Exterior facade and dome The current structure was designed by architect
Thomas Silloway (1828–1910) amplifying the design of an earlier structure designed by
Ammi B. Young, (1798–1874) later supervising architect of the
U.S. Treasury. The first State House built in 1808 by Sylvanus Baldwin was replaced by the current
Vermont Supreme Court Building completed in 1918. The prior edifice, known as the "Second State House", was constructed on the same site between 1833 and 1838. Young's structure was of a more reserved Greek Revival design based upon the
Temple of Hephaestus in Athens. Gray
Barre granite is used for the two-story
cruciform design with a
Doric portico and a low saucer dome echoing
William Thornton's earliest design for the
United States Capitol. Young's structure was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in January 1857. Silloway was able to salvage the Doric portico, as well as portions of the granite walls. Silloway added an additional bay of windows on each side of the central portico and increased the height of the dome (
copper on a wood substructure) to its current level. This may have been done to imitate the increased height of the new
Capitol dome in Washington designed by Thomas U. Walter which was being constructed during the same time. The dome and roofs were originally painted a dark terracotta red to suggest Tuscan tile. The dome was not gilded until the early 20th century, when many states did so as a part of the
Colonial Revival style.
Ceres The dome is topped by a statue named
Agriculture, a representation of
Ceres, an
ancient Roman goddess of
agriculture. The original statue was carved by Vermont artist
Larkin Goldsmith Mead, who also carved the large bust of Lincoln in the Hall of Inscriptions on the State House's ground floor. This statue was installed in 1858. When the first statue rotted out a replacement based on Mead's original was carved in 1938 by then 87-year-old Dwight Dwinell, Sergeant-at-Arms (in Vermont, this official position is similar in nature to the
White House Chief Usher). In April 2018, the second statue was removed. The current statue was carved by Chris Miller out of a laminated block of mahogany and was based on a one-quarter scale model created by Jerry Williams, which was also based on the original 1858 statue. The Doric portico, the main ceremonial entrance, houses a granite statue of
Ethan Allen. Ethan Allen was a founder of Vermont and commander of the
Green Mountain Boys, an early Vermont military infantry active during the
Vermont Republic (1777–1791). The statue was carved by Aristide Piccini in 1941 to replace the original marble version carved by Larkin Goldsmith Mead in 1858. The architect
Stanford White (1853–1906) considered Silloway's Vermont State House to be the finest example of the Greek Revival style in the United States.
Interiors, furnishings, and decorative arts within the Hall of Inscriptions was a
study by
Larkin Goldsmith Mead for a larger statue installed at the
Lincoln Tomb. The State House contains two primary floors accessible by a pair of circular stairways opening into the ground-floor Cross Hall. An elevator is also available. The Entrance Hall is of the Greek
Ionic order and flanked by portraits of Presidents
Calvin Coolidge and
Chester A. Arthur, both native to Vermont. The tall double front doors were painted and then coated with a metallic powder to appear as bronze in 1859. The Entrance Hall contains a portrait of Montpelier native Admiral
George Dewey on the bridge of his flagship during the
Battle of Manila Bay. The Vermont State House does not have a rotunda, the dome being located almost directly above the ceiling of Representatives Hall on the second floor. The principal public room is the Hall of Inscriptions, a Doric pilastered corridor featuring eight monumental marble tablets incised with quotations about the distinct nature of Vermont's culture and heritage. The tablets quote the
Vermont Constitution,
Ethan Allen,
Calvin Coolidge,
George Aiken,
Warren Austin, and
Dorothy Canfield Fisher among others. Each tablet features fourteen gilded stars, representing Vermont's fourteen counties, the state's fourteen years as an independent republic, and being the fourteenth state to join the federal Union. The four corners of each tablet feature a sheath of grain, a detail found in the
Great Seal of Vermont, designed by
Ira Allen. The ceremonial office of the
Governor of Vermont, used during legislative sessions for meetings and bill-signings, is located in the second-floor west wing of the building. The Executive Chamber has been restored to its 1859 appearance with pediment hooded windows supported by
Italianate-style brackets, and gilded Rococo Revival drapery
cornices. A Wilton style carpet colored crimson, azure blue and gold was rewoven as part of the restoration. The Vermont Governor's working office and private apartments are located nearby at
The Pavilion, built in
Second Empire style and located just east of the
Vermont Supreme Court. Portraits of Vermont governors (including
Howard Dean, who is shown in an idiosyncratic pose in a
canoe amid a natural setting) are displayed through the first and second floors of the State House, the corridors of which are a sort of state portrait gallery, commemorating famous Vermonters. The two chambers of the Vermont General Assembly are on the second floor. While both chambers have overhead visitors' galleries accessible on a third-floor
mezzanine, visitors are welcome to quietly enter and sit in the main floor of the chambers. Contrary to the tradition of decorating the upper house in red and the lower house in green, established by the
House of Lords and
House of Commons in the United Kingdom, Vermont reserves the state colors of green and gold for its upper house, the
Vermont Senate. Red and gold is used for the
Vermont House of Representatives which meets in Representatives Hall. A large plaster ceiling medallion in the center of the chamber in the form of a lotus with a center
rosette of
acanthus leaves hold a two-tiered electrified gasolier manufactured in Philadelphia by Cornelius and Baker. Each petal of the rosette weighs approximately 500 pounds. Brilliant
axminster carpets have been recreated for both chambers based on old
stereoscope views and small scraps found in an attic. On either side of the
rostrum in Representatives Hall, are a series of connected elliptical-backed seats designed to fill the north wall of the chamber. The seats are upholstered and tufted in crimson and are used to seat members of the Vermont Senate during joint sessions of the General Assembly. The seats also accommodate the justices of the State's supreme court for the Governor's
State of the State address and the inauguration of governors. Citizens frequently occupy these seats when the House is in separate session, or for large public hearings. is illustrated in one of two stained glass skylights In the Cedar Creek Room, a reception room in the west wing. The second floor of the west wing includes the Cedar Creek Room, a large reception room featuring a mural painted by
Julian Scott in 1874. The mural nearly fills the south wall and depicts the
Battle of Cedar Creek during the
American Civil War. The painting highlights the contributions of Vermont troops in the battle. The room is illuminated by two
stained glass skylights in the deeply
coffered ceiling dating to 1859 when the room housed the State Library. At some time the skylight was broken, and the opening closed. In 1970, while doing renovation work, workers discovered the broken pieces neatly stacked in the attic above the room. The pieces were reassembled, conserved, and reinstalled during the mid-1980s. One window (shown at left) depicts the obverse of the
coat of arms of Vermont, which is a more painterly armorial representation of the
Great Seal of Vermont (reserved solely for embossing documents), the arms are topped by the head of a
buck white-tailed deer and circled by branches of
Eastern White Pine (
Pinus strobus). Pine badges were worn as an expression of Vermont identity by citizens while the state was a republic, and again during the American Civil War by
Vermont's military regiments. The other skylight features the rarely seen reverse of the state coat of arms, a female personification of the state referred to as "Vermontannia." The wall stencils in the Cedar Creek Room are the original patterns, recreated based upon old photographs, and the colors were matched by paint analysis. It is seated among sheaths of corn and wheat, representing Vermont's agricultural history. This room is restored to its 1888 appearance when the room was converted from the State Library to use as a governor's reception room. The walls, and 20-foot ceilings are
polychrome painted in a complex palette of tertiary colors:
burnished
copper,
russet,
salmon, and a deep
blue-green with overlays of metallic stencilling. The style is largely of the
Aesthetic Movement. above the speaker's chair in Representatives Hall Most of the furnishings in the building date to the 1859 reconstruction of the State House, including the 30
black walnut chairs in the
Vermont Senate chamber, still used for the same purpose today. Several American Empire-style sofas, a set of
klismos chairs, carved black walnut Renaissance Revival-style chairs for the Senate President and House Speaker, and suites of Rococo Revival settées and chairs also date to the completion of Silloway's reconstruction. The majority of the lighting fixtures in the building are original, restored and electrified
ormolu gas chandeliers and wall sconces manufactured in Philadelphia by Cornelius and Baker during the 1850s. The large two-tiered, 26-light chandelier in Representatives Hall features sculptures of mythological figures, including a copy of Vermont sculptor
Hiram Powers'
The Greek Slave, which became an
abolitionist icon. Only the large
portrait of George Washington, painted by George Gassner after
Gilbert Stuart, which hangs above the speaker's chair in Representatives Hall, survived the fire of 1857. ==Use of the Vermont State House==