The Building of the Iowa Capitol Building

French born architect Alfred H. Piquenard, brings his love for dome structures to the rolling hills of Iowa as he leads craftsman and laborers to build the capitol building in Des Moines. This segment is from Iowa PBS’s This Old Statehouse documentary.

The building’s design was largely the vision of its lead architect, Alfred Henry Piquenard.  Paris born and educated, Piquenard brought his love of domed structures with him to the United States.

His plans called for an elegantly ornate, corinthian exterior, with richly carved stone over windows, three-quarter columns and pilasters with delicately foliated capitals.

The 1860 Iowa general assembly had declared that the new building was to be built for no more than 1.5 million dollars.

In 1904, as work on the interior was nearing completion, a fire in the north wing severely damaged the house chamber, as well as nearby offices. By the time the damage had been repaired and the interior completely finished in 1907, the cost of the capitol had risen to 3.3 million dollars.