Cities are often known by their skylines, and the southern capital city of Austin, Texas is no exception. The Texas State Capitol building complex defines the skyline from a hilltop overlooking Austin. Rising 14 feet higher than the US Capitol building and spanning 22 acres, this significant architectural landmark remains the overall largest state capitol in the country. Aside from its imposing prominence over the city, the Capitol compound reflects the tempestuous history of this controversial piece of US territory. Olde Good Things salvaged a piece of this history with our reclaim of unique amber corrugated chicken wire glass from the west wing.
The Capitol’s current Renaissance Revival building with auric “Texas Sunset” red granite facade replaced the original Greek Revival Capitol building, which burned in 1881. Elijah E. Myers, a Detroit architect, won a competition for the best design of the new Capitol structure. Myers previously designed the Michigan State Capitol buildings in the 1870s and, later, served as architect for the Colorado State Capitol in the 1890s. Other works included the Rio de Janeiro parliament buildings, Mexico City’s asylum building, numerous US city halls, courthouses, hospitals, and churches.
Myers, working under the pseudonym Tuebor, revised his Austin design plans multiple times. The result was 360,000 square feet of administrative and legislative offices, a central four-story structure capped with a 60-foot-wide cast iron dome, and two three-story wings. Myers eccentricities made him notoriously hard to work with. He was fired two years before project completion. Lead builder Gustav Wilke completed the project using Myers’s designs, but not without turbulence. The chosen limestone exterior was subject to streaking when exposed to air, so granite was selected to replace it. To save money, the state used granite donated by quarry owners.
A common practice post-Civil War was to employ convicts as a form of involuntary servitude to fill labor shortages. Individuals could be convicted of petty crimes like walking on the grass and vagrancy. Even those declared innocent were placed in this labor system when they could not pay their court fees. Wilkes used convict labor to quarry the granite, but he was challenged by the granite cutter’s union for employing the cheap labor. As an alternative, Wilkes imported labor from Europe, for which he was fined.
Like Texas itself, the capitol building’s architecture has experienced periods of conflict and resurrection. Later embellishments and restorations to the Capitol compound include 1936 Terrazzo floors depicting battle sites and “seals of the six nations” bearing the flags of the nations who have held sovereignty over portions or all of the territory, significant restoration and reconstruction after another fire in 1983, a 1993 underground extension linking state office buildings, atriums with skylights extending from the Capitol rotunda, and reconstruction of historic elements in 1997. Also, the weathered or deteriorated limestone originally done by Italian stone carvers was recreated to preserve the look and feel of the original fountains, stairways, and stone features with granite and Oak Hill limestone. The amber corrugated chicken wire glass reclaimed by Olde Good Things was salvaged from the west wing skylights beside the main central rotunda, which hosts the House of Representatives Chamber and Gallery.
Chicken wire glass was widely used in factories, schools, and other government buildings during the Industrial Revolution for its durability and fire resistance. Corrugated glass was specifically designed for roofing and awnings for its durability. Contemporary NYC-based stained glass artisan and historian Alexandra Wolfe expressed her enthusiasm for the material: “I love this stuff for what it says about the history of technology development for the building trades. It’s an early iteration of safety glass where the wire mesh prevents glass shards from exploding all over the place when exposed to high-heat conditions (aka fire). It works similarly for high impact situations (think baseball games in a school yard)…. I speculate that the corrugated form has something to do with directing water off the surface, and the amber tint and foamy texture were used to reduce glare by diffusing the light and softening its color.” For ideas and design samples of how chicken wire glass has been successfully implemented in recent design projects, read this OGT article on How To Create a Custom Look with Chicken Wire Glass.
Amber glass is more unusual to find in industrial settings. Its value derives from its ability to mimic natural amber and from its ultraviolet filtering properties. It could be that designers incorporated amber glass into the Texas Capitol to protect sensitive documents, photographs, or artwork from the harmful effects of sunlight. Advancements in glass furnace technology during this time allowed molten glass to be exposed to fumes and flames, increasing the saturation of the amber color. The glass could range from a light golden honey color to a deep reddish orange. Wire glass was patented by Frank Shuman in 1892, facilitating the marriage of the two materials.
Our Olde Good Things reclaimed fire resistant corrugated chicken wire glass from the Austin, TX state capitol building is available in sheets from 52 to 65 inches tall. This beautiful industrial glass is ⅜” in. thick. Sheets can be cut to size your project, and it is durable enough for drilling. The corrugated glass bears a stunning amber hue. View this slice of history or contact us to inquire about our clear chicken wire glass selection.
