![his photo, taken Thursday, April 19, 2012, shows the North Dakota Capitol, whose main tower is almost 250 feet high. The Republican majority leader of the Minnesota House on Thursday described the North Dakota Capitol building, which is located in Bismarck, N.D., as "embarrassing" and compared it to an insurance office. His remarks came during debate in the Minnesota Legislature in St. Paul, Minn., about whether to set aside money for repairs to the Minnesota Capitol. AP Photo/Dale Wetzel](http://brainerddispatch.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/0420_nd_capitol_1.jpg "his photo, taken Thursday, April 19, 2012, shows the North Dakota Capitol, whose main tower is almost 250 feet high. The Republican majority leader of the Minnesota House on Thursday described the North Dakota Capitol building, which is located in Bismarck, N.D., as "embarrassing" and compared it to an insurance office. His remarks came during debate in the Minnesota Legislature in St. Paul, Minn., about whether to set aside money for repairs to the Minnesota Capitol. AP Photo/Dale Wetzel")
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's governor has bridled at a Minnesota lawmaker's scathing assessment of the state's austere, Depression-era Capitol, saying the critic knows little about architecture.
The Bismarck Capitol was built with less ornamentation and flourish than its designers wanted because lawmakers wanted to make sure the project stayed within its $2 million budget. Minnesota state Rep. Matt Dean described the gray skyscraper as "embarrassing."
"It's like State Farm Insurance called, they want their office building back," Dean, the Minnesota House's Republican majority leader, said Thursday during a debate in St. Paul on legislation to fund repairs to the Minnesota Capitol. The $221 million bonding bill failed by a single vote.
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple called his state's seat of government "one of the most pleasing Capitol buildings in the United States, and I have seen several of them myself."
The North Dakota Capitol is one of the state's tallest buildings, with its austere, concrete-and-stone edifice dominated by a 242-foot tower. It was completed in 1934, less than four years after North Dakota's original Capitol burned in 1930.
A history of the building says lawmakers "determined that the new building must be efficient and within budget." That led architects, led by Chicago's Holabird & Root, to design "an unusual high-rise office tower," inspired by state capitols in Nebraska and Louisiana.
Granite, black marble and limestone were used in construction, with mahogany, walnut and maple featured in the building's interior. But to stay under budget, some elements were ditched, including decorative etchings, stone sculptures and a 30-foot statue planned for the building's front steps.
Dalrymple said the Capitol's legislative wing, where he served as a House member, "is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in.
"If you can't appreciate the architectural value of the Chicago style of skyscraper ... then you really haven't spent much time trying to appreciate architecture," he said.
Dean, an architect, did not respond Friday to email and phone messages seeking comment.
Dean's comment drew gibes from North Dakota lawmakers as well. North Dakota has about $1.5 billion in reserves, thanks in large part to oil tax collections, and Rep. Blair Thoreson, R-West Fargo, joked they could be used to buy the Minnesota Capitol outright.
"Here they are, criticizing, and they can't even fix their state Capitol, and yet they have unemployment problems and other economic problems," Thoreson said Friday. "They can't come to a consensus on basically anything over there."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
Comments (4)
Add commentI love it.. We should have a
I love it.. We should have a federal vote and move the Nation's capital to Minot to avoid the prostituting scandals and falandering our worthless Federal Officials who don't even know how to balance a checkbook and believe its foolish to spend only what you have when you have your own money machine.. I might be moving to North dakota---land of prosperity built by common sense--a rare talent these days
Really
You people at the Capital sure should not be insulting our neighbors. What gives you the right to say anything about their Capital? You owe them an appology Mr. Dean. Do the job you were elected to do. Get a stadium deal done before MN loses countless jobs when the Vikings leave. No I am not a football watching freak. Common sense says they leave you lose jobs and many of them. The trickle down effect will hit all the businesses in the area. I digress, do your job and leave the neighbors alone. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Saved by Grace
Perhaps the reason for North Dakota's $1.5 billion in reserves is due to the fact they haven't given billionaires hundreds of millions of dollars to fund their private business ventures.
While I am a football junkie, I am very much opposed to using public money to build a new stadium.