This is a close-up of one of the gables on a small section of roof on the the Indiana Statehouse. Zoom lenses are great , huh? When I looked at this shot the first time, I was just admiring all the intricate details…and then I started to wonder who this figure was immortalized in stone? It’s definitely an American Indian with feathered headdress. So I’m wondering why they were made a part of the detailed stonework adorning the facade. Maybe it’s just as simple as it being the name of our state, Indiana, which when translated means literally ”Land of the Indians”? I’ll have to look into that.
I appreciate old buildings in general as they have so much to say, but if you’ve read other posts here, it’s not hard to tell that I’m particularly fascinated with this building. It’s truly an amazing structure. The craftsmanship and the amount of work that went into it are off the charts. The original cost of the building was 1.8 million dollars in 1888. That’s a lot of money back then. But if a structure of this sort were built today, with this same quality of materials and workmanship, the cost would be staggering. I found it interesting that the governor who was in office then, gave back $200,000 of the two million dollars that was appropriated for it because they came in under-budget. Today we are used to seeing major cost over-runs on just about any public project and bloated budgets in general. We could sure use some of the same old-fashion financial values now from our current government.
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