In 1792, construction began on a two-story brick house in the heart of Raleigh, a new town in North Carolina that consisted of little more than a handful of roads and five public squares. The modest house served as the capitol building for the state, until 1840, when it was rebuilt into the grand North Carolina State Capitol that still stands today.
In 1822, architect William Nichols was hired to make the simple brick State House more fashionable. Nichols added many fine elements, such as a stuccoed exterior, eastern and western wings, a third floor and a domed rotunda housing a statute of President George Washington by famed Italian sculptor Antonio Canova. Just five years after he finished remodeling, a pot of zinc being used to fireproof the State House was knocked over onto the roof. The roof caught fire, and the entire building, including the statue, was destroyed.
Construction on the new Capitol began in 1833, with commissioners requesting a "structure that would be an object of pride and admiration for the people of a State that had little in the way of man-made splendor." With the help of William Nichols Jr., the New York architectural firm Town-Davis worked to create a building that resembled an ancient Greek Temple. The North Carolina State Capitol showcases many classic Greek touches. The exterior columns were modeled after the Parthenon, while the House of Representatives chamber follows a plan resembling a Greek theater. Today, the roof is still held up by the original wooden truss system.
The original two story building had a $10,000 budget, while the new building was given a budget of $50,000. The building took seven years to complete, and ended up costing $532,682.34. In 1840, that enormous sum of money was more than three times the state's total revenue. The impressive building was well-celebrated however. The National Park Service notes that a report from the time stated that "the Capitol of North Carolina, will vie with any legislative building in the Union, if not the world, and presents one of the finest specimens extant of classic taste in Architecture."
North Carolina's role in the Civil War started at the Capitol. Legislators signed the Ordinance of Secession in 1861, and a handkerchief was waved out the window of the Speaker of the House. This signal brought on live music in the square below, and a 100-round artillery salute. According to folklore, the noise caused a bulldog to panic and bite a cannoneer, thus drawing the first blood of the state for the war. Though the State House of South Carolina was destroyed during the war, the North Carolina State Capitol was spared because the governor wrote to General Sherman pleading on the building's behalf. North Carolina's copy of the Bill of Rights however, was looted by a soldier from Ohio.
