thumb|The south view of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort Kentucky; photographed with an ultra wide-angle 8mm fish-eye lens|alt=

thumb|The north view of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort Kentucky with the moon above

The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches (executive, legislative, judicial) of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The building is currently closed to the public due to renovations. While the surrounding grounds and monuments remain open, the structure is estimated to remain closed until 2029.

History

Previous buildings

thumb|left|Kentucky state capitol marble staircase

From 1792 to 1830, two buildings were used as the capitol, both of which burned completely.

In 1830, another capitol was built and was used until 1910. During a bitterly contested 1899 state governor election, Democratic Party claimant William Goebel was assassinated at the capitol on his way to be inaugurated. The need for a larger building for a growing state government resulted in the replacement of that capitol building, which is now a museum operated by the Kentucky Historical Society.

Current 1910 building

In 1904, the Kentucky General Assembly chose Frankfort (rather than Lexington or Louisville) as the location for the state capital and appropriated $1 million for the construction of a permanent state capitol building, to be located in southern Frankfort. The official ground-breaking was August 14, 1905 and construction was completed in 1909 at a cost of $1,180,434.80.

The capitol was designed by Frank Mills Andrews, a distinguished and award-winning architect. He used the Beaux-Arts style and included many classical French interior designs. The staircases, for example, are replicas of those of the Opéra Garnier in Paris.

thumb|the south-east facade of the Kentucky State Capitol building located in Frankfort, Kentucky

Between 1912 and 1963, five statues of historical figures from Kentucky were erected in the rotunda of the capitol. The first was a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, which was donated in 1912. Statues of Henry Clay and Ephraim McDowell were added in 1930. Both of these are the bronzed plaster models used for the bronze statues that represent Kentucky in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In 1936, a marble statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, was placed in the rotunda. The statue of Davis was paid for by both donations and public funds, and erected under the auspices of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. On June 4, 2020, Governor Andy Beshear stated that he believed the statue of Davis should be removed. On June 13, 2020, the Kentucky Historic Properties Commission voted 11–1 to remove the statue from the Capitol. The Davis statue was to be moved to the Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic Site situated in Fairview, Kentucky, the birthplace of Davis.

In November 2022, a bronze statue of Nettie Depp by Amanda Matthews, Depp's great-great niece, was unveiled inside that capitol. It is the first permanent large-scale monument of a woman inside the state capitol. While Nettie's influence was not statewide, the Historic Properties Advisory Commission considered her a representative example of Kentucky women who achieved professional and personal success. The statue's unveiling occurred in November 2022.

2022-2029 Renovation

thumb|The Kentucky State Capitol Building in Frankfort, Kentucky under renovation in May 2023.In 2022, the largest renovation in the building's history began. The project aims to address decades of deferred maintenance and modernize the capitol's structure and systems including the revitalization of public spaces, replacement of the terra cotta roof tiles, installation of modern waterproofing, removal of outdates electrical systems, addition of increased accessibility options, and the installation of new heating and cooling systems.

The building was closed to the public on August 20, 2025. The offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state as well as the Kentucky Supreme Court and state law library were moved to temporary locations elsewhere in Frankfort. The 2025 Kentucky General Assembly was the last legislative session held in the structure prior to its closure, and is not estimated to hold another until January 2029. Until then, both chambers of the legislature will meet in a temporary structure constructed in the parking lot of the Capitol Annex building.

  • John Y. Brown Jr., Governor and business mogul, 2022
  • Julian Carroll, Governor, 2023

Not included on this list is governor Martha Layne Collins, who died in November 2025. Due to the capitol's closure for renovations, Collin's laid in state and had her funeral conducted in the old state capitol building.

Security

The Capitol used to be completely open during normal business hours, and local residents often used the marble hallways for exercise (the Frankfort equivalent of "mall walking"). Currently, anyone without proper state credentials must go through a metal detector. Security for the complex is provided by officers from the Facilities Security Branch of the Kentucky State Police along with specifically assigned state troopers.

See also

  • List of Kentucky General Assemblies
  • Floral clock (Frankfort, Kentucky)
  • List of state and territorial capitols in the United States
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Franklin County, Kentucky

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File:Kentucky State Capitol Lookout.jpg|Kentucky State Capitol Dome seen from the US 60 lookout

File:Kentucky State Capitol Frankfort Cemetery.jpg|Kentucky State Capitol seen from the Daniel Boone grave site

File:Frankfory KY Capitol Building at night.JPG|Capitol dome illuminated at night

File:Kentucky Capitol Dome 01.JPG|Capitol Dome, seen from outside main entrance

File:Plaza, Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09139.JPG|Main Entrance to the Capitol

File:Dome - Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09207.JPG|The rotunda

File:Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09164.JPG|One of the marble staircases

File:Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09202.JPG|The main corridor

File:Gov of ky office.jpg|Office of the Governor of Kentucky

File:Senate Chamber - Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09173.JPG|Senate Chamber

File:House of Representatives Chamber - Kentucky State Capitol -DSC09197.JPG|House of Representatives

File:Kentucky Supreme Court Chamber.jpg|Supreme Court Chamber

File:Supreme Court Chamber - Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09183.JPG|Supreme Court Chamber

File:State Reception Room - Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09159.JPG|State Reception Room

File:KY Capitol Library.JPG|Kentucky Capitol Law Library

File:Abraham Lincoln by Adolph Alexander Weinman - Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09243.JPG|Statue of Abraham Lincoln

File:Henry Clay by Charles Henry Niehaus - Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09232.JPG|Statue of Henry Clay

File:John Sherman Cooper bust.jpg|A bust of Kentucky Senator John Sherman Cooper, located in the Kentucky State Capitol

File:Lamp - Kentucky State Capitol - DSC09249.JPG|Lamp - Kentucky State Capitol

File:President William H. Taft addressing crowd at Kentucky State Capitol Building Rotunda.jpg|President William H. Taft addressing crowd at Kentucky State Capitol Building Rotunda

File:Kentucky State Capitol - 9-3-23.jpg|The Kentucky State Capitol on September 3, 2023.

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References

  • Official website of the Kentucky State Capitol
  • Kentucky's State Capitols Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
  • Kentucky Historical Society page on the Old State Capitol
  • Kentucky Secretary of State