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Keith McCord and Nicole Gonzales reporting This is a very special week for the state of Utah. Tomorrow the four-year-long renovation of the State Capitol will be complete.
It's been a long and dusty road. But once you see the results, you'll have to admit it was worth it, and something to be proud of!
The media got a sneak preview today in preparation for tomorrow's rededication ceremony that will take place from 2 to 3 p.m., with lots of speakers and music. Fireworks will be shot off on Capitol Hill at about 5:15, and for good reason: Utah's Capitol is brand new again!
It really is magnificent. When you walk inside the building, the colors are so bright they just jump out at you. All of the walls, murals and carved wood accents have been carefully cleaned and restored. Safe to say, you'll be looking up a lot when you tour the building.
Capitol restoration architect, David Hart, said, "The building itself is an absolute gem. The architecture is really wonderful. It's one of the most beautiful capitols in the United States."
The Capitol was first dedicated in 1916. Thirty-thousand people showed up.
The so-called "People's House" has served the state well for nearly a century. The restoration was necessary to bring it up to date and, more importantly perhaps, make it safer.
"Because of the number of people in the building," Hart explained. "At any one time during the legislative session we may have 2,000 to 3,000 people in the building at one time. If the building was to experience an earthquake then we would have had a loss of life. So that was our main priority."
The other goal was to bring back the historic ambiance that was intended by the original architect in 1916.
Senior design architect Robert Pett said, "Our charge was to take it back to that time period in its aesthetics, but at the same time maintaining a modern feel, modern office and modern technology."
Every square inch of this 300,000 square foot building was either cleaned, restored or re-painted, but no major changes were made in the design. In fact, the architects made sure that new 2,000-pound sculptures were designed to fit perfectly into the cut-outs in the walls.
Sculptor Jonah Hendrickson said, "When we designed the sculptures we had to make sure they'd fit the spaces well. Fortunately we didn't have to pull out the metal grinders or anything like that. They fit like they were supposed to."
The project cost about $227 million. Back in 1916, the price tag to build the Capitol was $2.7 million.
Again, the re-dedication takes place tomorrow afternoon at 2. We'll have full coverage and a Special Edition of Eyewitness News HD at 6:30 that will focus on the Capitol re-dedication.
The Capitol will be open for public tours beginning Saturday and running through Jan. 12, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Each day the tours will focus on different parts of the building, so you might want to come up more than once.
There's more information about the renovation project and the tours at the link on this page.
