Texas State Capitol

The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and central government building of the U.S. state of Texas. The building is located in Austin, Texas, and contains the offices and chambers of the Texas legislature and Governor. The capitol was designed in 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers and was built between 1882 and 1888 under the engineer Reuben Lindsay Walker. An underground part of the building was added in 1993, costing $75 million. The building became a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

The facade of the Texas state capitol.

Texas State Capitol
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Texas State Antiquities Landmark
At the time of its construction, the capitol was billed as "The Seventh Largest Building in the World".
Texas State Capitol
Location	Congress Avenue and 11th Street Austin, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates	30°16′29″N 97°44′26″W
Area	51.4 acres (20.8 ha)
Built	1885; 140 years ago (1885)
Architect	Elijah E. Myers
Architectural style	Italian Renaissance Revival
NRHP reference No.	70000770
RTHL No.	14150
TSAL No.	641
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	June 22, 1970[1]
Designated NHL	June 23, 1986[2]
Designated RTHL	1964
Designated TSAL	May 28, 1981

The Texas State Capitol is 302.64 feet (92.24 m) tall. This makes it the sixth-tallest state capitol in the US.^[3]

History

In 1839, the newly formed Republic of Texas decided to make Austin its capital city. Before today's capitol was built a small log cabin and later a limestone building served as the state capitol. The limestone building was very simple and was criticized by architects.

In 1876, the Texas government sold land in the Texas Panhandle in exchange for money to build a new capitol. Four years later, the government announced a national capitol building design competition with a $1,700 prize. Eight architects submitted designs. The government decided that architect Elijah E. Myers' design was best.^[4]

Just one year after the design competition, the limestone capitol caught fire.^[5] The plans for the new capitol were inside the limestone capitol and were almost destroyed. The plans survived, however, and construction of the new capitol would begin soon.^[4]

The first stone of the building was laid in March of 1885. Many important government figures attended the event. The first stone had a hole carved into it which held a box containing objects that symbolized the building of the new capitol.

The capitol was completed in 1888. It contained 392 rooms. Its top dome was constructed from iron braces.^[4]