Old Louisiana State Capitol | |
Location | 100 North Boulevard, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States |
---|---|
Coordinates | 30°26′48″N91°11′21″W / 30.44657°N 91.18903°W |
Area | 4.6 acres (1.9 ha) |
Built | 1847–1852 |
Architect | Dakin, James H.; Freret, William A. |
Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 73000862 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | January 12, 1973 |
Designated NHL | May 30, 1974 [2] |
The Old Louisiana State Capitol, also known as the State House, is a historic government building, and now a museum, at 100 North Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. It housed the Louisiana State Legislature from the mid-19th century until the current capitol tower building was constructed from 1929-32.
It was built to both look like and function like a castle and has led some locals to call it the Louisiana Castle, the Castle of Baton Rouge, the Castle on the River, or the Museum of Political History; although most people just call it the old capitol building. The term "Old State Capitol" in Louisiana is used to refer to the building and not to the two towns that were formerly the capital city: New Orleans and Donaldsonville.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 12, 1973, [1] [3] [4] and was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974. [2]
In 1846, the state legislature in New Orleans decided to move the seat of government to Baton Rouge. As in many states, representatives from other parts of Louisiana feared a concentration of power in the state's largest city. In 1840, New Orleans' population was about 102,000, making it the fourth-largest city in the U.S. The 1840 population of Baton Rouge, on the other hand, was only 2,269.
On September 21, 1847, the city of Baton Rouge donated to the state of Louisiana a $20,000 parcel of land for a state capitol building. The land donated by the city for the capitol stands high atop a bluff facing the Mississippi River, a site that some believe was once marked by the red stick, or baton rouge, which French explorers claimed designated a Native American council meeting site.
New York architect James H. Dakin (then living in New Orleans) was hired to design the Baton Rouge capitol building, and rather than mimic the national Capitol Building in Washington, as so many other states had done, he conceived a Neo-Gothic medieval-style castle overlooking the Mississippi.
In 1859, the statehouse was featured and favorably described in De Bow's Review , the most prestigious periodical in the antebellum South. Mark Twain, however, as a steamboat pilot in the 1850s, loathed the sight of it, "It is pathetic ... that a whitewashed castle, with turrets and things ... should ever have been built in this otherwise honorable place." [5]
In 1862, during the Civil War, Union Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans, and the seat of government retreated from Baton Rouge. The Union's occupying troops first used the capitol building — or "old gray castle," as it was once described — as a prison, and then to garrison African-American troops under General Culver Grover. While used as a garrison the building caught fire twice. This sequence of events transformed Louisiana's capitol into an empty, gutted shell abandoned by the Union Army.
By 1882 the statehouse was totally rebuilt by architect and engineer William A. Freret, who is credited with the installation of the spiral staircase and the stained glass dome, which are the interior focal points. The refurbished statehouse remained in use until 1932, when it was abandoned for the new Louisiana State Capitol building. The Old State Capitol has since been used to house Federally-chartered veterans organizations, and as an office of the Works Progress Administration, among other things.
Restored in the 1990s, the Old State Capitol is now the Museum of Political History. Most recently, the exterior façade has been refurbished with shades of tan stucco, in noticeable contrast to its former gray stone coloring. Numerous events are held there including an annual ball wherein the participants re-enact dances and traditions of French culture while wearing 18th- and 19th-century dress.
The museum's location downtown in Baton Rouge is within walking distance of the current capitol tower and of many culturally significant buildings. These include the Old Louisiana Governor's Mansion, the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum, St. Joseph Cathedral, and the widely acclaimed Shaw Center.
In 2010, the Museum of Political History's visitor experience opened, designed by award-winning Bob Rogers and the design firm BRC Imagination Arts, with attractions and exhibits showcasing the building as an architectural treasure and highlighting historic artifacts. Included is an interactive gallery featuring past state governors including Huey P. Long.
A key attraction, The Ghost of the Castle, [6] is a theatrical production, during which visitors come face to face with the ghost of Sarah Morgan Dawson, a young Baton Rouge resident who loved the castle and wrote about it in her book, Sarah Morgan: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Woman (originally published in 1913 under a different title). In the roughly 12-minute experience, Sarah's ghost "conjures the building’s remarkable trials and tribulations through history," showing "the determination of everyday Louisianans who have saved the castle time and time again." [7]
Admission to the museum is free, and the building is wheelchair-accessible.
Baton Rouge is the capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 census, making it Louisiana's second-most populous city. It is the seat of Louisiana's most populous parish, East Baton Rouge Parish, and the center of Louisiana's second-largest metropolitan area, Greater Baton Rouge, which had 870,569 residents in 2020.
The Louisiana State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Louisiana and is located in downtown Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the chambers for the Louisiana State Legislature, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the office of the Governor of Louisiana. At 450 feet (137 m) tall and with 34 stories, it is the tallest skyscraper in Baton Rouge, the seventh tallest building in Louisiana, and tallest capitol in the United States. It is located on a 27-acre (110,000 m2) tract, which includes the capitol gardens. The Louisiana State Capitol is often thought of as "Huey Long's monument" due to the influence of the former Governor and U.S. Senator in getting the capitol built. The building's construction was completed in 1931. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.
Henry Watkins Allen was a Confederate military officer who was a member in the Texian Army as a soldier, while also serving as a politician, writer, enslaver, and sugar cane planter.
The Louisiana State Museum (LSM), founded in New Orleans in 1906, is a statewide system of National Historic Landmarks and modern structures across Louisiana, housing thousands of artifacts and works of art reflecting Louisiana's legacy of historic events and cultural diversity.
Theodore C. Link, FAIA, was a German-born American architect and newspaper publisher. He designed buildings for the 1904 World's Fair, Louisiana State University, and the Mississippi State Capitol.
Baton Rouge station is a historic train station located at 100 South River Road in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was built for the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad which got absorbed by the Illinois Central Railroad. The station was a stop on the Y&MV main line between Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana. The building now houses the Louisiana Art and Science Museum.
The Pentagon Barracks, also known as the Old United States Barracks, is a complex of buildings located at the corner of State Capitol Drive and River Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the grounds of the state capitol. The site was used by the Spanish, French, British, Confederate States Army, and United States Army and was part of the short-lived Republic of West Florida. During its use as a military post the site has been visited by such notable figures as Zachary Taylor, Lafayette, Robert E. Lee, George Custer, Jefferson Davis, and Abraham Lincoln.
The Old Louisiana Governor's Mansion is located at 502 North Blvd. between Royal and St. Charles Streets in Baton Rouge and was used as Louisiana's official gubernatorial residence between 1930 and 1963; a new residence was completed in 1963. The Old Governor's Mansion was built under the governorship of Huey Long, its first resident. The building is reported to be inspired by the White House in Washington D.C. as it was originally designed by Thomas Jefferson. It is said that Long wanted to be familiar with the White House when he became president, so he had the White House duplicated in Baton Rouge. Some dispute this legend and simply say that the building is merely a fine example of a Georgian-style mansion.
James Harrison Dakin was an American architect who designed Neo-Gothic buildings and was the architect for the Old Louisiana State Capitol, Old Bank of Louisville, and other public buildings.
The Old Mississippi State Capitol, also known as Old Capitol Museum or Old State Capitol, served as the Mississippi statehouse from 1839 until 1903. The old state capitol was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. In 1986, the structure was designated a Mississippi Landmark and became a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
Ursuline Convent was a series of historic Ursuline convents in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. In 1727, at the request of Governor Étienne Perier, nuns from the Ursuline Convent of Rouen (Normandy) went to New Orleans to found a convent, run a hospital, and take care of educating young girls.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Louisiana.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Mississippi.
William Harold Nungesser is an American politician serving as the 54th lieutenant governor of Louisiana since 2016. A member of the Republican Party, Nungesser is also the former president of the Plaquemines Parish Commission, having been re-elected to a second four-year term against two opponents in the 2010 general election with more than 71 percent of the vote. His second term as parish president began on January 1, 2011, and ended four years later.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Louisiana:
The foundation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, dates to 1721, at the site of a bâton rouge or "red stick" Muscogee boundary marker. It became the state capital of Louisiana in 1849.
William Alfred Freret Jr. was an American architect. He served from 1887 to 1888 as head of the Office of the Supervising Architect, which oversaw construction of Federal buildings.
Albert Rieker (1889–1959) was an American sculptor. He designed public sculptures in Louisiana and Mississippi.
This article incorporates public domain material from the National Park Service