Exterior
The capitol is 520 feet (160 m) long and 272 feet (83 m) tall. It is 254 feet (77 m) wide at its center wing and its two side wings are 212 feet (65 m). The facade of the capitol is constructed out of granite from Hardwick, Vermont. The 94-foot-diameter (29 m) dome is topped by the gilded brass statue of Commonwealth by Roland Hinton Perry. Standing 14 feet 6 inches (4 m) tall atop a 4-foot-diameter (1 m) ball, the statue is the personification of a commonwealth. The dome itself weighs 26,000 short tons (24,000 metric tons) and was architecturally inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
Huston designed the large bronze doors at the capitol's main entrance. They were modeled by sculptor Otto Jahnsen and were both cast in one piece using the lost wax method of casting by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company. The doors are decorated with scenes from the history of Pennsylvania, such as the arrival of William Penn and his peace treaty with the Lenape. Busts of people who were important in the construction of the capitol, like Governor Pennypacker, Boies Penrose, and Matthew Quay, decorate the edges of the doors. The bust of Huston hides the doors' keyhole. The entrance is flanked by two sculptures, entitled Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law and The Burden of Life: The Broken Law. Both were sculpted out of Carrara marble from models created by George Grey Barnard in 1909.
Read more about this topic: Pennsylvania State Capitol
Famous quotes containing the word exterior:
“The competent leader of men cares little for the niceties of other peoples’ characters: he cares much—everything—for the exterior uses to which they may be put.... These are men to be moved. How should he move them? He supplies the power; others simply the materials on which that power operates.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“This idoll which you terme Virginitie,
Is neither essence subject to the eie,
No, nor to any one exterior sence,
Nor hath it any place of residence,
Nor is’t of earth or mold celestiall,
Or capable of any forme at all.”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“It’s not a pretty face, I grant you. But underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.”
—Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986)