SALT LAKE CITY—Just in time for the first day of the 2026 Legislative Session, the new North Capitol Building is complete and will open to the public the same day, Jan. 20. The approximately 160,000 square foot building sits on the Utah State Capitol campus and has been designed to mirror the look of the historic building. 

The construction also includes a public parking garage with 318 stalls. In the past, parking has been an issue around the Capitol. This new parking terrace is expected to ease that congestion. The general design of the previous plaza has been maintained with more intentional areas for the public. The new features include structural waterproofing and water wise plantings.

“The first thing I want to point out as you come through the central plaza, it looks a lot like it did before,” said Executive Director for the Capitol Preservation Board, Dana Jones during a media tour Jan. 14. “We were tasked by the board to maintain the integrity of the structure when we knew that we had to tear it down and rebuild it. But in maintaining that we also needed to be water wise and functional.”

New courtyards were added, she said. “Things that make it more appealing for everybody that comes to the Capitol to have kind of that all inclusive, if you will, experience at this plaza.”

What used to be a lot of lawn area now has planters and more beds with a drip tubing underneath them to make sure the watering is more efficient. It is anticipated that there will be a 40% reduction in water usage.

In the entrance stands a beautiful curved marble staircase including newel posts. The ceiling above has an intricate stained glass laylight.

“The staircase is obviously a very dramatic element of the lobby,” said Nathan Leavitt, principal architect of VCBO Architecture. “It’s very functional because it connects the two public floors of the building. The upper floors are staff floors.”

The whole campus is very symmetrical, he said. “But the offset stair really added a sense of circulation space. This is the main entrance of the campus now. People are passing through this as an introduction to the Capitol and exciting south.”

The whole building takes a lot of inspiration for what’s already on campus, said Leavitt. “You’ll see elements from the historic buildings in the state. The marble is Georgia marble and it comes from the same quarry that’s been open in Georgia now for almost 150 years. We went there and set the blocks to get the best match to the marble on the campus.”

The Museum of Utah will be located in the new building. “The museum is still in construction,” said Museum of Utah Director, Tim Glenn. “It will open in June of 2026, so six months from now.”

Office space for the museum is in the entire west wing and there is office space on levels three and four. The building has sweeping views of the Capitol and the grounds from a lounge specifically designed for the public to enjoy.

A large stateroom will be available for meetings and other functions. “This room will most closely mirror the boardroom in the Capitol,” said Jones. “This is rentable to the public and again you capture the beautiful views of the Capitol from here.”

In addition to the stateroom there is a conference center that can seat 515 people. “It’s almost as many as we can seat in the Rotunda,” she said. “We have a retractable wall that can create a north and south conference center.”

A collective storage facility in the building will be home to the Utah Historical Society. “This is the space where Utah’s fine arts collection and history preservation will happen for the next 100 years,” said Glenn. “This is state-of-the-art. It provides an opportunity for us to grow. All of the state’s treasures will be here and future state treasures will be here so when the museum opens, there’s a lot of stuff in people’s basements and attics that might come to us.”

The collection currently has around 30,000 artifacts, 28,000 books, 8,500 manuscripts and 23,000 pamphlets and many, many other materials, he said. “All of this will be stored in this space. It’s the culmination of many, many years of work to have this now.”

The building is also seismically base isolated with 89 individual isolators disconnecting from the ground. “Now the earthquake comes and it shakes the ground,” said Jared Johnson, the structural engineer who was part of the restoration of the State Capitol. “Because the building is sitting on these base isolators and not directly connected to the ground it just kind of lumbers back and forth very slowly compared to how the ground is moving.”

The mantra was a 100-year-old building. “They (early builders) did that for us with the Capitol right?” said Jones. So this is us paying forward to many generations.”

The North Capitol Building hours will be Monday – Thursday, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m., Friday – Sunday and holidays from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.