Best Parliament/Capitol/Seat of Government Buildings

[suburbanite]

The buildings that house federal governments tend to be the grandest in a nation's capital. What are your favourites?

Some recency bias probably coming into play for me as I was in Budapest at the beginning of summer, but I think the Hungarian Parliament Building is one of the best in the world.


from:https://blog.headout.com/budapest-parliament/

[Crawford]

Budapest was my first thought too. Unfortunately I doubt I'll be seeing it anytime soon.

Vienna has to be up there.

[kool maudit]

Budapest is magnificent. I was just there.

Westminster is underrated.

[SIGSEGV]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Parliament

[Docta_Love]

Wayne County Michigan (Guardian Building). One of the best seats of local government (since 2005 or so) in the U.S. at the very least.


http://www.decopix.com/art-deco-detr...-the-guardian/


http://ob.smithgroup.com/projects/gu...nd-restoration

[Crawford]

Guardian Bldg. is an office building that has Wayne County as primary occupant. It isn't really a "seat of govt".

[SunDevil]

Phoenix lacks a lot of things, but I really like the City Hall building.

Phoenix City Hall at Night by Dan Sorensen Photography, on Flickr

[Hindentanic]

Austrian Parliament Building, Vienna

A great complementary contrast with the Hungarian Parliament Building, especially as they were both co-parliaments of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.


(Image hosted on Wikimedia)


(Photo from Period Paper)


(Photo by Peter Korrak for Parlamentsdirektion hosted by iC consulenten Ziviltechniker GesmbH)


(Photo by CookiemagiK on DeviantArt)


(Photo originally from 500px.com hosted on Pinterest)


(Photo by mx2.de on Flickr)


(Photo from Max Pixel)


(Photo from Der Baumeister des Parlaments: Theophil Hansen (1813–1891) by Republik Österreich - Parlamentsdirektion and hosted on Edition Winkler-Hermaden)

It screams "Imperial" even as Austria no longer has an empire, and the vast complex is in Greek Revival style inspired by the ancient democracy of Athens even though the defunct Empire was hardly democratic nor were its feudal Germanic traditions Greco-Roman. However, what the Habsburgs lacked in liberal democratic traditions, national identity, or nation-state unity they made up for in grand architecture, and with the Ringstraße they were able to go all-out with historicist monumental buildings in the grand imperial style of a capital of a Great Power. A certain impoverished Viennese street painter watched in disgust from the public viewing balcony the curious spectacle of a cosmopolitan, ethnically kaleidoscopic, multi-lingual, and semi-medieval empire tentatively dabbling with modern, representative government, and concocted instead his own twisted views of rulership and delusions of grandeur.

[jtown,man]

Dang. Those be nice.

[Shawn]

For US Statehouses, Connecticut and Iowa stand head and shoulders above the rest, IMO.

[Pedestrian]

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/wp-...ße_Halle-.jpg

Well, gee, it would have been pretty spectacular.

[rclark]

Victoria, BC

[chrisvfr800i]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

The buildings that house federal governments tend to be the grandest in a nation's capital. What are your favourites?

Some recency bias probably coming into play for me as I was in Budapest at the beginning of summer, but I think the Hungarian Parliament Building is one of the best in the world.


from:https://blog.headout.com/budapest-parliament/

I was there in July of this year. Budapest was fantastic! We sat in the park adjacent to the Parliament building at dusk and watched all the lights gradually come on. Someone was playing "Blue Danube" in the background. Quite a sight!

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by Shawn

For US Statehouses, Connecticut and Iowa stand head and shoulders above the rest, IMO.

What about Massachusetts? Admittedly it's the only US statehouse I've seen in person, but I think it's beautiful.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

What about Massachusetts? Admittedly it's the only US statehouse I've seen in person, but I think it's beautiful.

Especially it's prestigious location. Beacon Hill. Looking down on the Common, with it's gold dome and red bricks.

[JManc]

MA's simply doesn't have the presence or grandeur that CT's does. Took this in 2014.



VT's got the quaintness factor down...

[tdawg]

I've always been fond of Atlanta's City Hall and New York's State House in Albany.

City Hall, Atlanta



New York State House

[Centropolis]

partial to the nebraska state capital:

AARP.com

joelsartore.com


pinterest.com

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by tdawg

I've always been fond of Atlanta's City Hall and New York's State House in Albany.
New York State House

The New York State House is particularly architecturally interesting because it's basically HH Richardson ripping-off the French Renaissance Revival Hotel de Ville in Paris.

[Boisebro]

three of my favorites, in no particular order:

the BC Parliament building in Victoria:





source


the Minnesota state capitol:



source


the Wisconsin state capitol:



source