Content deleted Content added
m Reverted edits by 73.198.5.179 (talk) (HG) (3.4.4) |
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
(46 intermediate revisions by 28 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| nocat = yes ▲ | refnum =
}}
The '''Capitol''' at [[Williamsburg, Virginia]] housed both Houses of the [[Virginia General Assembly]], the [[Virginia Governor's Council|Council]] of State and the [[House of Burgesses]] of the [[Colony of Virginia]] from 1705, when the capital was relocated there from [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], until
The earlier capitol was reconstructed in the early 1930s as part of the restoration of [[Colonial Williamsburg]]. The reconstruction has thus lasted longer than the combined total of both original capitol buildings.<!--a total of 80 years as of February 2014-->
==History of Williamsburg==
===First Williamsburg Capitol (1705–1747)===
In 1698, the Capitol building in [[Jamestown, Virginia]], burned. Following the fire, the government of Virginia decided to relocate inland, away from the swamps at the Jamestown site.
A better Capitol building was constructed by [[Henry Cary, Jr.|Henry Cary]], a contractor finishing work on the College of William and Mary
The Colonial Capitol was a two-story H-shaped structure, functionally two buildings connected by an arcade. Each wing served one of the two houses of the Virginia legislature, the [[Virginia Governor's Council|Council]] and the [[House of Burgesses]]. The first floor of the west building was for the General Court and the colony's secretary, the first floor of the east for the House of Burgesses and its clerk.<ref name="Buildings of Virginia">{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Richard Guy|title=Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=363–364}}</ref> As a result of the fires that had destroyed several prior Virginia
===Second Williamsburg Capitol (1753–1779)===
[[File:Second Capitol at Williamsburg Virginia.jpg|thumb|1845 engraving based on then-surviving drawings of the second capitol at Williamsburg (viewed from Duke of Gloucester Street)]]
Governor [[Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|William Gooch]] urged that the Capitol be rebuilt, but many legislators preferred relocating the government to a city more accessible to trade and navigation. In the meantime, the burgesses met again at the nearby Wren Building. Finally, in November 1748, reconstruction of the Capitol was approved (by only two votes: 40 to 38). The burgesses met inside for the first time on November 1, 1753. James Skelton, owner of Elk Island, was contracted to build the Capitol.<ref>Special Collections, John D Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |last=Goodwin |first=Mary |date=1934 |title=The Capitol : Second Building, 1747 - 1832 |url=https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/DigitalLibrary/view/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0207.xml&highlight= |access-date=25 November 2023 |website=Colonial Williamsburg}}</ref>
In this building, [[Patrick Henry]] delivered his Caesar-Brutus speech against the [[Stamp Act]] on May 29, 1765. Henry, [[George Washington]], [[George Mason]], [[George Wythe]], [[Richard Henry Lee]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and others played parts in the legislative maneuvering that ended in revolution. As fighting began in the North, the building featured discussion concerning Mason's [[Virginia Declaration of Rights]], his Virginia constitution, and Jefferson's first attempt at a bill for religious freedom.
On June 29, 1776, Virginians declared their independence from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and wrote the state's first constitution, thereby creating an independent government four days before Congress voted for the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] in Philadelphia on July 4.
The Capitol at Williamsburg served until the [[American Revolutionary War]] began, when Governor Thomas Jefferson urged it that the capital be relocated to Richmond. The building was last used as a capitol on December 24, 1779, when the [[Virginia General Assembly]] adjourned to reconvene in 1780 at the new capital, Richmond.
After the capital of Virginia was moved to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] in 1779, the old Capitol was used for a wide range of purposes, from a court to a school. The east wing was removed around 1800 because of its dangerous condition, leaving only the west wing standing for the next 30 years, until it was destroyed by fire in 1832, leaving no trace of the original structure, except for the outline of its foundations.
==Reconstruction==
[[File:Bodleian Plate.jpg|thumb|170px|right|Print made with the [[Bodleian Plate]]. First Capitol depicted in center row on the left.]]
The building that stands now in [[Colonial Williamsburg]] is the third Capitol on that site. Early in the 20th century, the Reverend Dr. [[W. A. R. Goodwin]] undertook restoration of historic [[Bruton Parish Church]] (c. 1711) where he was rector. His dreams of restoring other buildings of the old colonial capital city led to his affiliation with [[Standard Oil]] heir and [[philanthropist]] [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] and the creation of [[Colonial Williamsburg]]. The reconstructed Capitol and [[Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Virginia)|Governor's Palace]] join the [[Wren Building]] of the [[College of William & Mary]] as the three main structures of the restoration.
The architects charged with
The reconstruction opened to the public on February 24, 1934.<ref>{{cite book|last=Greenspan|first=
== Gallery ==
▲The reconstruction opened to the public on February 24, 1934.<ref>{{cite book|last=Greenspan|first=Anderson|title=Creating Colonial Williamsburg: The Restoration of Virginia's Eighteenth-Century Capital|date=2009|isbn=978-0-8078-3343-8|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|pages=38–39|edition=2nd}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:MJK50112 Capitol (Williamsburg, Virginia).jpg|Reconstruction exterior
File:House of Burgesses in the Capitol Williamsburg James City County Virginia by Frances Benjamin Johnston.jpg|Reconstructed chamber of the [[House of Burgesses]]
File:Colonial Williamsburg at Night (25412267772).jpg|The reconstructed building at night.
</gallery>
==See also==
Line 62 ⟶ 69:
[[Category:Landmarks in Virginia|Capitol]]
[[Category:Brick buildings and structures in Virginia]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Williamsburg, Virginia]]
[[Category:Government buildings completed in 1705]]
Line 68 ⟶ 76:
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Williamsburg, Virginia]]
[[Category:Historic district contributing properties in Virginia]]
[[Category:1705 establishments in the Colony of Virginia]]
[[Category:Rebuilt buildings and structures in Virginia]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Williamsburg, Virginia]]
[[Category:1934 establishments in Virginia]]
[[Category:Government buildings completed in 1934]]
|