The Old State House’s Gilded Eagle
Written by Lucy Pollock, Exhibits Manager and Campbell Waterhouse, Director of Facilities & Preservation
After several years’ absence, the Old State House’s gilded eagle returned to its original roost on the west façade of the building in August of 2024. A generous gift from the George B. Henderson Foundation allowed for the bird to be re-gilded and re-installed using a custom built mount, marking the first time it was installed in its intended position in over a century.
The Gilded Eagle of Freedom
Visitors approaching the Old State House from State Street might say that the building’s animal mascots are its gilded lion and patinated unicorn. Certainly Bostonians from the 1700s would agree, as the animals were put there as symbols of British authority. But, any visitors approaching from Washington or Court Streets might think differently.
Standing vanguard on the building’s west façade is a golden eagle, with its massive wings spanning eight feet and its beak poised mid-screech. Laying at its feet are an olive branch and a handful of arrows, the same objects carried in the talons of the eagle on the Great Seal of the United States. In the midday summer sun, the eagle’s 24-karat feathers demand a glance from even the most disinterested parties. Its symbolism on the historically British building seems obvious; freedom triumphs over tyranny.
Unknown Origin
For how clear a message the golden eagle seems to make and for how long it’s made the Old State House its home, we actually know very little about when and why it was created.
We know it was installed some time after 1882, since restoration work that year detailed the addition of the Commonwealth’s shield and state motto, but not the eagle, on the west façade. That same year, the lion and unicorn were installed on the east façade.
We also know it was installed some time before 1893, when a Boston guidebook described the eagle and hinted at its purpose:
“The gilt eagle with the state and city arms, spread over the western front, was placed to appease over-sensitive citizens who were disturbed, or professed to be, by the restoration of the lion and unicorn, in copies, on the eastern gables.”1
So, some time between 1883 and 1893, the eagle was erected, perhaps to tip the scales in a battle between British and American symbolism on the landmark. Who the “over-sensitive citizens” were is still unknown. Some historians have speculated that Boston’s Irish population, many of whom had experienced the British-caused Great Hunger, disliked the symbols on a building that should have affirmed the legitimacy of their own independence from Great Britain.2
Ensuring a Safer Roost
Originally, the eagle was installed at the very top of the western gable, right above the chimney. Predictably, the eagle soon became blackened with coal soot and was removed in 1903.3 Five years later, the eagle was reinstalled in the same location on a newly-built chimney extension, which would supposedly protect it from smoke. Evidently it continued to discolorate, as by the 1930s it was removed once again and placed below the west attic window—avoiding the chimney completely—until 2019.4
After nearly a century of standing guard over the Old State House, the eagle was removed for re-gilding. Led by Revolutionary Spaces’ Facilities & Preservation Department, a team of preservationists, conservationists, and engineers eagerly took the opportunity to explore the Eagle’s internal structures. The team used flexible borescopes to peer inside the eagle, revealing previously unknown interior supports. This new knowledge allowed engineers to design a mount specific to the eagle that would hold it secure when it was reinstalled.
Campbell Waterhouse, Revolutionary Spaces’ Director of Facilities & Preservation, envisioned reinstalling the eagle atop the western chimney instead of underneath the attic window. However, the structural integrity of both the centurion bird and chimney were still in question. Engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger calculated the force of wind on the chimney and eagle, and conservationists from Skylight Studios put the eagle’s wings to the test in order to determine how much force they could withstand. The results were assuring, with the wind posing no significant threat to the chimney or eagle—which, apparently, can handle a 200 pound cement weight on either wing!
After being re-gilded by artist Robert Sure of Skylight Studios, the eagle was reinstalled atop the west gable on the now-retired chimney in August of 2024. In the middle of the night, a crane lifted the bird to its new position, and a Paige Construction crew securely mounted the eagle. With that, the eagle returned to its intended position, once again standing as a reminder to Bostonians and visitors alike of the people’s ability to triumph over tyranny.
1 “Historic Structure Report: Old State House Boston, Massachusetts,” The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities Consulting Services Group (1977), 43
2 “First Wave, 1820 -1880,” Global Boston, March 30, 2021, https://globalboston.bc.edu/index.php/home/eras-of-migration/test-page/#:~:text=At%20the%20same%20time%2C%20the,in%20domestic%20service%20and%20sewing.
3 “Historic Structure Report,” 43
4 “Historic Structure Report,” 57
Bibliography
“First Wave, 1820-1880.” Global Boston, March 30, 2021. https://globalboston.bc.edu/index.php/home/eras-of-migration/test-page/#:~:text=At%20the%20same%20time%2C%20the,in%20domestic%20service%20and%20sewing.
“Historic Structure Report: Old State House Boston, Massachusetts.” The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities Consulting Services Group (1977).
PC: John Collins Photography