The word “capitol” was first used to describe the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Later, it came to mean the city halls of the Roman empire. In the United States, Congress meets in the Capitol, which is a building in Washington, DC. During the American period, the kapitolyo was first used. During the Spanish rule, a town was named the capital of a province, but there was no one type of building for the provincial government.

William Parsons, who was the Philippine government’s consulting architect from 1905 to 1914, said that the kapitolyo should be in a park, away from the center of the old town, in a place that was dignified and quiet. So, you can find kapitolyo on large lots, at the end of a wide boulevard, or, if possible, on a bayshore.

The main part of the building, or the whole building, had a rectangular shape and was two to three stories tall. It was set on a podium with several steps. The entrance, which could have one or more doors, was covered by a two-story portico in the middle of the front. Some buildings had one-story buildings on either side of the main building. The large rooms had high ceilings and big windows, and they were set up along wide hallways.

Most kapitolyo were built in the neoclassical or Greek-revival style, which is characterized by the use of columns, entablatures, and pediments. Their architecture was influenced by the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, which favored neoclassicism and had a big impact on architecture schools in the US, where Filipino architects of the early 20th century were taught.

Some of the most famous kapitolyo in the neoclassical style are in Batangas, Cebu, and Laguna. The Sorsogon Capitol was built in 1916, and the Pangasinan Capitol was built in 1918. Juan Arellano designed the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod, which was finished in 1933, and Antonio Toledo designed the Leyte Capitol. Some kapitolyo, like those of Bulacan in Malolos and Tayabas (now Quezon) in Lucena, moved away from the neoclassical style and became more modern.

Since the 1970s, new capitals have been built to replace old ones or to start fresh in provinces that just got their own governments. Rizal moved Pasig’s capital to Taytay when it became a chartered city. There, he built a neoclassical capital with a Greek temple facade and a dome. The capital of the island of Mindanao, Saranggani, is also in the neoclassical style. That of Sulu province in Jolo is based on the shape and patterns of Islamic architecture, like the dome and the geometrically decorated entrance that looks like an iwan. When the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao was made, a central building with a roof made of projecting roof beams was built in the style of the local architecture.