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Michigan State Capitol. Skip to Content. The Capitol offers a wide range of in-person and virtual programs and tours for students and visitors of all ages. Learn more about our offerings and plan your Capitol experience today!
The Michigan State Capitol is the building that houses the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the portion of the state capital of Lansing which lies in Ingham County.
The Michigan Capitol is open to visitors year-round, Monday through Friday. The Capitol is closed on Michigan’s state holidays except for election day. Find a list of state holidays at https://www.michigan.gov/som/government/state-holidays. Guided tours are available between 9:00 and 4:00.
Michigan has had three capitol buildings, and two capitol cities. Michigan’s first capitol, located in downtown Detroit. Originally built to be a territorial courthouse, it served as Michigan’s seat of state government from 1835-1847. It then became a school.
Guided tours of the Capitol are provided Monday through Friday and begin at the top of every hour, with the first tour beginning at 9:00am and the final tour beginning at 4:00pm. Tours should be scheduled in advance for groups of between 10 and 45 people.
The Michigan State Capitol has served as Michigan's seat of state government since its completion in 1879. The Michigan capitol was the first of three state capitols designed by Elijah E. Myers in the 1870s and 1880s.
More than nine acres of columns, doors, wainscot, cornices, ceilings and walls were painstakingly decorated by hand. Today, authentically and carefully restored, the Michigan State Capitol stands as a national treasure and one of America’s finest examples of Victorian decorative painting.
The Michigan State Capitol stands today as one of the country’s best examples of the painted decorative arts of the Victorian era. A Monument to Its Architect: Elijah E. Myers (1830?-1909) was virtually unknown until he won a national competition in 1871 to design Michigan’s third statehouse. His design, chosen over 20 others, was judged
It was the pre-motor Motor City that served as Michigan's first capital, and what is now Capitol Park was its home. The building that would serve as the first Michigan Capitol opened May 5, 1828, when Michigan was still a territory, as the Michigan Territorial Courthouse.
Bounded by Capitol Ave. and W. Allegan, W. Ottawa, and Walnut sts. Prominently located on a rise at the end of a grand approach along Michigan Avenue from the east is Michigan's third statehouse, a domed neo-Georgian building of light grayish-yellowish-brown Berea sandstone.
