Historical State Capitol Commission Now Responsible for the Whole Capitol

The Historic State Capitol Commission now officially has purview over the Capitol’s East Annex and the park surround ding the Capitol under legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Previously, the commission, created in 1981, was charged with reviewing restoration and maintenance of the original Capitol building completed in 1874.

The measure clarifies that the commission is re4sponsible for advising the state on policies relating to the entire Capitol building and its grounds bound by 10^th, L, 15^th and N Streets.

Construction of the East Annex began in 1949 under Gov. Earl Warren and was completed in 1952.

It created offices for the governor, lieutenant governor and the state’s 120 lawmakers who previously were forced to conduct business on either the Assembly or Senate floor.

At 60 years of age, the annex itself is listed on the national Register of Historic Places.

According to the bill’s author – Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, a Sacramento Democrat – “the age and nature of the (annex) as well as its unique usage as a public space makes the building susceptible to modernization which could rob it of its 1950s spare and minimal post-modern architectural features without the commission’s guidance to building improvements or repairs.

The bill, AB 2445, was the commission’s idea.

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