State Capitol is national landmark

By The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Tuesday, December 5, 2006

HARRISBURG – The ornate state Capitol building earns oohs and ahhs every day from visitors impressed by its marble, gold leaf and intricate decoration.
The building’s special place in American history recently earned it another honor, as the U.S. Interior Department has granted it National Historic Landmark status.

In announcing the action Monday, the Capitol Preservation Committee said it learned of the decision last month, and expects to install a commemorative bronze plaque in the spring.

Landmark status is currently bestowed on more than 2,300 of the 76,000 entries on the National Register of Historic Places. Among the landmarks are Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the site of the Pearl Harbor attack in Hawaii, the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Atlanta birthplace.

The Capitol was designed by Joseph M. Huston, with a dome patterned on St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and a grand staircase reminiscent of the Paris Opera.

President Theodore Roosevelt attended its dedication on Oct. 4, 1906.