The Maryland State House

- First Floor
- Second Floor
  - Governor's Reception Room
  - Governor's Office
- On-line Exhibits

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The New Senate Chamber

The new Senate Chamber is decorated in red and white, the Crossland colors of the Maryland Flag. Woven into the carpet is the Great Seal of 1648. The Senate Chamber has two visitors' galleries which may be entered from the second floor. There are 47 senators, one from each of Maryland's legislative districts. The Maryland General Assembly meets every year for 90 calendar days, beginning on the second Wednesday in January.

The First Citizen Award

Portraits of Maryland's four signers of the Declaration of Independence are on the side walls. Beginning with the portraits on the left and going clockwise around the room, they are:

William Paca (1740-1799) by John Beale Bordley (1800-1882). This portrait was painted in 1836, and the head is after Charles Willson Peale. Paca was governor of Maryland, 1782-85.
Thomas Stone (1743-1787) by John Beale Bordley. The head of this portrait, which was painted in 1836, is after Robert Edge Pine (1730?-1788). Stone served in both the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland Senate.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, (1737-1832), by Thomas Sully (1783-1872). This portrait was painted in 1834, after Carroll's death and is based on life studies for the "Marquis of Wellesley" portrait. Carroll was the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Maryland Senate from 1790-1800 and its president in 1783. He was also a U.S. Senator from Maryland and resigned from the U.S. Senate to retain his seat in the Maryland Senate. At the time of his death in 1832, he was the last surviving signer.
Samuel Chase (1741-1811) by John Beale Bordley. The head of this portrait, which was painted in 1836, is after the 1811 portrait by John Wesley Jarvis. Chase was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1796-1811.

On the back wall of the Senate Chamber are portraits of Edwin Warfield and John Walter Smith, both former governors and presidents of the Maryland Senate. It was during the administrations of these two men that the present annex to the State House, which contains both the Senate and House of Delegates Chambers, was built. At the same time, the Old Senate Chamber was restored to its appearance of 1783 when George Washington resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

Edwin Warfield (1848-1920) by Thomas Cromwell Corner (1865-1938). Warfield was a member of the Maryland Senate from 1882-86 and its president in 1886. He was governor of Maryland from 1904-08.
John Walter Smith (1845-1925) by Thomas Cromwell Corner. Smith was a member of the Maryland Senate from 1890-98 and was its president in 1894. He was governor of Maryland from 1900-04. Smith served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 1899 - January 1900 and in the U.S. Senate from March 26, 1908 - March 1921.

On the desk at the front of the chamber are two small statues, or maquettes. The one on the left is of John Hanson (1721-1783), a Marylander and the first President of the United States under the Articles of Confederation in 1781. The one on the right is Charles Carroll of Carrollton. These are smaller versions of the statues on display in the U.S. Capitol by Richard E. Brooks.

The skylight is by Tiffany & Co. and was installed during the construction of the annex addition to the State House in 1902-05. The annex was designed by the architects Baldwin & Pennington. The skylight was completely restored in 1989-90.

Portraits and statues in the New Senate Chamber