Nottoway, which has changed its official name to Nottaway Resort, is an used as event venue, hotel and museum.

The plantation was built at the request of John Hampden Randolph, a prestigious sugar cane planter, and was completed in 1859. The 64-room, 53,000-square-foot mansion was designed by renowned architect Henry Howard of New Orleans in Greek Revival and Italianate style. Among its features were 22 massive columns, 165 doors and 200 windows.

The mansion had flushing toilets, hot and cold water in all bathrooms, gas lighting throughout the home and a bowling alley installed for Randolph’s 11 children.

As the flames consumed the building, people gathered on a nearby levee Thursday evening to watch.

“To the general public, it’s Nottoway, it’s a house,” said Vanessa Boudreaux, general manager at Nottoway. “But to those of us who worked here, who slept in it so many nights, it’s a home.”

Randy LaPrairie, who has done maintenance at the facility for more than 30 years, said fire had always been a worry for a building of this age.

“I remember first being here and saying, ‘if this thing ever catches fire I don’t think you’ll be able to stop it.'”

Janean Webber, a resident who said she regularly walks the grounds at the plantation, lamented the potential loss of a landmark.

“All the hurricanes, all the disasters, it survived all of that, and a fire takes it out. It’s sad,” she said Thursday evening.