Property

Location Information
(for the Old Mississippi State Capitol)

Name:

(Old) Mississippi State Capitol [Old Capitol]

Address:

100 State Street, North

City/County:

Jackson, Hinds County

Architectural Information

Construction Date:

1836-40

Architectural Styles(s):

Greek Revival

No. of Stories:

Registration Information

NHL Listing Date:

14 Dec 1990

NR Listing Date:

25 Nov 1969

NR District Name:

Spengler's Corner Boundary Increase (2019)

NR Status:

Contributing

Element No.:

View National Register Nomination Form

Mississippi Landmark Information

Designated:

07-14-1986

Recorded:

07-28-1986

Book/Vol. No.:

V. 3246, p. 113

Context/Comments

Built from 1836 to 1840, this imposing Greek Revival building served as the Capitol of Mississippi until 1903. It is a three-story brick and stone building, the facade of which is dominated by an elegant monumental hexastyle Ionic portico atop an arcaded loggia. The building has a central rotunda surmounted by a dome. The legislature first convened in the Capitol on 7 January 1839, but work on the building continued until 1840. The Capitol was renovated in 1870-71, at which time the House Chamber was remodeled. The interior of the building was extensively remodeled in 1916-17 to convert it to a state office building. The Old Capitol was restored in 1959-61, and served as the State Historical Museum from 1961 until it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. It was restored from 2006 to 2009, and since then has served as a museum of the state’s political and governmental history.

It was listed on the National Register on 25 November 1969, and designated a National Historic Landmark on 14 December 1990. It was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 14 July 1986.

It was more recently included as a “previously listed” element (element #19) in the enlargement of the Spengler's Corner Historic District that was placed on the National Register on 24 January 2019 as the Spengler's Corner Historic District Boundary Increase.

The building is the subject of the book "Mississippi’s Old Capitol: Biography of a Building" (1990), a Historic Structure Report prepared in 1996-97, and a comprehensive study of the architectural history of the building (2007-09). Information about the Old State Capitol is included in "Greek Revival Architecture in America" (1944); "The Story of Jackson" [vol. 1] (1953) (pp.34-42); "Historic Architecture of Mississippi" (1973); "William Nichols, Architect" (1979); "Jackson Landmarks" (1982) (pp. 26-28); "The State of Mississippi – Historic Properties" (1982) (p. 12); "Architecture of the Old South: Mississippi – Alabama" (1989); "Greek Revival America" (1989); "The Majesty of Eastern Mississippi and the Coast" (2004) (pp.43-44), "Must See Mississippi" (2007) (pp. 36-40); "Jackson's North State Street (Images of America)" (2009) (pp. 10, 13, 26-29, 78-79); "The Architecture of William Nichols" (2015) (pp. 188-214); and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (pp.237-237, JM12).

Brief Description

A three-story, thirteen-by-five-bay “capitol form” Greek Revival building with a raised basement of coursed stone surmounted by two upper floors of brick. The façade faces west and is a reflection of the building’s situation at what was in the 1830s the eastern edge of the city. The front and side elevations were stuccoed and scored to resemble stone, but he more plainly detailed rear elevation was finished in natural brick. The upper two stories are divided into panels by pilasters which rest on a stone belt course and support a full entablature with stone cornice. The entablature continues around the portico where it is supported by Ionic columns, but the entablature is expressed on the rear elevation only by corner returns. The slightly projecting end bays of the western façade are framed by paired pilasters and crowned by parapet walls with stone coping. The parapet wraps around all elevations of the building but is higher and more articulated at the end bays of the façade and at the side elevations, which are further enriched by central tablets flanked by stone volute buttresses. Decoratively cared stone lintels top the windows of the second and third stories on the front and side elevations, plainer peaked stone lintels are a feature of the windows on the rear elevation, and the basement windows of the front and side elevations are set into recessed panels. The windows are filled with twelve-over-twelve, double-hung sash on the basement and principal stories, but the lower height of the uppermost story is reflected in its twelve-over-eight, double-hung sash. The dome is surmounted by a lantern with finial and multi-light windows framed by Grecian pilasters. Set beneath the dome is the building’s dominant pedimented five-bay portico, the tympanum of which is lighted by a small circular window. The entablature of the portico is supported on the upper two stories by six fluted, Ionic stone columns echoed by a pair of unfluted antae that flank the sheltered portion of the façade. The columns are all linked by a delicate iron balustrade. On the basement level, the portico is supported by an ashlar-faced arcaded loggia. The principal entrance is from the basement loggia, which has a groin-vaulted ceiling and three pairs of glazed doors opening into an entrance foyer. A secondary loggia entrance is located in the center bay
of each side elevation and is defined by stone frontispieces composed of fluted Doric columns set in antis and supporting a full entablature. Each doorway is framed by scrolled pilasters that support a frieze with enriched cornice and consists of a pair of double-leaf glazed doors flanked by sidelights over molded panels.