Construction of the Cobb Capitol began on May 2, 1898. The legislature met in the finished building, which they had deemed complete, even though it was an "unadorned, unfinished, several-story brown brick structure that looked like a factory", on January 3, 1899.[22] Cobb himself described the building simply as "ugly" but believed that he would be able to finish it eventually, when more funding became available.[22][25]