A view of the restored rotunda dome in the South Dakota Capitol building on Sept. 14, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
Listen to an audio version of this story produced by reporter Meghan O’Brien. Broadcasters: See below for a downloadable version with a host intro script.
PIERRE — Scaffolding stood in the center of South Dakota’s Capitol building for six months, but now the work is done and the reviews are coming in.
Pierre resident Mary Keeler, who works for the state Bureau of Finance and Management, stood looking up into the dome recently while admiring the restoration work.
“It has always been a beautiful building,” she said. “But this is pretty spectacular.”
Refreshed paint, brighter details and new lighting have made the interior dome more vibrant, she said.
“Just wow,” Keeler said. “And the lighting, it just really makes it even more special than it has been. I think they did a fabulous job.”
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Philip Atilano, the project foreman, has years of experience as a professional restorer for Conrad Schmitt Studios in Wisconsin. He told South Dakota Searchlight earlier this year, before completing the restoration, that his team’s focus was restoring the faded wall paint, decorative details and artwork. The lighting had become less visually appealing over time, too, he said.
“It was so dark and dreary in here, initially, for a rotunda. It just didn’t scream ‘state Capitol’ as much as it will now,” Atilano said then. “What we’re doing now, it’s going to blow people’s minds. I think people that were used to it before, now they’re going to see it, and it’s just, I think it’s going to be night and day.”
Restoration artists craft ‘the next phase of history’ in the South Dakota Capitol rotunda
The state paid for the work out of a $3 million pool of money approved last year by state lawmakers for the restoration, maintenance and repair of historic areas and objects within the Capitol.
Since 2019, lawmakers have provided a total of $13 million for various Capitol projects including the dredging of Capitol Lake, plaster and paint restoration work, and to begin saving for a full restoration and renovation that could cost more than $150 million, including updated wiring and utilities. That prediction comes from the Bureau of Human Resources and Administration, which is responsible for maintaining the Capitol.
The next steps toward a full restoration are being evaluated. The last full restoration was conducted ahead of the 1989 state centennial, nearly 40 years ago. Construction of the Capitol was completed 116 years ago in 1910.
