Cheers for a Born-Again Capitol

California gets a big Victorian bang for its buck

California's 107-year-old capitol in Sacramento was draped in festive bunting last week to mark the official debut of the most expensive and extensive single renovation of a historic building in U.S. history. After touring the $67.7 million restoration, which took six years to complete, flamboyant Willie Brown Jr., speaker of the California assembly, boasted: "It's the eighth wonder of the world. It is the most significant physical structure in the state of California."

Indeed, the four floors of the historic west wing, labored over by 2,000 construction workers and hundreds of special craftsmen, do gleam with turn-of-the-century opulence. From 6,000 sq. ft. of marble mosaic floors, up monumental stairways, past trompe I'oeil wall panels, rich brocaded drapes and gaslight-era crystal chandeliers to the newly bronzed dome, the 66 rooms resound with memories of cattle barons, gold-rush millionaires and homesteaders from earlier eras. One carefully repaired mosaic depicts Minerva deep in thought, accompanied by the state symbol: a grizzly bear. That symbolic partnership of classical restraint and belligerent frontier exuberance not only characterizes the intent of the capitol's original builders, but speaks for the restoration itself. Says Architect Raymond Girvigian, the project's chief historian, "History provides the binding force that welds people together. This, now, is a functional building that people can walk through like a work of art. How much more of a bang for your buck can you get?"

In 1972 the only bang talked about in the area was the one feared by local seismologists. Weakened by age and decay, the aging structure was likely to collapse in even a moderate earthquake. After three years of strident debate, the legislature discarded the idea of new $100 million office towers and opted for renewal.

Chief Architect Robert Mathews of Welton Becket Associates began by "unbuilding" the interior. The task was complicated: the original building plans had disappeared over the years. Assembling old photos, early Sears catalogues and newspapers for pictures of authentic decor, "historians found some clues right in the building--a bit of plaster under the assembly speaker's podium became a model for the style of the ceiling molding. Girvigian, scrambling through false ceilings, uncovered keys to the original paint job. Researchers used aerial cameras to map the mosaic floors, which were then taken up, moved and cleaned. Piece by numbered piece, all the contents of the building were catalogued and carted away for refinishing, until only the hard-fired brick shell remained. It was reinforced with concrete, and 20,000 new bolts and the dome received a $500,000 bracing system.

Reassembly of the interior was a more detailed and painstaking work. Bear heads, for instance, were carved on newel posts, faithful to an old photograph and to a few pieces of the original stairway which were found in a Sacramento church. The mint-green assembly chamber now dazzles visitors with its crystal chandeliers and 1870s carved desks. The smaller but richer senate chamber blushes with rose carpeting and brocade drapery. Nine other rooms, including offices of former Governors, have been restored as an exhibit at a cost of $1.7 million.

Gifted artisans, who abound in the land of Disney and tinsel, labored at arcane specialties. Among them: Decorative Painter Frank Baumann, 71, who plied his trade in the lavish 1930s movie theaters, and German-born Karl Mindermann, 51, a silversmith. Baumann took charge of the delicate brushwork while Mindermann worked on recoppering the dome. Sculptor Michael Casey walked in one day to see what was going on and ended up plastering walls and ceilings--sometimes with cake-decorating tools. Says Mathews: "There is talent and skill left in this country like you can't believe."

Much of that skill is being employed in a renewed interest in the past. More Americans these days are ready to echo Ralph Waldo Emerson: "We are not free to use today, or to promise tomorrow, because we are already mortgaged to yesterday." From Boston's Quincy Market to San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, the U.S. cityscape shines with burnished filigree and newly painted trim on public buildings. In Albany, the senate chamber in the capitol was recently restored to its original 1880s state at a cost of about $2 million. Alabama refurbished the entire exterior of its antebellum capitol in Montgomery in 1981 for roughly $3 million, and intends to begin work on the interior next year. The exterior of Pennsylvania's legislative building is in fine shape, but a one-story plaza will be added to conform to the original building design.

Amid this historical revivalism, one question remains. Do grand edifices promote noble accomplishments? Speaker Brown thinks that they are an inspiration. "In these incredible surroundings," he said, "I suspect that most of us will rise above anything we thought we were capable of doing." That sentiment was echoed by Silversmith Mindermann, who is now working in a sheet-metal shop. "You drive by," he says, "and you look up at it, and you can't help feeling anything but proud."

--J.D. Reed. Reported by Dick Thompson/Sacramento

With reporting by Dick Thompson

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.