Print Size: 24" x 30" (Frame Size: 24" x 30") Architects: Edbrooke & Burnham
An 1884 competition led to the selection of Willoughby J. Edbrooke & Franklin P. Burnham to design the new Georgia State capitol in Atlanta. Dignified, elegant, and unquestionably monumental, it was the only classical scheme submitted. The choice was significant: in its resemblance to the U.S. Capitol, the building was intended to signal Georgia’s growing importance and nationalism. The symbolism was especially appropriate given Atlanta’s post-Reconstruction title as “Capital of the new South.” The 348’ building is roughly half the length of its federal model. Its dome is narrower (75’ diameter instead of 96’) but just 15’ feet shorter (273’ rather than 288’) with a crowning 22’ statue of “Miss Freedom.” The result is defining verticality. The arched first floor of the capital originally housed horse stables, with government offices on two levels above. Officials resided on the more domestically scaled foors 4 and 5, there being no accommodations nearby when the building was completed in 1889. Georgia state capital is on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National landmark in 1977.
