The piece de resistance is clearly the closing chapter which thoroughly documents the extensive renovation of the building, a costly but necessary job, as this is essentially a 19th Century building that is confronting a new millennium. The grounds and especially the statuary are also given much attention, and any casual stroller about the capitol complex will not be able to look at the familiar landmarks in the same way. The book is architectural history of similarly high order and should be required reading for anyone who truly cares about the Capital City and its most important edifice. You took a lot of trouble to put the State House in a national contest. All of the arts are subject to broad and deep streams of culture, buildings more than most.
Buildings usually represent a broad web of cultural influences.
The book seems, very often, as if it is viewing the State House as a kind of mirror of the history of the city. Yes, the building is a lens through which to view the history of the city of Columbia. The capitol is so heavily allegorical and symbolic, and there are so many monuments and statues on the grounds, this brings to mind the question of what we are now leaving for future generations in our new public buildings. First of all, no building exists in isolation. Public buildings and their grounds are especially evocative.