This unusual card has a different layout from almost any other on this blog. The image is on the address side, and takes up the area normally used to write a message. The ‘front’ of the card has a long, detailed description of the Texas State Capitol building.
The description states:
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEXAS CAPITOL BUILDING
The Capitol si shaped like a Greek cross, fronting sought, with projecting center and flanks, having a rotunda and dome at the intersection of the main corridors. Construction work was begun February 1, 1882, the cornerstone was laid March 2, 1885, and the completed building was decimated May 16, 1888. It was built at a cost of 3.000.000 acres of land of the State taken from the public domain. This land today is worth about $50,000,000. Architect — E.E. Myers Contractor — Abner Taylor.
Dimensions are as follows: Length, including porticos but not steps, 528 ft. Greatest width, including porticoes but not steps, 290 ft. Height, 311 ft. from grade line to top of statue on dome — 7 ft. taller than dome of National Capitol. Among the Capitols of the Nation, the Texas Capitol is second in size only to the National Capitol, and at the time of construction, was said to be the seventh largest building in the world. Grade line is 600 ft. above sea level.
There are 392 rooms, 18 vaults, 924 windows and 404 doors. The exterior walls were built with more than fifteen thousand carloads of red granite, hauled over 75 miles of specially built railroad from the inexhaustible quarries of Burnet County. The wainscoting is made of old, pine cherry cedar, walnut ash and mahogany, with an aggregate length of about 7 miles. The building proper covers three acres of ground and has about 18 acres of floor space.
Prepared by the Austin Chamber of Commerce and City of Austin.
–Since the time of writing, the building is now the sixth tallest of the State Capitols. This building is the third such to serve as Capitol.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.
