The Informer: Courthouse dome eludes exact engineering details - American Press

The Informer: Courthouse dome eludes exact engineering details - American Press

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 pri…