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Photograph © Wayne Lorentz
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz
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Also known as: The Capitol Castle
Built:
1847- 1849
Cost: $396,000
Designed by: James Dakin
Renovated: 1879-1882 at a cost of $25,000.
Renovated: 1937-1938 at a cost of $50,000.00 by the Works Projects Administration.
Renovated: 1947 at a cost of $20,000.
Renovated: 1954 at a cost of $350,000.
Renovated: 1992-1994 by E. Eean McNaughton and Associates at a cost of $6,500,000.
Type: Museum
Location: River Boulevard
City: Baton Rouge
State: Louisiana
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T
his is one of the most impressive pieces of architecture in a state brimming with great Old World-style buildings. The Old State Capitol is a sparkling white castle in the Gothic Revival style on a bluff over the Mississippi River. That view has since been ruined by a flood-control project. Renovated in 1995, it is a place of splendor dominated by an enormous central spiral staircase. Its marble steps are wide enough to accommodate four people astride, and is illuminated from above by a multicolored stained-glass ceiling that gives the whole building a feel that could not be matched by artificial light. The glasswork is supported by the center staircase column which fans out into a parasol or spider web shape. There is another huge stained glass window in the front of the building, which once faced the Mississippi River. The floors are all wood, except in the reception hall where they are marble, and detailed ironwork abounds. Inside is the original assembly chamber, and exhibits on the functioning of the state capitol. While little has been preserved from the early days, the exhibits from the early and mid-1900's are still interesting, including a desk from the new state capitol building which was used by reporters to broadcast the latest news about state government. If you go, be sure you take an extra roll of film. For a differing opinion, check with Mark Twain and former Louisiana governor Huey P. Long. Twain called it the ugliest building on the Mississippi River. Long admonished, "Turn it over to some collector of antiques." But that was posturing in order to gain support for his grand new state capitol detailed below. Strangely, when running for office in 1924 Long chastised his opponent for backing the demolition of historic buildings at Louisiana State University.
**This building served as the Louisiana State Capitol from 1850 to 1861, and then again from 1882 to 1932.
**This buiding was captured in 1862 by Union troops during the United States Civil War. It was then used as a barracks for Union troops, and later as a prison for Confederate troops.
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