The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-11-02
STATE HOUSE FORMS
PRAIRIE LIGHT HOUSE
At LINCOLN, NEB.

The new state house, or capitol OF
Nebraska. at Lincoln.( known to the
country at large chiefly as the home
town of Mr.. Bryant, has furnished
an opportunity for a radical departure
the beginning, perhaps, Of a new
school of architecture, with sort OF
high visibility as it's motive-a 400
foot tower crowned by a glittering
dome visible so miles away across the
flat country upon which it stands.
The tentative plan for the Nebraska
capitol, says a writer for the New
York Times, has been chosen from an
invited competition of ten artists, ut
least eight of them eminent. with
three not less prominent architects
from New York. Washington and San
Francisco acting as judges. Each de-
sign was presented at an elevation,
lest the destinations of perspective
craftsmanship lure the judges away
from the clean-cut issue of stark
architectural idea 1t was a ~delib
crate judgment of Paris, with all the
frills removed.
Goodhue Is Architect.
Bertram G. Goodhue, architect for
the Gothic and Hispanic. was adjudg-
ed tho winner. for it was the distinc
tive feature of this competition that
the architect was not to be tied down
to any without reservations render
ing Of his own original design. A'l
that will be required of him is to Gre
ate in the final building the same
spirit that imbued his first sketch
If Nebraska's state capitol be not as
beautiful as if a more precedented
idea had been chosen. that's Nebras-
l., - ~ xry,11 Ho RI
ferent from other state capitals.
The building, as at present planned.
covers a big square of ground area,
with it's chief architectural feature
that massive tower which will be
built so it can be used for library
stock rooms and for the filing of
indicated by it's architectural, exterior,
as every real art should declare it's
purpose, be it n hand-tooled book or
church facade. For the brief hour
of folding bed art is over. Topping
the tower is golden dome, which
shall CLEAN like a lighthouse at sea,
across the flat country.
The main body of the building
seems hardly three stories high, al
though none may tell what rooms lie
hidden in cornice with apparently
no windows to tell the tale. In fact,
most of the lighting for this building
will come from four inside courts
The outside windows are small and
few for two reasons. Partly the eli
matte conditions have influenced the
design, as is proper, whether you are
building in Cairo or in Rheims The
climate of Nebraska knows the bitter
ness of a wind-swept winter and the
screenings of an unshaded summer.
Both are mitigated by the sheltered
courts.
Then, for pure architectural rea-
sons, window broken wall would be
too fragile a base for such a tower.
Again, had classic pillars adorned the
facade they would have cast shadows
too delicate for the massive thing
which they must appear to uphold.
Having committed itself to that stu
pendous tower, the building.must pay
the price. Having chosen strength
and brutal vigor as it's qualities, the
Nebraska state capitol must be con-
tent when that ambition is attained
without any of your side lines like
jeweled windows.
1t is neither Egyptian, Romanesque,
nor yet the ruins of Roman construc
ton in Northern Africa. Yet it sug-
gests these three unrelated periods.
IN truth, what the architect has done
is to select a mood and use form to
create that mood
Has Stern Mood
The mood which Goodhue seems to
be developing in this structure, as in
his other recent work. is of a stern,
almost of a brutal-nature.
Therefore it is gratifying to know
that he has given a No, as stern as
his own conception of a state capitol,
when practical budget fan suggested
that the advantage of this plan was
that it could be built up to the tower
and then completed at the Nebraska
leisure, The plan calls for an expen-
diture of some 10 million dollars, and
work will not be started until the very