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Recommended Reviews - Illinois State Capitol

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Joshua D.

Review Visit: July 31st, 2012 It's the capitol of the capital! I was just a kid going through grade school when we had a field trip announcement. This was yet another trip to Springfield but one that would prove to be magical. Magical in the sense that it got us out of school for a day... and to most kids, that's pure magic. So, we loaded up the bus and headed to see the capital again. This time was a bit different. In the main photo above, you can see that each class was able to take a photo with Keith P. Sommer. One of the state's representatives. Ask any kid anything about government and you'll probably get a blank stare or hear about George Washington. So, I remember thinking it was cool to meet him but had no idea what he did in for us in the government. (Those lessons were in Junior high and ones I excelled in, oddly enough.) Well, little did I know that if we fast forward a few years, I would be back in the same building that the little me was in and the same representative would still be working there. Yep, Keith P. Sommer is still getting elected and working on doing whatever state representatives do. Matt and I got to walk around the same halls that little me walked around. I don't think you, as a general visitor, could explore too much. Just the main area and maybe some of the side hallways. Most of the people inside were actual workers and we were just tourists getting a sneak peek in the world of government and politics. I did have a few nostalgic trips while looking around. These government buildings are mostly kept the same from year to year with mostly renovating work done to keep things looking the same instead of changing it up. In one of my boxes in my closet, I still have the letter that Keith P. Sommer sent to everyone in our class. I don't remember what it said but if I dig it out, I will add it to the slideshow below. If you are a history or government buff, feel free to check out the State Capitol building. If not, you can probably pass on this place and know you aren't missing anything too special. It was just a fun nostalgic trip for me.

Ade B.

The Illinois State Capitol is the tallest domed capitol and also one of the most beautiful. It just doesn't have the sheer size of some of the other top capitol buildings. When I arrived at the capitol and stopped at the visitor's desk, I was surprised to find out that someone would be called over shortly to give me a personal tour. Usually tours are done at a pre set time, and there are some capitols that will not even do a tour for one person. I was very happy to get my personal tour of this historic and beautiful capitol, and learn about the history of the building. Some of the building was inaccessible due to some restoration work going on. After my tour I was able to explore on my own and snap plenty of pictures. I was particularly impressed by the mural on the staircase, although there are nice murals and statues throughout the building. And I was in awe as I looked up into the dome from the rotunda. When you look up into it then it's clear how much taller it is than other capitols. It you like visiting historic capitol buildings do not miss the one in Illinois.

Front View
Richard F.

No visit to Springfield is complete without a visit to the Capitol building. It is the center of Illinois government. The building is topped with a 405-foot dome and is a combination of Renassance Revival and Second Empire Style. You can watch Illinois politics in action from balcony-level seating when the legislature is in session.

Kim F.

On our trip to see President Lincoln sites we visited the Illinois State Capital building. It was absolutely beautiful! We took the ~25 minute tour where we learned it is the tallest capitol in the US. It was not only an impressive building but we learned women had the right to vote 3 years before the US allowed women to vote. And that they had a black state legislator in the 1920s. Progressive history that gave us hope for America.

interior of the dome
Eric E.

I have mixed reviews on the things we saw in Springfield but this wasn't one of them. We made a b-line to the Capitol building when we spotted it from 6th street. Can't say I've seen a building this large with a silver (not gold) dome. That aspect alone could have made the building unique. It got better on the inside though, a trip we only made because my son insisted. After walking down a hallway you come to the middle of the building which offers an awe-inspiring look upwards at the beautiful dome interior, murals, statues and other forms of art. The third floor offers the best look at the interior, especially the dome interior. If you're in Springfield do yourself a favor and make this a priority. Aside from Abe's Tomb we didn't find anything else in town quite as interesting as the Capitol building.

"Illinois Welcoming the World"
Michael S.

The Illinois State Capitol is one of the best free museums in the State of Illinois. My bone to pick is with self-proclaimed state capitol afficionado, Dave S. of Milwaukee, who a year ago wrote Yelp's first review, while overfocusing on the no longer (if ever) visible black gunk in the Rotunda, which he claimed obscured the stained glass. Well, you can see the stained glass just fine. Dave S. said the Capitol was "pedestrian," "underwhelming," "needs some love" and dissed it, without any mention of how gorgeous the Rotunda is, as are many other features of the statehouse, ranging from extensive paintings, murals, statuary, exquisite railings, columns, frescos, etc. The restoration levels of every historic piece of art or sculpture I saw is high! You can spend a few days here. Easy. I've done it, and haven't yet covered a fraction of this stunning structure and its contents. Amtrak will get you here for $36 roundtrip for the day, and you can walk to the Capitol from the train station. For perspective, parking and admission fees at the Art Institute of Chicago are about that much. See the pix I've posted: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/p7OiovKfuYl8IepZ-39RRA?select=5w2JhLm1QV9rq0zhS0uHHg

Senate Gallery view
Ashley C.

State Capitol was stop 2 on our nerdy politics/law tour of Springfield. What did you want to see? Where Blago was impeached. Maybe we looked out of place or just had the "city walk" but the visitor's employee was quick to greet us. We didn't want to wait for a tour so we picked up a brochure and did our own. First and foremost, the rotunda is gorgeous and preserved really well. I could spend most of my time admiring this versus the plentiful statutes and murals. The Senate and House galleries are a sight to see - the chandeliers in the house gallery was spectacular (and weigh 750 pounds)! One thing I noted generally was how clean and well-preserved everything was down in Springfield. It was also very accessible and most of the sites are free and/or donation based.

A balcony view on of the room where the House of Representatives convened
Angela C.

Interesting, filled with history, and breathtakingly beautiful. From golden ceilings to a remarkably stained glass rotunda, the second largest in the country, this building has it all. View the workplaces of the house and the senate, along with the state room, of Illinois. I could visit a million times and still be absolutely mesmerized. I loved it!

inside dome

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Beautiful capital building. Free tours every half hour throughout the week (unavailable from 12-1pm: lunchtime).

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Review Highlights - Illinois State Capitol

View the workplaces of the house and the senate, along with the state room, of Illinois.

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Lincoln Home National Historic Site - Inside tour

Lincoln Home National Historic Site

(154 reviews)

We paid two dollars an hour to park in the lot. We went into the theater to meet our free half an…read morehour guided tour through Lincoln's house. Ranger Nate brought 12 of us through the 12 room house. We went into the parlor, family room, upstairs to the bedrooms, down the back staircase to the kitchen & outside. An entire 4 block neighborhood has been preserved here. At the national Park Service Visitor Center we picked up a ticket to enter his 12 room home. This is the only home Abe & Mary ever owned from 1844 until they moved to the White House in 1861. A remarkable 80% of the home is original. We were told that they moved into a one story home when their first son was born. They added this second floor when they were a family of five. The neighborhoods around Lincoln's home has been preserved . We were able to walk into other people's backyards and inside for more exhibits, just fascinating.

This is a wonderful place to visit especially if you are a Lincoln fan as we are. You can only get…read moretickets day of, but we walked up and got on the next tour (up to 15 per tour). The gift shop is very nice and has lots of goodies. The tour was led by a very knowledgeable guide with the national park service. The house is in immaculate condition and over 50% of the furniture etc is original, which I thought was amazing. So cool to see Lincoln's real chairs, bed, etc. The streets and houses around have been preserved and some are open to self tour. Street parking can be found for free or you can pay $2 and hour at the headquarters. House tours are free.

Lincoln Tomb - Mini statues around representing Lincoln in various stages of his life.

Lincoln Tomb

(127 reviews)

We followed the signs getting off at the cemetery. We passed different war memorials before finding…read morea lot in front of Lincoln's grave. There were restrooms at the gravesite. Visiting Lincoln's Tomb was free. Pres Lincoln, Mary, & 3 of their sons' remains are here. The Lincoln Tomb was formally dedicated on October 15, 1874, 150-years ago. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources presents "Porch Talks" on the grounds of the Residence at the Lincoln Tomb providing :20 programs about lesser-known facts surrounding this monument. We drove into the cemetery, passing From 1865 to 1901, Lincoln's coffin was moved 17 times due to construction & fears for the safety of the president's remains. There was actually a plot in 1876 to steal his body and hold it for ransom. The coffin itself was opened on five separate occasions. Lincoln Cemetery is a 112 acre historically African American cemetery in Blue Island, with over 16,000 interments. Many famous black musicians, scientists, aviators, athletes ... are also here.

Abraham Lincoln's Tomb is in the Oakridge Cemetery just a short drive from downtown Springfield…read more He's buried there with his wife Mary and his 3 sons. This is his final resting place after his coffin was moved 17 times due to potential grave robbers and construction of this site. The obelisk outside the tomb is 117 ft tall there are several rooms and bronze statues of Lincoln duplicating him at different times of his life. The inside is solid marble! There's even a grave keepers home alongside the grave that appointed custodians lived and watched over his tomb from 1874-2014. Due to state budget issues, the last custodian retired and wasn't replaced.

Illinois Supreme Court

Illinois Supreme Court

(4 reviews)

It's located on Rt. 66, next to the capital & across from the library with fountains in front of…read morethe statue of Martin Luther King Jr. The current Supreme Court Building was built in 1908 for $450,500. It houses the Ceremonial Courtroom, Law Library & court staff.

One needn't know a thing about law or lawyering to appreciate the beauty and simple grandeur of the…read moreIllinois Supreme Court building in Springfield. My plans yesterday at the Capitol were attenuated because House Speaker Madigan's office had appropriated every single seat in the House Gallery for Governor Quinn's Budget Address. Translation: the public was essentially prevented from attending the Governor's speech. I solved that by walking across the street to the Illinois Supreme Court, which had ended its session yesterday, until May or so. I knew the building would be open but the entrance would be full of security - no doubt retired FBI and other law enforcement officials. I entered, and was correct. "Good morning, Sir. State your business please. Are you a lawyer?" "Recovering lawyer." All cops break up laughing. One asked: "How may we help you and exactly what is a recovering lawyer?" I said I had time to kill, no longer practice law, am a legal studies professor now, and simply wanted to spend time in the building, check out the library collection, view the artwork, etc. One of these fine gentleman said he had time and if I would like he would be happy to give me his personal tour. You bet. As I suspected, my tour guide-security officer was a former FBI agent or Illinois State Police; I'm not sure. He was a great guy, and what made his tour so interesting for me is that while he showed me the building and its treasures, he also weaved in a narration of his experience growing up in Springfield the son of a local trial lawyer who had argued a handful of cases in the Supreme Court; he told me how it felt for him to see his Dad argue - and win. Here are my pix of the Library, the main Court, the Ceremonial Court Room, and various other details: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/V-sjEb8q9g1EfNQ0VTaY3Q

Dana-Thomas House - Beautiful 12,000 square food house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Dana-Thomas House

(77 reviews)

We reserved a free tour at Eventbrite. Jennifer brought 15 of us through this massive, historic…read morehome. She pointed out specific pieces, told stories about the owners & was very knowledgeable about Frank Lloyd Wrights work. We started our tour with a brief video about the glass work. We went into several sitting areas, Dana's bedroom, nursery, dining room, pantry & kitchen.library, bowling alley & billiards room. The 3rd largest home Frank Lloyd Wright ever designed. this remarkably preserve Prairie School icon dates from 1902 until 1904. It's more interesting than his home in Oak Park. The 16 floor home was considered experimental with a duckpin bowling alley & 2 barrel vaulted ceiling's. There is exquisite color shifting art glass & 90% of the furniture is original. Susan Lawrence Dana (1862-1946) was an heiress to a silver mines fortune . She was widow in 1900 & had complete control over her household & fortune. She was a leading philanthropic figure in Springfield. Dana decided to completely remodeled her home commissioning Frank Lloyd Wright. Her new home reflected her flamboyant personality & was designed for display & entertainment. The concept of "expanding space" was evident throughout the house with windows placed to continually draw the attention to the outside. Wright designed approximately 450 art glass windows, skylights, door panels, sconces & light fixtures for the house. The interior Torii gates are magnificent.hallway into two of the largest rooms in the house. The musical gallery for entertaining and the library contains special easels. Wright designed white oak furniture for Dana to display Japanese prints. In1928, Dana had dementia & financial constraints. In1944, the home and its contents were sold to Charles C. Thomas, a medical publisher. Thomas lived here & used this home as his publishing company. He sold the house to the state for a million dollars. It became a historic site. Jennifer shared that the house is still being utilized for social community events.

This was so cool! What an amazing experience! This was my first Wright house, and I'm not sure it…read morecan be topped! I understand why photos aren't allowed inside, but I was expecting more postcards depicting the various rooms to be available in the gift shop. There was cool stuff, for sure, but more postcards of the interior would be great since photos aren't allowed. My tour guide was Allicent and she did a great job talking about all the artistic and architectural features of the home. There was also a video at the beginning about the manufacture of some of the glass. I was sorry that the intro video didn't tell us more about the historical and social context of Mrs Dana, but I imagine most visitors would be more interested in the architectural technique. My only complaint with my tour is that there were two little kids on it. They were like 3 and 5. They were totally distracting the whole time--talking, whining, trying to grab at things. I'm not sure why the museum has such strict rules about other things but also allows in kids under 12. There's nothing they could possibly glean from the tour. It's really not designed for kids. Nor should it be!

Illinois State Capitol - landmarks - Updated May 2026

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