Old Louisiana State Capitol

SEE BACK; II-BR-2; OLD LOUISIANA STATE CAPITOL, BATON ROUGE--A Gothic castle-like building, located at the corner of North Boulevard and Front Street (River Road), Louisiana's former state capitol stands on a terraced bluff overlooking the Mississippi, in the state's capital city of Baton Rouge. Designed by famed 19th century architect, James H. Dakin, in Tudor Gothic style, it was first constructed in 1847, and the structure features a massive circular stairway which winds to the second floor beneath a large stained-glass dome. The ornate cast-iron fence, also designed by Dakin, was added in 1852. Its interior was gutted by fire in 1862, yet its walls survived. Rebuilt in 1882, it served as an outstanding landmark on the river. Mark Twain called it a "sham castle," and "an architectural falsehood," and considered it pathetic that it should be "undergoing restoration and perpetuation....when it would have been so easy to let dynamite finish what a charitable fire began." Its old Senate Chamber contains a continuous exhibit of paintings, sculptures and other works by area artists. It was in this chamber that Louisiana declared its secession from the Union and became the sovereign and independent nation of Louisiana (prior to its annexation into the Confederate States of America). Further restored in recent years, its serves today as headquarters for various state and civic affairs offices, as well as housing a local tourism information bureau.