Who Built the US Capitol Buildings?
State Capitol Buildings
In this video, the speaker questions the uniformity of state capitol buildings in the United States and explores their construction history.
Construction History
- The Texas State Capitol was constructed in 1988 by convicts and migrant workers without power tools.
- The Mississippi State Capitol was designed by Theodore C. Link of St. Louis, Missouri, who won a contest among 14 architects. However, it looks identical to other state capitol buildings.
- The Minnesota State Capitol had a design competition with 41 submissions but ended up looking like all other state capitol buildings.
- The Montana State Capitol had two design competitions, but both winners' designs looked identical to other state capitol buildings.
- Utah held a competition with 24 architecture firms competing for the best design. After much deliberation, they chose a winner that still resulted in a building that looked like all other state capitol buildings.
Uniformity of Design
- Despite having different architects and design competitions, many state capitol buildings look identical to each other.
- Even when there were multiple design competitions or contests held, the winning designs still resulted in buildings that looked like all other state capitol buildings.
Conclusion
- The speaker suggests that these buildings are too important to be demolished and therefore must be added to the narrative as if they were just built recently.