The octagon-shaped dome atop the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse — pictured on June 12, 1977 — is 32-feet wide and about 25-feet tall. The top of the flag pole pedestal adds another seven feet. (American Press Archives)

For years, the assumption in Lake Charles was that the green dome atop the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse was solid — and tarnished — copper.

Turns out, it’s not.

The question of how a solid copper dome that is 32-feet wide could have been lifted onto a three-story building in 1911 led to a startling discovery in 1977.

Wesley Guidry, a draftsman with the parish’s engineering office, found old photostatic copies of the courthouse’s original blue prints 48 years ago and found drawings of steel beams in a hollow dome.

“The blueprint showed that the inside of the dome was made of an arched ribbed construction and steel braces were angled under the roof to give support to the dome,” Guidry told the American Press for its June 12, 1977, issue.

Guidry took it upon himself to climb inside the dome to see firsthand if the steel braces were solid copper. To his surprise, he found tin.

Guidry said the arched construction and metal underneath the copper roof gives both shape and support to the dome.

He also said the shape of the dome is deceiving to those looking at it from ground level. It’s not round, it’s octagon-shaped.

Guidry told the American Press the only recorded data on the historic landmark are the blueprints, he said.

The dome was built by piece work. Thin sheets of copper, varying in size, were pieced together side by side without any overlap, he said.

“Inside the dome, there are cat walks that the men stood on when they were laying the copper sheets on top of the tin framework,” Guidry told the American Press.

He told the newspaper he believes the seams of the copper sheets were soldered together.

Guidry said its about 25 feet from the roof of the courthouse to the top of the round part of the dome.

An additional seven feet is added by the flag pole pedestal.

The shiny copper dome that was put in place in 1911 eventually tarnished over the years and turned pale green. Salt in the air oxidized the copper and turned it into sodium sulfate.

Calcasieu Parish Administrator-Engineer Rodney Vincent told the American Press in 1977 that to clean the dome and restore its natural shine would cost a “tremendous amount of money.”

Vincent said at one time the Police Jury “fancied” the idea of shining up the copper dome. “But the estimates received were more than the Police Jury could afford.”

The courthouse is a replica of the Villa Cora in Vicenza, Italy known as the Rotunda and was added to the Federal Register of Historic Buildings in 1989.

The east front has a large Roman Doric portico with four high columns rising to a pediment at the roof line. There are north and south wings. A white colored balustrade runs along the edge of the flat roof.