As the population of Illinois grew, it quickly became apparent that the current court house, finished just a few years earlier, was no longer large enough to house the state’s governing body. In 1867 during the 25th General Assembly it was decided a new building was needed and a law entitled “An Act to Provide for the Erection of a New State House” was passed.
The law created an oversight commission to supervise the construction. They held a contest to determine the best plans, advertising the contest in Chicago, Springfield, New York and Philadelphia. Out of all the submissions, the commission board chose Alfred Piquenard’s plans, an architect from the Chicago firm Cochrane and Garnsey. Their plan came in with a budget of two million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, coming in under the three-million-dollar budget.
(c1874 Illinois State Capitol Construction)
Construction began on March 11, 1868. Despite the board approving Piquenard’s plans the master builder and Piquenard himself both made revisions in designs and material used in the building's construction. The revisions were given the approval of the board but they also raised the cost of construction. By December 10, 1876 the building was still incomplete and over budget. With Piquenard’s death a month earlier, his partner, architect John Cochrane, was left with the task of asking for additional funds as well as explaining the changes during construction and the subsequent cost.
In the fifth report on the condition of the New State House’s construction Cochrane gently reminds the board that they approved the substitutions of some building material for those that were ‘more enduring and costly.’ Because of these substitutions early in the construction Piquenard believed it necessary to make more changes and ‘use corresponding expensive materials that the whole might harmonize’ These further substitutions added to the final cost but may not have been considered by the board.
Cochrane gave several examples of the substitutions and the reasoning behind them:
‘The grand stair case was to be of iron with marble treads; instead they are of solid marble, and are doubtless grander and more beautiful in design than any similar stair case in the world, and the materials used are as enduring as the hills.’
‘The ceilings of all the rooms in the principal office story are heavily paneled and highly ornamented while according to the original design the ceilings were to be plain, with good bold corners and center pieces (say as good as those in the corridors.) Here a large sum has been expended which could have been saved but no one will dispute that they are beautiful and keeping with so fine a structure.’
‘There has been an increase in the cost of the finish of the Senate and House of Representatives but this increase has been made as a matter of utility rather than ornamentation, yet at the same time the finish of these rooms is far more eloquent and artistic than originally planned.’
'[The dome] is forty nine feet higher than the original design, which has increased the cost... the dome is more substantial, grander, and imposing. It is the highest dome in the United States. Its extreme height from ground to top of the finial is three hundred and sixty one feet six inches, as is seventy four feet higher than the dome of the National Capitol at Washington.’
If assuring the board that the changes would only add to the prestige of the New State Capitol wasn’t enough, Cochrane proceeds to flatter the board and their decision in choosing a location for the Capitol’s heating system. The original plan was for the boiler to be positioned near or underneath the building with the smoke flue inside the building. The board decided to purchase a lot on the opposite side of the street and build a boiler house that would pump steam through tunnels and into the Capitol. At this point Cochrane sneaks in a small jab at the committee board. 'Your Board purchased a lot on the opposite side of the street and have erected at a large cost the boiler house...The purchase of the lot and the cost of this boiler house have been entered up as a part of the cost of the building.' After the subtle reminder that they too contributed to the project being overbudget. He finishes by applauding them on their decision. 'The wisdom shown in placing the boiler house at so great a distance from the building must be patent to everyone, as by it the building is free from the dense smoke from the chimneys'
Cochrane reassures the board that the changes are needed. He informs them that it is neither the architects’ or board’s opinion that matter but ultimately that it is public opinion that matters most. 'It must be seen that the changes and modifications made, at the substitutions of such costly and durable materials have greatly added to the real value of the building and have rendered it more permanent and durable. Your architect is of the opinion that after the building is finally completed and paid for, and the same is seen in all its beauty and appointments, the public will commend the action of your Board, and those who have designed and directed the erection of it. For the more enduring are our public edifices the more they are appreciated.'
In his last remarks before he commences listing the many changes made during construction are an assurance the cost is ultimately necessary.
'It is also evident that had the building been constructed according to the original plans, specifications and details, the cost would not have exceeded the appropriation and probably not reached it. But had it been so the new state house would not have taken so high a rank among the public buildings of our country.'
Whether it was Cochranes report or the need to finish the half complete building, the funds were provided to finish the construction on the New State Capitol. The final cost of the Illinois State Capitol was over four million dollars.