Modest, but worthy, the LaSalle Office Building signaled a major change for the city of Baton Rouge. Until 1999, many state workers had to make due with old buildings long past their prime, or in facilities the state was renting from other landlords. It had been decades since the state had constructed any new office buildings, and this project was greeted as the beginning of a new wave of construction for the area. Indeed, several other capitol complex buildings that followed all bore the same fundamentals - off-white stone façade. Vertical lines. Moderate height. Rounded tops. And the occasional glass flourish. The reason these buildings all seem similar is because they were assembled using similar pre-cast concrete panels. This was done to reduce cost and speed construction.