Qualla: Louisiana State Capitol

Louisiana State Capitol: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chrismiceli, CC0. "Only one building compares with it in architecture," Huey Long declared upon its completion. "That's St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, Italy." The boast was pure Long—extravagant, audacious, and delivered without a trace of irony. But the Louisiana State Capitol, rising 34 stories above downtown Baton Rouge, really is unlike any other statehouse in America. While nearly every other state modeled its capitol on the domed rotunda in Washington, Long demanded a skyscraper. Completed in just 14 months at a cost of $5 million, the Art Deco tower was meant as a monument to his populist revolution—a symbol that the old planter aristocracy no longer controlled Louisiana. It became his tomb instead. Long was shot in the building's first-floor corridor on September 8, 1935, and his body now lies beneath a bronze statue on the grounds out front.

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Image: Chrismiceli | CC0

Louisiana State Capitol: A Capitol That Could Not Sit Still

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Avazina at en.wikipedia, Public domain. Louisiana's seat of government has wandered more than any other in the nation. New Orleans served as the colonial capital from 1722 through statehood, until the legislature grew restless and voted to relocate to Donaldsonville in 1829. After convening there in January 1830, legis...

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Image: Avazina at en.wikipedia | Public domain

Louisiana State Capitol: Huey's Tower

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chris Litherland, CC BY-SA 3.0. Elected governor in 1928 as a fiery populist, Huey Long saw a new capitol as a way to announce the end of Louisiana's old-guard political dominance. He hired Leon C. Weiss and the firm Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth, and cleverly secured funds from the Board of Liquidation to begin...

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Image: Chris Litherland | CC BY-SA 3.0

Louisiana State Capitol: Limestone, Granite, and 49 Steps

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carptrash, CC BY-SA 3.0. The capitol's Alabama limestone facade is an encyclopedia in stone. A frieze by sculptor Ulric Ellerhusen wraps the tower's base at the fifth floor, depicting Louisianans from colonization through World War I. Twenty-two square portraits of historic figures—from Hernando de Soto ...

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Image: Carptrash | CC BY-SA 3.0

Louisiana State Capitol: Bullet Holes and a Burial

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit GMA Photos, CC BY-SA 4.0. On the evening of September 8, 1935, Dr. Carl Weiss confronted Huey Long in the first-floor corridor. Weiss shot Long, and Long's bodyguards—Louisiana State Police—immediately gunned Weiss down. The alleged motive: Long was about to gerrymander Weiss's father-in-law, Judge Benjam...

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Image: GMA Photos | CC BY-SA 4.0