How Union soldiers accidentally created Louisiana’s most beautiful building

Union Prison, Fire, and Freret’s Gothic Revival

Louisiana’s Old State Capitol has lived more lives than a cat.

When Confederate leaders fled Baton Rouge in 1862, Union troops moved in and turned the Gothic castle into a prison. Later, they used it to house Black soldiers under General Grover.

Then came the fire. On December 28, 1862, a cooking mishap in the northwest turret burned the whole place out from the inside. For twenty years, the shell just sat there, empty.

But in 1880, architect William Freret got $153,000 to rebuild it.

He kept the stone walls but added a stunning spiral staircase and colored glass dome that still wow visitors to this historic landmark today.

Rebels Ran as Union Forces Took the Capitol

When Confederate troops left Baton Rouge in 1862, they abandoned their castle-like Gothic Revival capitol building. Louisiana’s Confederate government quickly packed up and moved to safer areas.

Union Admiral David Farragut moved in fast, taking control of the city and its grand building. The striking castle with its towers, built in 1847, now belonged to Union forces.

This started a rocky chapter for the building that would face destruction and an amazing comeback.

The Castle Became a Military Prison

Union leaders first used the fancy government building to hold captured Confederate soldiers. The fancy meeting rooms that once held political talks now kept prisoners of war.

Later, General Culver Grover turned it into housing for African-American soldiers.

These troops, many just freed from slavery, now lived in the very building that once housed the government that fought to keep them enslaved. Locals watched this big change with mixed feelings.

A Cooking Accident Started Disaster

Trouble hit on December 28, 1862, when soldiers tried to cook a meal in the northwest tower. A simple cooking fire grew out of control, with flames spreading fast through the wooden parts inside.

The fire found plenty of fuel in the wooden floors, furniture, and decorative pieces throughout the building. What started as dinner prep turned into a disaster as the fire grew too big to stop.

Soldiers rushed to escape the spreading flames.

Fire Destroyed the Gothic Wonder

The fire burned through the capitol building, eating up everything flammable inside. When the flames finally died down, only the outer limestone walls stood.

The once-grand inside with its meeting rooms, offices, and fancy details had burned to ashes. The massive stone shell stood as a sad reminder of what was lost.

The building that architect James Dakin had created now stood empty, its blackened walls open to the sky.

The Empty Shell Sat for Two Decades

For nearly twenty years, the burned-out capitol sat empty in Baton Rouge.

Rain, wind, and animals moved freely through the roofless building while state government worked from New Orleans. The empty structure became a ghostly landmark and reminder of war damage.

Locals passed the ruins daily, wondering about its future. Some wanted it torn down, saying it couldn’t be saved.

Others saw hope in the strong outer walls that survived war and fire.

Lawmakers Voted to Fix the Capitol

In 1880, the Louisiana Legislature finally decided to bring government back to Baton Rouge. They approved $153,000 (over $4 million today) to rebuild the capitol from its remaining walls.

This big sum showed they wanted to restore not just a building, but a symbol of state government. They hired William A.

Freret, a top New Orleans architect, to handle the big rebuilding job. Freret saw more than just fixing it, he wanted to make it better.

The Architect Remade the Inside

Freret didn’t just copy the old design, he completely remade the inside. People had complained that Dakin’s original capitol was too dark inside.

Freret fixed this by creating a much bigger central open space to bring natural light deep into the building. He opened up the inside dramatically, making a more welcoming and useful government building.

His plan went beyond just rebuilding to create something even better than before the fire.

Sunlight Came Through Colorful Glass

The highlight of Freret’s design became a beautiful stained-glass dome that topped the bigger open center.

The architect covered the top with clear glass for maximum sunlight, then placed beneath it a stunning colored glass pattern. Iron supports held this masterpiece, all around a central column that anchored everything.

When sun shone through the colored glass, it filled the inside with bright, changing colors, creating a stark contrast to the dark Gothic outside.

A Metal Staircase Curved Through Space

Freret’s most popular addition was his iron spiral staircase.

This amazing piece of engineering rose gracefully from the first floor to the second, curving around the central support under the stained glass dome.

The staircase mixed beauty and function, with detailed ironwork that matched the building’s Gothic style. Visitors climbing these steps saw ever-changing views of colored light playing through the stained glass above.

The staircase quickly became the most photographed part of the rebuilt capitol.

Pink Walls Met Green Ironwork

The inside colors Freret picked brought warmth to the space.

Salmon-pink walls provided a soft background for the green iron decorations throughout the building. Gold touches added bits of class everywhere.

The mix created a surprisingly modern feel inside the medieval-looking exterior. Workers finished the job in 1884, and Louisiana’s government moved back into their reborn capitol.

The building now combined Gothic Revival architecture with Victorian decorative styles in a unique blend.

The Capitol Served Until 1932

The rebuilt Old State Capitol served Louisiana for nearly five decades after its resurrection. State government operated from this phoenix-like structure until 1932, when a new skyscraper capitol replaced it.

The building later found new life as a museum preserving Louisiana’s political history.

Today, visitors can still marvel at Freret’s spiral staircase and stained glass dome, both surviving testaments to how destruction sometimes leads to even greater beauty.

The building that survived war, fire, and abandonment continues to stand as one of America’s most distinctive capitol buildings.

Visiting Old State Capitol, Louisiana

You can explore Louisiana’s Old State Capitol at 100 North Blvd in Baton Rouge for free, where Union troops once imprisoned Confederate soldiers and housed African-American garrison units.

After an 1862 cooking fire destroyed the interior, architect William A. Freret rebuilt it with his famous spiral staircase and stained glass dome.

The museum opens Tuesday-Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 9am-3pm, offering audio tours in four languages and interactive exhibits on Louisiana political history.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• From slavery to plantation empire: how one woman created Louisiana’s wealthiest free family of color in 1800s
• The Civil War’s largest army-navy disaster happened in Louisiana
• The slave rebellion that made Louisiana planters display human heads for miles