CONNECTICUT. 



219 



was reconsidered by the two Houses on March 

 28th, and passed over his veto by a vote of 14 

 to 6 in the Senate, and 167 to 58 in the House 

 of Representatives. 



Concerning the charters and other interests 

 of Connecticut insurance companies, the Le- 

 gislature of 1878 passed numerous bills and 

 resolutions, several of which the Governor 

 returned without his approval ; as he likewise 

 returned a large number of other bills passed 

 on different subjects, by reason, as he explains 

 in his messages, that the bills severally con- 

 tained serious defects either in the substance 

 or in the structure. Many of them he returned 

 " after consultation with the chairmen of the 

 several committees by whom the bills had 

 been reported, and with their consent." On 

 reconsideration, the bills having defects of a 

 structural character were for the most part 

 amended by the Legislature in accordance with 

 the Governor's suggestions; the others were 

 persisted in, or continued to the next General 

 Assembly. 



The new Capitol building at Hartford is 

 now considered finished, and in actual use for 

 the purposes which it was intended to serve ; 

 it having been this year occupied by the Legis- 

 lature for their sittings, and by the Governor 

 with the other State officers as the permanent 

 place of transacting the public business. The 

 State Board of Commissioners on the erection, 

 in their annual report for 1877, which was 

 communicated by the Governor to the Legisla- 

 ture on January 17, 1878, give a comprehen- 

 sive idea of the whole structure and its several 

 parts in a summary statement, specifying their 

 forms and dimensions as well as the quality 

 and quantity of the materials employed in their 

 construction, and the cost. The official state- 

 ment on these matters in the Commissioners' 

 report is as follows: 



The exterior of the building is finished except the 

 dome ; and its solid brick partitions, brick arches 

 for the floors, iron girders, beams, joists, and rafters, 

 and roof of copper and slate, make it not only sub- 

 stantial and enduring, but tire-proof. The dome, 

 which is to be of marble, rests upon heavy masonry 

 from the foundation to the roof, where it is strongly 

 braced and supported by iron beams, braces, anchors, 

 and bolts, devised by accomplished engineering skill, 

 and is designed to stand unmoved, with the entire 

 structure, through ages of time. 



In furnishing the~Senate chamber and hall of the 

 House of Representatives, the Commissioners have 

 provided a seat and convenient desk for each mem- 

 ber. In the House they will place 250 seats and 

 desks. The desks for the presiding officers and 

 clerks are by designs of the architect, and are not 

 only convenient, but in harmony with the general de- 

 sign of the building. The anterooms on each side of 

 the House and the Senate are conveniently arranged ; 

 and there are more than twenty committee rooms, 

 pleasant, well ventilated, and warmed. Four of 

 Low's_ steam-boilers, of fifty horse-power each, lo- 

 cated in a vault outside of tbe building, furnished the 

 heated air for making this spacious building com- 

 fortable in all its parts in the severest weather. The 

 system of hot-air pipes and radiators, on well-de- 

 signed and scientific plans, is by Mr. C. B. Richards, 

 of Hartford, -an accomplished mechanical engineer, 

 who also designed the ventilating flues. The Com- 



missioners are satisfied that in these essential par- 

 ticulars of heating and ventilation they have secured 

 a gratifying success. 



After examining original and improved plans, with 

 detailed estimates, through its special committees, 

 the Legislature finally fixed upon the sum of two 

 and a half million dollars as the total amount, to 

 be expended in -the construction of the new State 

 House. This sum has been approved by three dif- 

 ferent Legislatures ; and the Commissioners have 

 made it a special object to obtain the best building 

 possible for this amount of money, but on no account 

 to exceed two and a half million dollars in their ex- 

 penditures. 



The dimensions of the building are as fol- 

 lows: 



Extreme length 



Depth of center part 



Depth of wings 



Depth of intermediate part 



Height from cellar to ground floor 



Height from first to mezzanine floor 



Height from mezzanine to second floor 



Height from second to fourth floor 



Height of building to top of roof 



Height of dome from top of roof 



Height from ground to top of crowning 

 figure 



295 feet 8 inches 

 189 feet 4 inches 

 111 feet 8 inches 

 102 feet 8 inches 

 11 feet 6 inches 

 14 feet 6 inches 



14 feet 6 inches 



15 feet inches 

 92 feet 8 inches 



164 feet 6 inches 



25T feet 2 inches 



The dome tower rises in the center of the build- 

 ing in a rectangular shape to the roof, and from there 

 upward in the twelve-sided shape, with buttresses 

 and columns on each of the twelve corners. Its di- 

 ameter is 53 feet 4 inches. From roof to bottom of 

 cone it is 75 feet 2 inches ; tbe cone is 27 feet 4 inches 

 in height ; the lantern 47 feet ; globe and crowning 

 figure, the u Genius of Connecticut," 15 feet. Four 

 small towers, square in shape, rise with their finials 

 153 feet from the ground. The Representatives' hall 

 is 84-4 by 56 feet, and has a clear height of 48 feet 8 

 inches. The Senate chamber is 50 by 39'7 feet, with 

 'a clear height of 37 feet. The library room, 55 by 

 85 feet, is on the second floor, as is also the Supreme 

 Court room, 50'6 by 31 '4 feet, and the height of each 

 is 34 feet 8 inches. There are sixty rooms for the use 

 of State officers, committees of the General Assembly, 

 retiring-rooms, etc. There are substantial vaults, 

 with double iron and steel doors, and combination 

 locks, for the use of the Treasurer and School Fund 

 Commissioner ; and there are also vaults connected 

 with other offices. An elevator six by eight feet in 

 size, to be moved by steam, is placed near the cen- 

 ter of the building. The roof is of wrought iron 

 throughout, and the fittings are arranged so as to 

 avoid any welding whatever. The entire floors are 

 built with wrought-iron beams and brick arches. 

 The foundations are massive, and of grariite and 

 brownstone. The dormer-windows are of marble, 

 with carved trimmings. The main entrances are 

 built of solid marble piers and polished granite col- 

 umns, over which are richly carved caps. All of the 

 vestibules, halls, and corridors are supported by 

 granite and marble columns, except the two light- 

 shafts, which are inclosed b.y iron columns and orna- 

 mented railings. The main stairways, of which 

 there are two, are very solid and imposing ; they are 

 of marble, with steps and platforms of granite. In 

 these stairways are forty-six polished granite col- 

 umns, resembling in appearance the Scotch granite. 

 The granite for these beautiful columns came from 

 a Connecticut quarry near Stony Creek, on Long 

 Island Sound. These stairways lead from the 

 ground floor to the galleries of the hall of the House 

 of "Representatives, or one flight above the second 

 floor. All of the woodwork finish is of oak, black 

 walnut, and ash. The white glass is of the best pol- 

 ished French plate. There are 126 columns of pol- 

 ished granite and 30 columns of marble in the build- 

 ing, the material for which was taken from quarries 

 in Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. 

 The engineer has not completed his accurate mea- 



