(Photos) Idaho State’s Boise Capitol Building Restoration Project Underway

I was given a remarkable opportunity to explore Idaho's beautiful and historic Capitol building in downtown Boise. Some of my friends are on the project management side of current construction and restoration projects that are going on in the Capitol. The scaffolding alone is remarkable. It was very impressive and looked like a complicated puzzle. My friends gave me the inside tour, I even got to climb all the way up to the top of the Capitol building called the 'crows nest' just below the eagle. Read more about that and see photos of the journey and the view click here.

I was in awe of the beauty, grandeur and detail of the historic Capitol building up close and inside. The creation and history is fascinating. A few interesting facts and pictures from the capitol building provided by Idaho Capitol Commission.

• In 1905, the Idaho legislature passed the bill authorizing construction of the Capitol Building.
• The dome and central parts of the Capitol were built first—from 1905-1912.

• The wings (House and Senate chambers) were constructed during 1919 and 1920.

• Most of the superstructure is made of sandstone taken from Table Rock (near Boise).
• Four types of marble were used for the Capitol’s interior: red from Georgia, gray from Alaska, green from Vermont, black from Italy

• The floor area of the building when completed was 201,720 square feet.
• Over 50,000 square feet of artistically-carved marble exists in the building.

If you have never seen the inside of the capital without construction, Here are a couple of pictures from to give you an idea, then we will go into the photos I took yesterday of the construction project. The bottom floor a mosaic of the Idaho State Seal, photo from Facebook tag at Idaho Capitol House Chambers.

and what the middle usually looks like before the scaffolding...

The current project underway is mostly for a major glass replacement project. According to Idaho Capitol Commission, and from what my friends who work for the state told me. The glass that makes up the hundreds of windows of different shapes and sizes around the massive building need replacing. Several years ago it became obvious that the historic replica “chicken wire” glass installed during the renovation completed in 2009 started delaminating, or separating, internally. They pointed the glass panes that have gone bad out to me. When the panes separate it makes a circle in the glass, some circles are bigger than others.

Now into the This is the floor where you would usually see the giant mosaic tile of the Idaho State seal, - like above  but it and the pillars around are well protected during the project. These are the photos I took from inside the Capitol yesterday afternoon.

This one is looking at it from level 4, look at all of those fastenings, bolts, clips, poles, everything has to be perfect. I find it so impressive. Wait until you see the next photo of the man working in the middle of the scaffolding.

You see him right? Again, I was impressed. Not everyone could stomach something like that. He was clipped in and fastened but was still able to walk on the bars fairly freely, it was cool to watch.

The project anticipated completion date is October 15th.