Rhode Island State House
State House located on a hill next to Amtrak
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.
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.
The building served as the United States Capitol exterior in the 1997 film
Amistad. It also served as the "City Hall of Capitol City" in Disney's Underdog.
The Rhode Island State House is composed of 327,000 cubic feet (9,300 m3) of
white Georgia marble, 15 million bricks, and 1,309 short tons (1,188 t) of iron
floor beams.
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. On top of the dome is a gold-covered bronze statue of the Independent
Man, originally named "Hope." The statue, weighing more than 500 pounds (230
kg), is 11 feet (3.4 m) and stands 278 feet (85 m) above the ground. 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).
Senate
House of Representatives
More Photos of the House of Representatives
Library
One of the first public buildings to use electricity, the Rhode Island State
House is lit by 109 floodlights and two searchlights at night.
original copy
Royal Charter of 1663
ginger bread model of Colony House in Newport
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.
Text from Wikipedia
State Room
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.
Commodore John Barry
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
