Foyer

Upon entering the Governor’s Mansion, visitors are impacted by a beautiful Louisiana setting captured on canvas in an original mural painted by Auseklis Ozols. Mr. Ozols is the founder and director of the Fine Arts Museum in New Orleans. Depicting scenery from the four corners of the state, this work of art took the artist six months to complete, working only on weekends. Former governors, Jimmie Davis, John McKeithen, Dave Treen, Buddy Roemer, Edwin Edwards and currently Mike Foster who have called the Mansion “home”, are all represented in some form within the mural. The mural was donated to the foundation by Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Canizaro of New Orleans in honor of a friend’s birthday.

Just inside the foyer, against the walls to the left and right, are two English style window seats, upholstered in horsehair fabric, from F. Schumacher & Company, that were custom designed and built by Mr. Glen Armand, a Louisiana craftsman from Alexandria, The center of the room boasts a beautiful 60” circular full burr walnut table, constructed in Northern European empire style of first quarter 19 Century. This piece was designed by Mr. Thomas Sainsbury, and constructed by Mr. Peter Briggs of Sainsburys of Bournemouth Limited. Above this table hangs a unique triangular crystal chandelier, engraved with the state seal, which previously hung in the Old Governor’s Mansion.

The two marble top pier tables that enhance this room are pieces which belong to the State. Elegant and unique argand lamps adorn the tops of both tables.

The front entrance fanlight and paneled double door, typical of the period after which the Mansion was patterned, were inspired by the main doorway of the late Senator Robert Taft’s antebellum home in Ohio. The crystal globes of the light fixtures in the entrance vestibule and the Adam lamp in the rotunda are etched with the Seal of the State. Both were transferred from the old Governor’s Mansion. The main entrance hall and rotunda are paved with marble that was quarried and fabricated in Italy. The two Empire pier tables were purchased for the Mansion during the Treen Administration. They have an interesting history. They were acquired around 1825 by Benjamin Gratz for his noted home in Lexington, Kentucky.