Maryland State House

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maryland State House
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark
View of the State House from College Avenue.

View of the State House from College Avenue.

location Annapolis , Maryland
Coordinates 38 ° 58 '44.7 "  N , 76 ° 29' 27.5"  W Coordinates: 38 ° 58 '44.7 "  N , 76 ° 29' 27.5"  W.
Built 1772-1797
architect Joseph Horatio Anderson
Architectural style Georgian architecture
NRHP number 66000385
Data
The NRHP added October 15, 1966
Declared as an  NHL December 19, 1960

The Maryland State House in Annapolis is the seat of the Maryland General Assembly , the parliament of the American state of Maryland . Built in 1772 in the Georgian style , it is the oldest continuously-used state house in the United States . The building is located at State Circle 100.

Parliament seat

Boardroom of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Maryland Senate Boardroom.

The building serves as the House of Parliament for the two houses of the General Assembly of Maryland, the Maryland Senate and the Maryland House of Delegates , for 90 days each year. The building also houses the offices of the elected representatives of the state: the governor , the vice-governor and the minister of justice as well as the chairmen of the two chambers of parliament.

Historical meaning

State Quarter of the State of Maryland

The Maryland State House was after the end of the American Revolutionary War , when Annapolis was briefly the capital of the young United States, from November 26, 1783 to August 13, 1784 the meeting place of the second continental congress , the revolutionary government of the United States. During this phase, George Washington signed his resignation as Commander of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783, after winning the Revolutionary War , and the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris here on January 14, 1784 , which officially ended the US War of Independence.

Due to its historical importance, the State House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960 , and the building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966 . The dome of the Maryland State House was depicted on the State Quarter in 2000 , the commemorative Maryland coin as part of the American Mint's 50 State Quarters series.

Building history

The building was the third state house on the site after the colony's capital was relocated from Saint Mary's City to Anne Arundel's Towne , later Annapolis, in 1695 . The first state house burned down in 1704, the second was completed in 1709 and demolished 60 years later after it had become dilapidated and proved too small for the grown administration, the foundation stone for this third state house was laid on March 28, 1772 .

The architect of the first phase of construction until 1779 was Joseph Horatio Anderson. As part of major repair and renovation work from 1785 onwards, the architect Joseph Clark was commissioned to design a new dome; this became the largest wooden dome in the USA without metal nails. The dome is crowned by a lightning rod designed by Benjamin Franklin .

The template for Clark's unusual design of the new dome is not known, but striking similarities to the dome of the Karlsruhe castle tower were found.

See also

Web links

Commons : Maryland State House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ General Assembly of Maryland , Parliament website; accessed November 20, 2018.
  2. ^ Maryland State Archives: Maryland State House ; accessed November 20, 2018.
  3. ^ Joseph Scott Mendinghall: National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination: Maryland State House (PDF), National Park Service 1975; accessed November 20, 2018.
  4. ^ National Park Service, National Historic Landmarks Program: List of NHLs by State - Maryland ; accessed November 20, 2018.
  5. ^ National Register of Historic Places, Digital Asset 66000385: Maryland Statehouse ; accessed November 20, 2018.
  6. ^ Maryland State Archives: History of the State House and Its Dome ; accessed November 20, 2018.
  7. ^ Maryland State Archives: History of the State House and Its Dome ; accessed November 20, 2018.
  8. ^ Maryland State Archives: The Dome and Lightning Rod , and Maryland State House Dome. The Franklin Lightning Rod ; accessed November 20, 2018.
  9. ^ Maryland State Archives: The Dome and Lightning Rod ; accessed November 20, 2018.