge”.  The woman figure at the right, the ‘Muse of the Arts’, represents the allegorical figure of music and dance.  The bas relief carving at the foot of this mural highlights Native American Men at the Wickliffe Mounds in Western Kentucky.  The central female figure is providing instruction on the dulcimer to the young girl sitting in a ladder back chair, which was handcrafted in Kentucky.  The robed male figure on the left represents a jurist or the moral and religious elements of faith, law and instruction. 

The fourth corner mural is titled “The Light of Progress”.  Athena, the female figure, is the goddess of civilization, progress and strength.  Her torch and flame stand for knowledge, truth, enlightenment and hope.  The bas relief shows Native American men hunting buffalo.  The kneeling male with the lantern illuminating the darkness is a serious nod to the light provided in Kentucky’s cities through coal mining.  The man at the right represents progress towards the future with enlightenment.

 

In case you hadn’t guessed, the four of us were on a guided tour with other visitors to Kentucky’s Capitol building.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant.  At one point, we stood outside the Governor’s office.  Remarkably, given the rabid political environment we all live in, we noted little or no security during our tour.  Perhaps it was because neither legislative body was in session at the time…

I’ll end this post with this impressive long view across one section of Kentucky’s Capitol building.  The architect was a native of Iowa who worked in Chicago.  Frank Mills Andrews was a very distinguished architect who was a proponent of the classical French Beaux-Arts Style, hence the many striking architectural features and rich decorative finishes throughout the interior of the building.  

Much of the elegance was achieved through the use of white Georgia marble, gray Tennessee marble and dark green Italian marble.  On axis with the rotunda, the grand corridors feature 36 striking columns of Vermont granite and beautiful art glass skylights. 

I’ll finish our tour in my next post.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave