Louisiana’s Old State Capitol Museum was a very short walk from the downtown Baton Rouge Hilton
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It was built when the capital was decided to be moved here from New Orleans, from 1847-49. The design, neo-Gothic castle, was both loved and hated. James H. Dakin, the architect, called it “castellated Gothic”.
From the Historic Register paperwork:
Like a cathedral, the Capitol has a cruciform plan. The east-west axis
is comparable to a nave and contains the House chamber on the west end
at the second floor and the Senate chamber in the apse, each with a giant
stained glass window behind the now vanished rostrum. The transepts
continue in use as office space. Each arm of the plan terminates in two
towers; those at the west are octagonal, the others square.
It suffered many destructive phases, including being used as a prison during the war. In the 1880s, the interior was redone, which is when the gorgeous interior rotunda was designed by architect William A. Freret.
It was used until the state government moved to the new capitol building in 1932.
One of the more unexpected aspects is the approximately 12-minute kitschy 4D film that explains its history.
There’s of course plenty about Huey P. Long,
One more intimate room plays ‘In Memoriam’, an original by Castro Carazo, composed for and played at Huey Long’s funeral. The room includes the pistol supposedly used to shoot Long, and this bullet mystery:
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It’s no wonder that the space is often rented out for weddings and other big celebrations
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What serve now as ballrooms were the spaces for the House and Senate
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