The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-09


note that this most perfect build
ing of the kind in America was
designed along lines of stately
grecian architecture but contains
sturdy and durable North
Carolina wood and stone in It's
imposing structure, thus douoly
symbolic Of democracy.
The first railroad built anywhere
in North Carolina was constructed
to the Wake county rock quarry
which furnished the stone for the
structure. Mrs. William Polk, WI
dow of Colonel Polk and mother OF
Bishop Polk who served as a gen
eral in the Confederate army, sug-
sested the building of the tram
railway to the quarry and became
it's principal stockholder. Besides
the cars loaded with stone, 1t op-
Grated a horse a to take citizens
for pioneer railroad rides.
David Patton, Scotch architect,
who was the architect and super
vising constructor Of the capitol,
wrote: ''The stone with which Its
edifice is constructed is OF the
toughest and hardest description,
containing less iron than any stone
have ever seen; hence it presents
q beautiful cream color, OF a much
warmer tint than marble"
That the stone melloWed even
more exquisitely with age is evil
denced by the statement made IN
Raleigh three-quarters ola century
later by. another outstanding artist
in referring to the capitol building:
81 consider that there is no build
ing in the country of its size which,
for color, for care in construction
and purity of style, is its superior.
The only building which I ever saw
with that beautiful, rich yell
low color in your ~Statehouse is the
ruined Parthenon at Athens
Strangely enough, the olo OF the
stone thus was similar to that OF
the Parthenon, "the most splendid
conception of art il the history
of architecture. For. the designs
were admittedly copied after parts
of that great Greek temple.
Patton himself wrote that the de-
tails of the capitol porticos were
taken from the Parthenon. The east
and west vestibules, he said, were
richly decorated with granite col
umns copied from the Ionic Temple
of Ilissus near Athens, The rotun-
da, vestibules and legislative cham
bers were reproductions from the
Octagon Tower of Andronicus Cyr-
rhestes, of the Temple of Erech-
theus, Minerva. Polias and Pand-
orus, in the Acropolis at Athens.
In an address made March u,
1909, by the late Capt. Samuel
A. Ashe in the senate chamber Of
the capitol upon the presentation
OF a portrait of David Pa
ton "Architect of the North Caro-
lima State CAPITOL" to the State of
North Carolina and accepted by
Gov. W. W. Kitchin, Captain Ashe
referred to the architecture in part
as follows:
Regard the mouldings, the arch
es, the pillars of the porticos and
lower hallway: stand in the ex-
quisitely proportional rotunda;
consider for a moment the con-
struction of the rotunda-the floor
self-supporting a wonderful ex-
hibition of architectural skill.
But the masterpiece is GER
tainly the Senate chamber. View
1t from the open gallery. What
can be more elegant in design?
more perfect in execution? Or
stand in the hall of the House
of Representatives and let your
feelings attune themselves to the
noble scene. How lofty the emo
tons that naturally sweet the bos-
ON in the presence of such glori-
GUS architecture,
1These halls are reproductions of
ths most classic halls of ancient
Greece. They speak to Us of the
re4owned Pericles. and of those
famous artists who, under his di-
reetion, made the Acropolis at Ath-
eng the wonder of the world. They
carry US to the Parthenon and 10
those other temples on the Aero
pofs, perfect in their simplicity,
which men may reproduce,
but never EXCEL"
On June q, 1881, the
former state capitol built in 1894
at Raleigh was destroyed by fire,
a previous fire the previous year
having burned the structure to less
er Edegree. In the total loss of the
building, with the splendid statue
Of washington by Canova, at a cru
clal time when the small towns of
the state were poor and it's citizen
ry divided into factions. the out
look for a new capitol looked dark.
The General assembly in 1881 re-
fused to rebuild.
d legislative session in No
venber, 1882, the assembly, by a
close vote of IS to % in the senate
amp 70 to 60 in the house, resolved
TO rebuild on the old site. The sum
OF Soo,000 was appropriated for the
purpose. William Boylan, Judge
Duncan Cameron. Judge Henry
SeaWell, Judge Romulus M. Saund-
ers and State Treasurer William M.
Mnoon. were appointed commission
erS with directions to make the
neF structure similar in design 10
the old building, but more extern
slYe, with the lower story at least
OF stone and the roof of zinc.
At fret +baco