the virginia state capitol building in williamsburg was built on november 1705.
the virginia state capitol building in williamsburg was built on november 1705.
when was the virginia state capitol building in williamsburg built?
november 1705
with the decision to relocate the government inland to williamsburg in 1699, a grand new capitol building was completed in november 1705. nearby was the grand governor's palace. it burned in 1747 and was replaced in 1753. on june 29, 1776, virginians declared their independence from great britain and wrote the state's first constitution, thereby creating an independent government four days before congress voted for the declaration of independence in philadelphia on july 4.
virginia state capitol
the first governor's mansion was bought by the state in 1893 from a private company, using $22,000 appropriated by the state with the help of outgoing governor aretas b. fleming. the first governor to live in this mansion was william maccorkle, who succeeded fleming. the building, a large, wooden, white, two-story structure in the queen anne style, was built originally as a private residence for local merchants. it served eight different governors, from 1893–1925. prior to its purchase, governors of west virginia were responsible for their own housing. a fire on january 3, 1921 resulted in the destruction of the old state capitol building in charleston. as a result, a 1921 session of the west virginia legislature created a seven-member "capitol building commission". on july 23 of that year, cass gilbert was chosen to direct construction for the new complex, which was to include a capitol building as well as an executive mansion. the location for the complex was chosen on december 20, 1921. groundbreaking for the complex occurred on january 7, 1924, and the entire state capitol building was completed in 1932. three parcels of land for the actual mansion were acquired on july 7, 1921, at a cost of $64,270, and construction began in 1924 and ended in 1925. the work was overseen by local architect walter f. martens, but he was not greatly involved in the design of the neighboring capitol building. compared to gilbert, who was already an accomplished architect, martens had less experience and had never worked on a project of this size. however, martens had traveled to new york city to talk with gilbert about designs for the project, and both had similar ideas for the building's georgian style. martens also traveled to see the white house, which was to be a model for the new mansion. his visit allowed him to learn how to create a floor plan able to accommodate heavy traffic of guests, as many as 2,000 visitors at once.
west virginia governor's mansion