Note 93 — CHAPTER 5 THE NEW WORLD
Reading edition
The history of the building is so complex that it is difficult to know to whom the credit should be assigned for its distinguished design. The competition held in 1838 was won by Walter, who actually laid the foundations in 1839-40; but the executed design certainly owes more to the competition project of the painter Thomas Cole (1801-48). See Cummings, A. L., ‘The Ohio State Capitol Competition’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XII (1953), 15-18. Modifications of the scheme initiated in 1839-40 were made with Walter’s assistance in 1844, and building was resumed in 1848 under the direction of William Russell West of Cincinnati. On his resignation in 1854 Nathan B. Kelly (1808-71) of Columbus succeeded, and the work was finally brought to a finish by Isaiah Rogers in 1858-61.