View of the Rotunda in the Illinois State Capitol Building

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Capitol Building, Dome, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Illinois, photo, photography, Rotunda, Springfield, State Capitol Building

After walking down the long marble lined hallway of the Illinois State Capitol Building in Springfield, we reach the central rotunda and look up. There is a central large bronze statue that prevents you from being in the exact center and I wish I had my Tilt-Shift lens with me to get around it. The rotunda is over 350 feet tall with a dome that is 92.5 feet wide and has a base of solid bedrock 25.5 feet below the surface.  The building was started in 1868 and completed for $4.5 million.  There is a large ring of Stained Glass windows near the base of the top dome and an Oculus window with the old State Seal of Illinois.

ISO 1250, F/4.5, 1/45 sec, 24 mm Lens

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Deep Inside the Illinois State Capitol Building

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Capitol Building, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Illinois, Interior, Interior Design, Interior View, photo, photography, Springfield, State Capitol Building

Walking further and deeper into the State Capitol Building in downtown Springfield, Illinois we come into the Rotunda area with its central statue.  Here the building spreads our in a cross shape of two long intersecting corridors.  The light is still dim, but there is some coming from the rotunda above.  The different colors on the walls, floors and columns are not paint but real different colored marble. Spectacular in every way. Even the little moldings were colored marble.

ISO 1250, F/4, 1/45 sec, 24 mm Lens

Inside the State Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Capitol Building, Hallway, Illinois, photo, photography, Springfield, State Capitol Building

After walking around the immense new State Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois I wanted to go inside of course. I would love to go to the top of the rotunda/dome also. They give free tours inside every 30 minutes even on weekends.  The inside is glittering with marble floors and walls and moldings each in a different color.  This view is down the long hallway leading to the rotunda and grand central stairway.  The lights were very dim on this Sunday.  It is amazing that this building was constructed in 1868.

ISO 1250, F/4, 1/45 sec, 45 mm Lens

For more on this wonderful building see the link: State Capitol Building

Stephen Douglas Statue at the State Capitol Building

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Architecture, Bronze, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Douglas, EOS 24-105 L Lens, HDR, HDR Photography, High Dynamic Range, Illinois, photo, photography, Springfield, State Capitol Building, Statue, Stephen Douglas

We are at the huge stone State Capital Building in Springfield, Illinois.  At the very front of the building we are looking up at the columned area where there is a large statue in bronze of Stephen A. Douglas in the most prominent position. This is the city of Abraham Lincoln and at the state capitol Lincoln first ran against Stephen Douglas and lost.  This was before he ran for president and caused him to firm his resolve in politics and run again to famously win the presidency.

ISO 100, F/9, 1/160 sec, 24 mm Lens

State Capitol Building at Springfield, Illinois

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Capitol Building, EOS 24-105 L Lens, HDR, HDR Photography, High Dynamic Range, Illinois, photo, photography, Springfield, State Capitol, State Capitol Building

We visited beautiful Springfield, Illinois recently and spent a few days exploring downtown and the countryside.  Here near the center of town was the huge State Capitol Building with its central dome and rotunda seen from anywhere in Springfield. The building was started in the Spring of 1868 and completed 20 years later. The domes and roofs are zinc which are silver in color and do not weather.  The top of the dome is 361 feet tall and exceeds even the Capitol building in Washington DC in height.

ISO 100, F/9, 1/400 sec, 24 mm Lens 

Even from a mile away, you can still see the dome down streets of Springfield:

ISO 500, F/9.5, 1/750 sec, 105 mm Lens

Antique Car at the Greycliff Estate

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Automobile, Buffalo, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Car, EOS 24-105 L Lens, garage, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, photo, photography, Pierce Arrow

At the Greycliff Estate designed by Frank Lloyd Wright around 1927 South of Buffalo, NY there was a nice three car garage.  Above this was the “Foster” Home or apartment.  Inside the garage was a nice antique car from the exact era on loan from the local Pierce Arrow Transportation museum in Buffalo.  I was told it was a 1927 Pierce Arrow model 80 enclosed drive Limo like the Martins owned (was it actually theirs?) back in the day.  It even has 1927 license plates.

ISO 1600, F/4, 1/20 sec, 24 mm Lens

The Foster Home at The Greycliff Estate

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Architecture, Buffalo, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Classic House, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Foster Home, Foster House, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, HDR, HDR Photography, High Dynamic Range, Lake Erie, photo, photography

This a view of the Garage/Apartment area of the Greycliff Estate by Frank Lloyd Wright on Lake Erie South of Buffalo. This section was connected to the main part of the house by a few walls that were at a right angle. They made an “apartment” over the three car garage/ carriage house there that was bigger than most people’s homes.  In this one area, Isabelle Martin allowed Frank Lloyd Wright to be more himself and use cantilevered overhangs and wide horizontal eves as he normally did.  This Foster House, where the daughter and son in law of the Martins lived, is therefore more typical of Frank Lloyd Wright. I will show several views from different angles so you can see the soaring roofs and wide eves and cantilevered balconies not really present in the Main Greycliff house section:

 Here you can see how close it is to the main Greycliff House:

ISO 100, F/9, 1/200 sec, 45 mm Lens

View of Lake Erie from the Greycliff Estate

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Buffalo, Canon 5D Mark III, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, Lake Erie, photo, photography, Skyline

From the back of the Greycliff Estate by Frank Lloyd Wright, you can see why they call it Greycliff.  The house sits 65 feet high over Lake Erie with great views of the beach below and of Buffalo in the distance. The cliff is rocky and grey and has layers of different types on rocks. This view of the edge and beach does not show how very far down it is to the beach below:

ISO 100, F/9, 1/400 sec, 24 mm Lens

A view in the other direction where you can see the skyline of Buffalo off in the distance:

ISO 400, F/11, 1/1000, 105 mm Lens

Furniture in the Greycliff Estate

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Art, Buffalo, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Chair, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, Lamp, photo, photography, Vase

Inside the Greycliff Estate by Frank Lloyd Wright on Lake Erie South of Buffalo, there were several items of furniture.  Some were reproductions of the original Frank Lloyd Wright designs and others were original. Here are some items in the house that I think were original. This chair, (odd as it may be), appears to be original but I cannot confirm if it is a Frank Lloyd Wright design.  His chairs were often craftsman style like.

ISO 1600, F/5.6, 1/60 sec, 47 mm Lens

This lamp and these vases are of the style that were used in the house:

ISO 1600, F/5.6, 1/90 sec, 45 mm Lens

Statue in the Greycliff Estate

Tags

Architecture, Art, Bronze, Buffalo, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, photography, Statue

At the Greycliff Estate by Frank Lloyd Wright on the cliffs of Lake Erie they had an original statue in bronze that was returned to the estate.  Here it is in two views:

ISO 1600, F/6.7, 1/125 sec, 47 mm Lens

ISO 1600, F/5.6, 1/60 sec, 32 mm Lens