2008 Tour Information

The Virginia Assembly is the oldest continuous English-speaking lawmaking body in the New World. Over the last four centuries, Virginia's government has met in churches, homes, a college hall, taverns, a hotel, commercial buildings and several different statehouses. Our present Capitol in Richmond, designed by Thomas Jefferson, is the longest used meeting place for Virginia's legislature. The building is widely recognized as an early American example of classical temple-form architecture on a monumental scale. The original central portion was begun in 1785 and first occupied in 1788. The matching east and west wings (and the front steps) were designed by Norfolk architect John Kevan Peebles and constructed between 1904 and 1906. The House and Senate still meet in these wings and the Governor has an office located on the third floor in the original portion of the building.

Virginia's 1788 Capitol is the second oldest working statehouse in America, providing an enduring workplace for people planning the future of the Commonwealth. Shortly after the American Revolution Thomas Jefferson (in Paris from 1784 to 1789) designed this noble edifice, with help from a French architect, to house all three branches of Virginia's government. The Old Senate Chamber in the south end of the Capitol originally served as the meeting place for Virginia's General Court, where Patrick Henry argued the British Debts Case in the 1790s. The Old Hall of the House of Delegates is located in the north end of the Capitol. In this hall Virginia's delegates ratified the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution in December 1791. Sixteen years later, Chief Justice John Marshall presided over the treason trial of Aaron Burr. In 1829 Marshall and James Madison attended an important convention meeting here to revise Virginia's state constitution, with James Monroe presiding. This impressive chamber is now a museum room, restored in 1929 to resemble its appearance in the mid-1800s.