The Molly Brown House Museum
1340 Pennsylvania Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
303.832.4092
Fax: 303.832.2340

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Henry C. Brown donated the land for Colorado's State Capitol building in 1867, nine years before Colorado became an official state and fourteen years before citizens chose Denver for the state capital. Brown's land remained vacant for nearly twenty years. 500 architects from across the country were asked to submit plans in 1883. Unfortunately, the Board of Capitol Managers received only nine proposals. All nine were rejected. The Board requested plans again in 1885 and offered cash rewards to the top three. This time, they received twenty-one sets of plans. The Board selected Elijah E. Myers' "Corinthian" proposal. It took another twenty-three years to complete the building.

Colorado's Capitol Building was designed with all the modern conveniences: electricity, hot and cold running water, and steam heat. It even had its own artesian wells and an elevator.
Tunnels beneath the building allowed water and coal to be moved from place to place without bothering people with dirt or workers.

While the "guts" of the building were modern, the exterior used ancient ideas. As Myers stated in a document to the Board of Capitol of Managers in 1886, "The great temples of the most advanced nations of antiquity - Egypt, Greece and Rome - the edifices where the citizens were accustomed to meet for deliberations concerning their national affairs - the halls where justice was administered - the palaces, blazing with the splendors of royalty, and adorned with the most famous productions of the sculptor's and painter's art - all these were built in the classic style of architecture…of which Corinthian was the latest and most perfect and beautiful."

Myers thought of every detail to make his building spectacular. His plans called for large corridors, tile floors, stained glass skylights, murals in the Rotunda and space for statues in the pediment. A person standing in the center of the Capitol basement can look straight up through the Rotunda to the dome hundreds of feet above.

The Board insisted that all building materials must be from Colorado. South Beaver Creek Granite was used throughout the building. Lyons Sandstone was used in the foundation and walls. Colorado Onyx, extremely rare and found only in the Colorado Capitol, was used for the wainscoting and pillar facings for the top three floors. When the supply of Colorado Onyx was gone, the basement was finished in white marble, possibly Yule Marble. Fianally, the dome, rising 272 feet in the air, was covered with 200 ounces of pure Colorado gold.

Today, the Colorado State Archives hosts and excellent web-site for the Capitol Building at http://www.archives.state.co.us