Delaware — Cupola Tower, Staff, Weather Vane

 
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Visitor Challenge.

Cupola Tower
The bottom two sections of the tower are square with red finials at each corner, and the cupola is octagonal with an octagonal, domed roof.

Staff and
Weather Vane
The staff on the cupola roof is topped with a weather vane, which is unusual but not unique. Maryland's State House also has a staff on top, actually a lightning rod, with a weather vane. (See the Maryland section below.) What is unique about Delaware's staff is that it is not used as a flagstaff.

Louisiana —

Sculptures, Observation Deck, Tiered Cupola,
Flying Buttresses, Beacon

image courtesy of
Robert Dolton through
Cupolas of Capitalism

Cupola Tower
image courtesy of
Robert Dolton through
Cupolas of Capitalism

The Top
For this description, the top of the Louisiana state capitol building starts at the 22nd floor where the tower is decreased in width and cut to an octagon. From here up, there is a large amount of carved and sculpted detailing, and the building is tapered three more times.

Sculptures
The octagonal shape of the building above the first tapering is disguised a bit by the huge sculptures at the smaller four sides, so at first it still looks square. The four winged sculptures represent Law, Science, Philosophy and Art. The top, right image also shows the carved ornamentation between them that runs across the tops of these two tiers.

Observation Deck
Just above the massive sculptures, the second stage of the tapering produces the observation deck. This is most visible in the top, left image.

Tiered Cupola
Starting at the level of the observation deck is a stone, two-tiered cupola or cupola tower of sorts. It is also octagonal.

Flying Buttresses
The transition from the lower to the upper cupola is also disguised, by sculpted flying buttresses also at the smaller sides of the octagonal levels. Above the stone cupolas is another deck with access to the flagstaff.

Beacon
The top-most structure is called a beacon by the Louisiana State offices. It could also be called a cupola or lantern, but since the metal and glass enclosure houses a light, "beacon" seems quite appropriate.

Sculpture
detail from image at left

Beacon
image courtesy of
NAMI Louisiana

What is the beacon housing made of? The metal looks like stainless steel in this image.
Is it?

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Maryland — Dome, Cupola Tower, Acorn, Lightning Rod/Flagstaff

Dome
Maryland's octagonal State House dome is made of wood. An outstanding engineering achievement of its time, it was built without metal nails and is still held together with wooden pegs reinforced by iron straps, and is the largest and oldest wooden dome built without nails in the nation. Completed in 1794, the dome is 40 feet across at the base, and 121 feet tall from the base to the copper weather vane on the top of the lightning rod.

The present dome is not the original. The State House, first completed in 1779, included a cupola described in subsequent years as inadequate, unimpressive, and too small for the building. In 1785, a roof replacement project began which included construction of the current dome and cupola tower.

Lightning Rod
The original, 28-foot-tall lightning rod is a wrought iron "Franklin" rod. It was constructed and grounded to Benjamin Franklin's specifications. It goes through the center of the acorn, which is there to stabilize the rod. Protecting the original rod is a steel sleeve placed around it during restoration.

Acorn
Why an acorn? In the late 18th century, acorns were popular decorations symbolizing the strength and potential of an oak tree. Maryland's five-foot-tall acorn was replaced in September 1996 with a copy made of cypress like the original. Its 31 pieces of cypress were all made by different Maryland craftspeople. The assembled acorn was then clad in copper, gilded on top and painted green on the bottom, as in the original plan.

Pediment Sculpture
The visitor's entrance on the west side of the Maryland State House has a pedimented, six-column portico with the pediment sculpture shown at left. The sculpture is a depiction of the seal of Lord Baltimore officially adopted as the seal of the State of Maryland in 1876.

Tennessee — Cupola Tower, Flagstaff

image courtesy of
rjones0856

Cupola Roof
detail from image at right
courtesy of euthman
through Creative Commons

Cupola Tower
The design of the Tennessee capitol is a combination of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Greek styles. The 79-foot-tall cupola tower with Corinthian pillars was modeled after the Choragic monument of Lysicrates in Athens, also called the Lantern of Demosthenes.

image courtesy of euthman
through Creative Commons

Capitals
The photos below show the ornate top sections of the pillars around the upper portion of the tower.

For more on the Choragic monument of Lysicrates in Athens, see Hellenica World and Wikipedia.

image courtesy of
J. Stephen Conn

Honeysuckle
The ornamentation around the top of the tower pictured at left is called a honeysuckle. The North Carolina capitol carries a "crown" of the same design, and you can find the honeysuckle on several other capitols.