The Cabildo

The Cabildo at 701 Chartres Street, on Jackson Square, was rebuilt between 1795 and 1799 after the great fire of 1788 destroyed the original, as the seat of Spain's municipal government. The Spanish used its council chamber, the Sala Capitular, from 1799 to 1803. It hosted the transfer ceremonies of the Louisiana Purchase late in 1803, and city government stayed until the 1850s. The third floor with its mansard roof was added in 1847.

The Louisiana Supreme Court then sat in the Sala Capitular until 1910. New Orleans Historical lists the Myra Clark Gaines cases, called the longest continuous litigation in US history, the Slaughter-House cases, and Plessy v. Ferguson among those heard in the room. Homer Plessy challenged racially separated railroad cars, and the 1896 US Supreme Court decision that followed set the doctrine of separate but equal, which stood until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Plessy himself is buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. In 2012 the justices came back for a single day to hear arguments in the room.

On May 11, 1988, a fire destroyed the cupola and the whole third floor. The building was restored and reopened in 1994. As part of the Louisiana State Museum, it presents Louisiana history from settlement through Reconstruction and the heritage of the state's ethnic groups. The museum runs the building, so check its site for hours and admission before you go.