Best And Worst Located State Capitals

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by deja vu

Based on that ranking, I'm guessing you haven't been to Madison yet. That has to crack everyone's top 10, if not top 5.

This is veering slightly off-topic, because the thread is about best and worst located, not best and worst in general, but, anyone ever watch this guy? He nerds out on all sorts of geography topics. I generally agree with his rankings (he puts Alaska last, and Wisconsin as 10th best) -

• Video Link

I've been to Madison (on the same trip I did Des Moines, Saint Paul and Springfield actually) and walked around the entire State Capitol, but I didn't go inside (it was closed, likely because it coincided with some protests since all buildings nearby were boarded up). It was pretty, but definitely not Top 10 material (at least from the outside). The city of Madison was a beauty though, especially how you could walk from the Capitol to the lakes in like 3 blocks. Had no clue the isthmus was that narrow.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

We’ve talked about which cities have their states’ respective capitals. Any thoughts on where in those cities the actual Capitol buildings are placed? For instance, Austin’s Capitol District is just north of downtown situated between that mixed use commercial and entertainment district and the university and medical oriented districts to the north and East. To the west is a mostly small scale residential area. The downtown grid was built around the Capitol building and purpose designed for its use and accessibility city-wise according to the Waller Plan.

Salt Lake's sits on a hill overlooking downtown. The legend is that they built it on a hill so it'd sit overlooking the city and therefore would be a more prominent building than the LDS Temple (to show who's really in charge of the state). I don't know how true it is but it's a unique neighborhood because it's entirely residential:



The Capitol sits at the northern end of State Street, a 17-mile long street that nearly travels the length of the Salt Lake Valley.

[Manitopiaaa]

The Maryland State House is very underwhelming:



The irony is that there's an incredible building - also in Annapolis - that would be a stand-out state capital. Alas, it's part of the U.S. Naval Academy. Look at the size of the people in the last pic for scale:



The light blue-domed building in the back:

[Manitopiaaa]

If the Bay Area becomes a State, we also know where the capital will be: the current San Francisco City Hall. It looks like the capital of a major European country, not a city of 48 square miles with 880,000 people.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Salt Lake's sits on a hill overlooking downtown. The legend is that they built it on a hill so it'd sit overlooking the city and therefore would be a more prominent building than the LDS Temple (to show who's really in charge of the state). I don't know how true it is but it's a unique neighborhood because it's entirely residential:



The Capitol sits at the northern end of State Street, a 17-mile long street that nearly travels the length of the Salt Lake Valley.

The thing about this one is that it's huge and pictures don't readily show the immense size. Look at the size of the man for scale:



Here's a really good graphic showing the sizes of the capitals: https://alansfactoryoutlet.com/wp-co...le-5_large.png
(I would post the pic but SSP doesn't automatically resize like SSC and it's 9000px).

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

ha. alberta looks the closest like an american state capital.

And it's flying a flag that looks like the average U.S. state flag (dark blue with a seal/coat of arms in the middle) too!

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

We’ve talked about which cities have their states’ respective capitals. Any thoughts on where in those cities the actual Capitol buildings are placed? For instance, Austin’s Capitol District is just north of downtown situated between that mixed use commercial and entertainment district and the university and medical oriented districts to the north and East. To the west is a mostly small scale residential area. The downtown grid was built around the Capitol building placed upon the top of a hill and purpose designed for its use and accessibility city-wise according to the Waller Plan.

Nashville, similarly, was chosen as the state capital and placed the Capitol building on top of a hill overlooking the existing city-grid and the city was gradually expanded around the new capitol’s grounds.’

Are there any cities where the Capitol buildings are not in or adjacent to downtown? In smaller cities is the Capitol district the most active district? Montpelier, for instance, seems to have one Main Street and the Capitol building isn’t even on it and centers it’s own separate district.

Here's the history on all three of Delaware's former or current state houses:

The first building, in New Castle, is on the main commercial street coming from the river. It is in the center, almost in a literal sense: the cupola is the point from which the 12-mile circle, which forms the semi-circle border with Pennsylvania, is centered.

The old state house in Dover is on the Green, on the east side, in the center of the colonial part of town.

The current capitol is east of the old state house, on the east side of a government mall. There are all sorts of state office buildings surrounding the mall. On the west end of the mall, you can see the back of the old state house, which is an underwhelming bookend. The current capitol does not really face this mall, though. The main facade faces the St. Jones River, with a street crossing the river splitting around the capitol.

[MolsonExport]

Love San Fran's city hall. Gorgeous. I toured it when I visited SF in 2017

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

The Maryland State House is very underwhelming:

It looks more old than underwhelming. Per Wikipedia, it's the oldest state capitol building in the country. It looks very colonial American, like it belongs on Harvard's campus or something.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I love the interior; it looks so WPA.

But the exterior, yeah, it looks like a mausoleum.

It might look like a mausoleum, but at least it looks like the mausoleum of a Great Conquering Hero. I kinda dig it. It's growing on me.

Originally Posted by craigs

wikipedia

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

If the Bay Area becomes a State, we also know where the capital will be: the current San Francisco City Hall. It looks like the capital of a major European country, not a city of 48 square miles with 880,000 people.

I agree San Francisco has the most impressive city hall. For a smaller city (pop: 141k), I think Pasadena has the best looking city hall with its beautiful Spanish Revival style. Imagine a scaled up version of this as a State Capitol. New Mexico are you listening? Arizona? Get your shit together.


https://www.argsf.com/portfolio/pasa...ehabilitation/

[Steely Dan]

^ wow!

I had no idea little old pasadena had such a spectacular city hall. That really is something.

And of course SF's city hall is absolutely outstanding as well. That whole civic center complex with city hall, the plaza, the library, the civic auditorium, the art museum, veterans memorial, etc. is the probably the most impressive collection of municipal civic buildings in the country.

[ChiSoxRox]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Are there any cities where the Capitol buildings are not in or adjacent to downtown?

The Iowa State Capitol is atop a hill, across the river and a mile east of downtown Des Moines. In between is a neat commercial and loft district, although not quite large enough to fill the gap.

[Buckeye Native 001]

There's a bit of disconnect between Arizona's capitol and Downtown Phoenix. When the original territorial capitol was built, I can imagine it felt like being out in the middle of nowhere relative to Downtown.

Fun fact: Pasadena's city hall was used for establishing shots of Pawnee, IN's city hall in "Parks and Recreation"

[jtown,man]

Oklahoma City has the worst located capital building.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by badrunner

It might look like a mausoleum, but at least it looks like the mausoleum of a Great Conquering Hero. I kinda dig it. It's growing on me.

I've warmed up to the Oregon capital but it still reminds of a bowling trophy...I like it tho. Its unique...

[SFBruin]

Wow, Pasadena's city hall is stunning!

[IluvATX]

Without posting huge photos of my city hall, I think Columbia, SC has the best location and Juneau, Alaska has the worst.

[Boisebro]

if you were to replace your current capital city with a new one, where would it be?

for Wisconsin, Wausau makes sense geographically, but the population center of the state is in Markesan in the SE part of the state, and not far from Madison. so Madison seems to be a decent location.

for Idaho, the geographic center of the state would be Challis. while technically centrally located, Challis would be far from the larger population centers in the state and not easy to get to.

the current population center of the state is somewhere in this valley in the Sawtooth mountains:



would be a nice scenic location for a state capital, but even worse than Challis when it comes to convenient access. and the population center keeps drifting southwest of here towards Boise, so it would eventually be even deeper within the Sawtooth range.

thus, Boise is probably a decent location for the capital.

so for Wisconsin and Idaho, congrats: you can keep your capitals where they are.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Oklahoma City has the worst located capital building.

Agree. It's a beautiful building but it's unfortunate where they built it with the surrounding area full of parking lots and government buildings.



https://www.jedunn.com/blog/covid-19...-state-capitol