1. History

2. Description

3. Christmas at the State House

4. Photo gallery

5. See also

6. References

7. External links

The Rhode Island State House is the capitol of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It is located on the border of the Downtown and Smith Hill sections of the state capital city of Providence. The State House is a neoclassical building that houses the Rhode Island General Assembly and the offices of the governor of Rhode Island as well as the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and General Treasurer of Rhode Island. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The current State House is Rhode Island's seventh state house and the second in Providence after the Old Rhode Island State House. It was designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White and constructed from 1895 to 1904. The building had a major renovation in the late 1990s.^[1]

The building served as the United States Capitol exterior in the 1997 film Amistad. It also served as the City Hall of Capital City in Disney's Underdog.

Description

The Rhode Island State House is composed of {{convert|327000|cuft|m3}} of white Georgia marble, 15 million bricks, and {{convert|1309|short ton|t}} of iron floor beams.^[2]

The dome of the State House is the fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world, after St. Peter's Basilica, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Taj Mahal.^[2][3] On top of the dome is a gold-covered bronze statue of the Independent Man, originally named "Hope". The statue, weighing more than {{convert|500|lbs|kg}}, is {{convert|11|ft|m}} tall and stands {{convert|278|ft|m}} above the ground. The Independent Man represents freedom and independence and alludes to the independent spirit which led Roger Williams to settle and establish Providence and later Rhode Island.

The chamber of the Rhode Island Senate is located in the east wing of the building while the chamber of the Rhode Island House of Representatives is located in the west wing. Other notable rooms in the State House include the rotunda (beneath the dome), the State Library (north end), and the State Room (south end). The State Room is an entrance area for the office of the governor and contains a full-scale portrait of George Washington by Rhode Island native Gilbert Stuart. This room is also where the governor has press conferences and bill signings at the State House.

One of the first public buildings to use electricity, the Rhode Island State House is lit by 109 floodlights and two searchlights at night.^[2]

Inside the State House is carved marble. Over the pillared porticoes are quotations and historical chronologies of Rhode Island. Throughout the rotunda are battle flags, statues, and guns representing the state's military past. In the center of the rotunda, under the marble dome, is a brass replica of the state seal.

The building can be seen from I-95, though the Providence Place Mall has blocked much of the view from the northbound lanes.

In 2013, Governor Lincoln Chafee's administration started to remove grass from the eastern side of the Statehouse lawn in order to provide extra parking for employees. The move was opposed by the Capital Center Commission,^[4] which is a public board designated with the task of overseeing zoning requirements within the district. Supporters of the proposed parking say that there is demand from employees and visitors to the building.^[4] Opponents point to existing zoning requirements that make the surface lot illegal, point to the expense of providing parking, and advocate an increased presence for transit, biking, walking, and carpooling instead.^[5][6][7] The state spent $3.1 million on an adjoining piece of land on Francis Street next to I-95 for parking, which provides 100 parking spots at around $30,000 a space.^[8]

Christmas at the State House

It is an annual State House tradition to feature a Christmas tree and community and cultural holiday displays each December. A Fraser fir or Balsam fir is erected in the large central rotunda and decorated. The tree, donated by a local family or tree farm, is typically between 17 and 25 feet tall.^[9]

It has become a holiday tradition in local media to feature stories about problems with Rhode Island's state tree, often meriting front page treatment:^[10]

• In 2005, the tree was removed from the rotunda after a treatment of flame retardant caused the needles to fall out.^[9][10]
• In 2007, a "sickly-looking" tree was spotted being replaced a few weeks before Christmas.^[10]
• In 2011 Bishop Thomas J. Tobin and others objected to the wording on tree-lighting ceremony invitations, which referred to the tree as a "holiday" tree.^[17] Protestors at the tree-lighting ceremony lit a protest tree of their own and sang “O, Christmas Tree,” drowning out the official music provided by a local children's chorus.^[10]
• In 2012, the official tree lighting ceremony was canceled, as Governor Chafee hastily flipped a switch and left the State House.^[10]
• In 2013, Governor Chafee changed the wording to "Christmas" tree.^[11][10]
• In 2016, a 14-foot Fraser Fir was deemed to be too small for the rotunda.^[9][10] A replacement 20-foot tree was placed in the rotunda, and the smaller tree moved to the south steps.^[9]
• In 2017, the rotunda's 25-foot Fraiser Fir made national headlines when it began dropping needles "at an alarming rate," after being on display for three weeks.^[12] The New York Post remarked, "this is the saddest state capital Christmas tree."^[10] The sickly tree was replaced with a smaller (12-foot) tree.^[13]
• The 2018 tree was an 18-foot tall Douglas fir donated by a South Kingstown tree farm.^[10]

Since 2014, holiday displays from "any Rhode Island area-based religious or secular group" have been featured on the first and second floors.^[14] Participating groups have included local religious, ethnic, and secular organizations.^[14]

Photo gallery

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island
• List of state and territorial capitols in the United States

References

External links

• Rhode Island State House Tour
• Rhode Island State House, 90 Smith Street, Providence, Providence, RI at the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)

  before=Unknown|  title=Tallest Building in Providence|  years=1904–1927
68 m|  after=Industrial Trust Building}}

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