Texas Capitol: The truth behind the scaffolding, the shocking face of the lady on top and other tidbits.

By now, you’ve probably seen the weird contraption enclosing the top of the Capitol Building — you know, that thing that sort of looks like a giant set of braces?  They got me wondering about the storied history of Texas’ most august structure. (photo via News 8)

Capitol Building wrapped in braces (via News 8)

Those ‘braces’ are part of the renovation process to the nearly 130-year old building. Since the top of the structure is refined granite from Marble Falls, it requires regular upkeep. And the dome, made of sheet metal, is getting a fresh coat of paint to match the color of the granite. The current renovations, costing about $3.5 million dollars, should be finished sometime before the Lege goes back in session in January.

View from the UT Campus before renovation.

And there are plenty of  other interesting tidbits about the Capitol Building, like…

• At the time of its completion, it was billed as the “Seventh Largest Structure in the World”, which is, I suppose an intriguing marketing strategy. I routinely wonder what the cut-off is for being impressed with that sort of claim. If the Texas Capitol was the Fourteenth Largest Structure in the World, would they still have used it? Does it have to be in the top ten?
• How much did the Texas Capitol cost? Zero, technically. The costs of production and construction were paid off in a giant land distribution to what would eventually become the XIT Ranch.
• Much of the concept of the building is pulled from 15th and 16th century Italian architecture.
• A fire at the Capitol in 1983 nearly destroyed the building, and took over 10 years of renovation to fix. Some parts of the Capitol have never been repaired.

Now, if you’ve ever wondered what the woman at the top of the Capitol looks like up close and personal, I’ve got good news for you: Before putting the finishing touches atop the massive rotunda, workers stopped to pose for a photograph with Big Bertha in all her horrifying glory.

I am sure sculpting a face is a pretty difficult thing to do, after all, I have trouble carving out a pumpkin for Halloween. But let’s be fair here: There’s a reason they put this woman at the highest point on the biggest building in the city, and I don’t think it was “for all the world to see.” There is apparently no definitive record as to the ole’ Goddess of Liberty’s exact origins, though the Texas State Board of Preservation presumes that the sub-contractor who provided the materials for the structure may have also provided the statue.

Last known photograph of these three humans before being eaten by the Goddess

There is, too, a somewhat famous Austin legend that the face of the statue is said to be the face of Texas Stonecutter, Tom Vorshardt. Poor Tom. For his sake, I hope it’s just the stuff of legend.

Oh, and there’s one other thing that the Capitol is a great place for:

Smoochies on your wedding day.

See ya next week!

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