As promised/threatened last night, I have found the Wikipedia page for capitol buildings around the world and will share my thoughts on their architecture.

I'll start with the obvious, the US Capitol in DC. So familiar that it's almost hard to think of it as architecture and not an abstracted symbol.

Extremely large, but still well-proportioned. Rather remarkable, considering how dramatic its horizontal and vertical expansion was.

I'll start with neighbors in the Americas. The National Palace in Mexico City is a fascinating piece of Spanish Baroque that has seen an unfathomable (to me) amount of history.

It's built of material from Montezuma's palace and has a Riviera mural! Also, looks so so long.

I dig the Gothic style of the Canadian Parliament buildings. Subtly matches with Westminster aesthetics, while still being its own structure.

Good job, as is so often the case, Canadians.

The National Congress Building in Buenos Aires is trying very very very hard to belong in Haussmann's Paris. Which is not a bad look, especially in that city's Classical aesthetic.

Still a little over the top, to me. Plus that dome is too skinny.

The Bahamanian Parliament is fantastic. We all deserve more buildings in a lovely light pink.

The National Assembly Building in Belize is supposed to mix Mayan and Brutalist aesthetics. Which...I can imagine being interesting. I don't think this pulls it off. Too Brutalist, not enough Mayan maybe?

The National Congress Palace in La Paz is really good. I dig Baroque architecture generally and this pulls it off with aplomb. Love the dash of color there (take notes, North American architects!) and that interesting shape to the dome is exquisite.

The National Congress Building in Brasilia, like all of that city is so different and fascinating that I find it hard to make a judgement. Love this photo that makes it look like rain falling into a bowl, though.

Brasilia is such a fever dream of Midcentury Modernism that it gets a stand-alone collage grabbed from Wikipedia. Looks like nowhere else on Earth.

La Moneda is the President's Palace in Santiago, Chile. But the Chilean Congress has met 140 miles away in this high rise since Pinochet's days.

The former clearly wins on aesthetics, the latter on democratic values.

The Capitolio Nacional in Bogota feels like it needs a dome or tower or something. Its horizontality feels sort of imposing without that?

I love the pass-through portico to the inner courtyard, though. I'm not sure I've seen that anywhere else?

Taking a brief break to read outside while the sun sets and then wash some dishes.

That was well worth the break. Now let's look at more capitol buildings!

El Capitolio in Havana is pretty obviously modeled after its counterpart in DC, but is apparently "a meter higher, a meter wider, and a meter longer, as well as much richer in detail."

It hasn't housed government functions since 1959, but is being restored. Gorgeous.

Ecuador has a modern home for the legislature and a holdover from the colonial era that's the capitol building.

The Carondelet Palace is lovely in its symmetry and relative humility. The newer structure has lots of interesting parts (love that frieze!), but doesn't quite cohere

The Jamaican Parliament meets in Gordon House, which looks pretty cool on a lime green stamp. In photos...yikes.

Palacio de los López, the seat of Paraguay's government, is sort of an oddball upon inspection. Lower levels are a kinda incoherent mishmash of Classical elements, then the tower is Gothic?

Also, is this building white or pink?!

Peru's Government Palace claims to go all the way back to the structure built by Pizarro in the 1530's, but its mainly a French Baroque Revival building, reconstructed after fires in the 1880s and 1920s.

Lame.

Suriname has a rambling, charming Dutch colonial mansion serve as the President's residence.

The National Assembly meets in this absolute charmer. I guess that's Art Moderne? Are there any other Art Moderne capitols? If not, why not?

Trinidad and Tobago's Red House is definitive proof that Beaux Arts should have been done in more than white.

Don't be afraid of bold colors, because this rusty red is incredible!

The Legislative Palace in Montevideo is a pretty impressively-executed example of the Greco-Roman tradition. Though I'm confused by those nubby little towers in the middle. Why even bother?

Also, holy crap, this tower in Montovideo is AMAZING. Such a weird, lovely pile.