Statehouse golden dome close detail
— — Ceres still holding her sheaf above the town.
Not only on a wall.
“The dome above Montpelier, gold leaf over wood, the Roman goddess Ceres at the top with her sheaf of wheat. Barre granite below, the columned portico copied from the Theseion in Athens. The smallest state capital in the country, and one of the few capitols where a visitor can walk straight to the governor's office door.
Statehouse golden dome close detail, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Vermont State House stands at 115 State Street in Montpelier, the smallest state capital in the United States. The current building is the third on the site, completed in 1859 after fire destroyed the second in 1857. Architect Thomas Silloway designed the Renaissance Revival exterior in granite quarried from Barre, eight miles south. The wooden dome is leafed in gold; atop it stands a fourteen-foot wooden statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, holding a sheaf of wheat. The building remains the active seat of Vermont state government.
The walls are granite from the Barre quarries, the same grey-blue stock that built much of late-19th-century Washington. The portico is a near-replica of the Theseion in Athens, six Doric columns lifted from the antique. Above, the dome is wooden and leafed in 23.75-karat gold, re-applied periodically across the building's life. The Ceres on top is the fourth carved figure to hold the position, installed in 2018 after the third was retired for rot. Each Ceres has been hand-carved in wood and gilded or painted to weather Vermont winters.
The State House is open to the public most weekdays, with free guided tours offered through the Friends of the Vermont State House when the Legislature is not in session. The grounds connect directly to Hubbard Park behind the building, 185 acres of municipal forest with a stone observation tower at the high point. Montpelier itself is walkable end to end in twenty minutes. The State House is one of very few U.S. capitols where visitors can walk to the governor's office door without passing a security checkpoint.