The Georgia State Capitol Building was completed on July 4, 1889, five yeas after construction had started. It is located in 206 Washington St SW, Atlanta, and it’s main entrance faces the street itself. I examined the designs and materials used on the outside of the building. The observation took place on Tuesday September 6th, and a Friday September 9th.
Materials and Designs on a curb-
There appears to be some sort of porous rock-like material, with darker lines possibly indicating indentations, in a hexagonal pattern. On the right side of this texture lies another one, this one seems smoother, rectangular in shape. Near the bottom of this rectangular portion is what appears to be tendrils of some sort, possibly dead plant life. To the right of this rectangle of smoother rock, lies a larger cube of what appears to be the same material, and smooth texture..Adjacent to this cube lies a portion of the same material that tapers to a point in a stylized curve. All of the rocklike material leads to what appears to be some sort of green glasslike substance.
Materials and Designs on the walls-
On the bottom, near the floor, there appears to be some sort purple shrub, near what appears to be stone blocks. The blocks seem to have some sort of indentations in them, giving them a porous texture. There are also linear indentations in the blocks, isolating smaller sections from the larger blocks. There are brown structures with rectangular sides, and a curved top spaced intermediately amongst the blocks. Inside these brown structures are holes, which isolate small pieces of the brown material into cross shaped sections, and upon which a clear solid substance is fitted. Moving up the wall, there seems to be a rectangular angled surface made from what appears to be the same material as the porous blocks.
One of the walls at the Georgia State Capitol Building
On top of this angled surface there is an overhang of what appears to be a smoother version of the same concrete-like material, on top of which lies another overhang of the same material. On top of the overhang is another section of smooth wall with linear indentations, in contrast with the section near the floor however, the indentations are far deeper, giving a more pronounced brick like visual to this section of the wall. In this section, as with the section near the ground there appears to be some of the brown structures containing clear material inside, however, these shapes are fully rectangular, as opposed to the near rectangular figures of the ones near the ground. On top of this blocked section of the wall run more rectangular bands, which lead to an overhang.
However this overhang is more pronounced than the ones at the bottom of the section; it has blocks of the material of the wall running along it, with spaces in between each block. Also the overhang is also a darker color than the rest of the wall. Following this overhang are more of the brown rectangular structures, however on this level of the wall they have curved arches on top of them on the right side of the wall, and triangles on the left, made from the same material as the rest of the wall. Additionally deep groves lie on each side of the rectangular constructs, with small overhangs near the bottom of each groove. Further up the wall are more of the brown structures, but these ones are square in shape and appear smaller than those on other levels. On one of the corners of the wall there seems to be some sort of stylistic construct made of the same materials the rest of the wall. On the very top of the wall, what appears to be the same overhang design from the middle of the wall appears again, however in a much larger scale. The blocks from the middle of the wall are present, but far larger in size.
Materials and Designs on The Steps-
The main steps to the Capitol building
There are 20 steps in the main stairway made from some material with a rough textures, there are notches on the edge of some of the steps, but not others. There are a few railings, made up of some sort of metal like material, that divide the stairs in sections. There are large blocks of the material of the stairway, which become bases for pillars. The pillars themselves consist of an overhang which leads into 5 linear indentations on the other wise smooth masonry, all of which is topped by what appears to be some sort of decorative floral derived design. Past these pillars lies more steps, this time made from some sort of dark plastic like material, which lead to the central doors.
All photos taken by the Author.
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