Old Florida Capitol Visitor Guide

Yes: as of October 15, 2026 the Florida Historic Capitol Museum in the Old Capitol on South Monroe Street posts daily visiting hours, and admission is free, with donations appreciated (Florida Historic Capitol Museum).

The museum is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sundays and holidays from noon to 4:30 p.m. It is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day (Florida Historic Capitol Museum). A construction alert on the museum's homepage says that starting Monday, September 21, the Monroe Street entrance is closed due to construction, and all visitors should enter using the entrances on the Capitol Courtyard (Florida Historic Capitol Museum homepage).

On arrival, visitors check in at the Reception Desk in the first floor Rotunda. Groups can request a visit through the museum's Visit Us page, and groups of ten or more should schedule in advance to avoid overlap with other groups (Florida Historic Capitol Museum). Before or after a visit, the museum offers a 4-minute video tour, an audio tour describing the history and objects of each room, and a text and photo tour online (Historic Capitol virtual tours).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Historic Capitol Museum website.

The Old Capitol stands in the Tallahassee Capitol Complex at the intersection of Apalachee Parkway and South Monroe Street, and the museum has no parking lot of its own (Florida Historic Capitol Museum).

The museum points drivers to the large public garage at Kleman Plaza, about two blocks away, and warns that parking is especially hard while the Legislature is in session. Very limited visitor parking is in the Union Bank lot across Monroe Street; its entrance is on Calhoun Street south of Apalachee Parkway, and it has spaces for visitors with disabilities and a sidewalk ramp (Florida Historic Capitol Museum).

Construction at the Capitol Complex has also changed the Historic Capitol visit: there are no bus loading zones at this time, and the Capitol cafeteria is listed as closed for construction (Florida Historic Capitol Museum). The museum address is 400 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100 (Florida Historic Capitol Museum). Inside, the first floor sits one level above ground, reached by the east or west stairs or by an accessible northwest entrance and elevator.

The Old Capitol exterior shows the 1902 design: a dome and cupola rising 168 feet from the ground, an east portico with six Doric columns and red and white striped awnings (Historic Capitol exterior and grounds).

The east entrance keeps the original granite steps and two electroliers, with the sheet metal relief of the state seal above the porch; it was painted in natural colors after architect Frank Milburn left and returned to white in the 1980s. The awnings were used from the 1890s to the early 1920s and went back up in the restoration of the 1980s (Historic Capitol exterior and grounds).

The West Courtyard between the Historic Capitol and the new Capitol is a working public space for press conferences and bill signings. The grounds also hold a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial placed in the Capitol courtyard in 1984 and the first Purple Heart Memorial Monument in Florida, dedicated August 7, 2004. The Florida Department of Management Services manages the Capitol Complex grounds, so requests to use outdoor space at the Old Capitol go to that department (Historic Capitol exterior and grounds).

The brick Old Capitol was completed in 1845, just before Florida's state government took office, and was enlarged in 1902, 1923, 1936 and 1947 (Florida Department of State).

Tallahassee became the capital in 1824 because it lay midway between St. Augustine and Pensacola. Three log cabins served as the first Capitol, and a two-story masonry building of 40 by 26 feet followed in 1826. On March 3, 1839, Congress appropriated $20,000 for a new Capitol, and the brick building finished in 1845 is still the core of the Old Capitol (Florida Department of State). During the Civil War, Tallahassee was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi to avoid capture.

For the 1902 expansion, Governor William Jennings received $75,000 from the Legislature, and Frank Milburn added two wings, steam heat, electric lights, the dome and the grand staircase (Historic Capitol background audio transcript). Jacksonville architect Henry Klutho added two more wings and a marble interior in 1923, and large wings for the House and Senate chambers were added to the north and south ends of the Old Capitol in 1936 and 1947 (About the Historic Capitol).

Threatened with demolition in the late 1970s when the new Capitol was built, the Old Capitol was saved through citizens' action and restored from 1978 to 1982 to its 1902 appearance (About the Historic Capitol).

In 1972 the Legislature authorized a new Capitol Complex, including House and Senate chambers and a 22-story executive office building completed in 1977. In 1978 Governor Reubin Askew and House Speaker Donald Tucker favored outright demolition of the old building, but it was refurbished and reopened to the public in 1982 (Florida Department of State). The Department of General Services ran the restoration with the Department of State (About the Historic Capitol).

Architect Herschel Sheppard based the Old Capitol restoration on research into the building itself. A photograph sent in by a local family showed the original grand staircase, and more than 100 pounds of glass from the 1902 art glass dome were found inside the walls and reassembled as the pattern for today's reproduction (Rotunda audio transcript). The same transcript notes that the Capitol had electric lights installed in 1902 but no electricity until Tallahassee's first power plant opened in 1903.

The Old Capitol holds more than 250 artifacts in 21 rooms, including the restored 1902 Governor's office and the House, Senate and Supreme Court chambers (About the Historic Capitol).

The Supreme Court of Florida met in its Old Capitol courtroom from 1903 until 1913; the restored room keeps the 24-foot golden oak bench, which cost $350 in 1902. The Senate Chamber has thirty-two desks, and the House Chamber has 68 reproduction desks, the original Clerk's desk and the Speaker's rostrum (Historic Capitol long-term exhibits).

The first-floor theater shows the eight-minute documentary Florida in the Balance (Historic Capitol long-term exhibits). Online, the museum offers a 4-minute video tour, an audio tour describing the history and objects of each room, and a text and photo tour (Historic Capitol virtual tours).