Landscape Information
The Nebraska State Capitol was constructed in 1922-32 and designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, one of America's foremost architects. Landscape architect Ernst H. Herminghaus designed the landscape in 1933. Following Goodhue’s sketches with important exceptions, he selected plant species to survive in Nebraska, placed flowering shrubs in the interior courtyards, used false perspective in the alignment of bicolor fir allees at north and south entrances, and placed street trees across the street from the four block site. He used globe spruce and columnar junipers along the building terrace, presaging the Trylon and Perisphere of the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Axial views of the tower from a distance of several blocks were balanced by a quartet of views directed at the corner pavilions. The Capitol building was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and expanded designation to the site in 1999.
