Morris Plains, New JerseyGreystone ParkAlmost 2,000 square feet per patient. Who was it really built for?673,700 sq ft built for 350 patients; it later held more than 7,700.
Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Does It Add Up? · Carson City, United States
Nevada State Capitol
The open question
About 3,042 people in 1870, and a building costing $84,000. Who in a town that size was paying for this, and who was building it?
On the record
The building was constructed in the Neoclassical Italianate style between 1869 and 1871. The Board of Capitol Commissioners received bids of $84,000 to $160,000 for construction and they chose the lowest bid, submitted by Peter Cavanaugh and Son of Carson City. To reduce costs, the building sandstone was obtained free of charge from the Nevada State Prison quarry, just outside Carson City.
- Year
- 1871
- Kind
- capitol
Sources
More from Does It Add Up?
Morris Plains, New JerseyGreystone ParkAlmost 2,000 square feet per patient. Who was it really built for?673,700 sq ft built for 350 patients; it later held more than 7,700.
Weston, West VirginiaTrans-Allegheny Lunatic AsylumHand-cut stone on this scale, in a rural county. Where did the masons come from?One of the largest hand-cut stone buildings in the US, designed for 250.
AustinTexas State CapitolThey had to bring stonecutters from Scotland and use convicts. If the skills weren't here, how were so many stone buildings going up across the country?Built 1882–88 of donated Granite Mountain red granite, by up to a thousand convicts and migrant workers at a time, including 86 granite cutters from Scotland. The builders were paid with over three million acres of land.
Asheville, North CarolinaBiltmore HouseSixty stonemasons for the largest house in America in six years. Does that add up?178,926 sq ft of Indiana limestone built 1889–95 by about 1,000 workers and 60 stonemasons; a 3-mile rail spur, a brick kiln and a woodworking factory were built on site.