Le donjon was fought over during the 1562 Riots of Toulouse, with Huguenot forces holding it with captured cannons.

The new building, which was 135 meters (443 ft) long, was designed by Guillaume Cammas in the neoclassical style, built in characteristic pink brick and was completed in 1760.

[11] Le donjon was the venue for a religiously-biased trial during which a protestant, Jean Calas, was interrogated and broken on the wheel in 1762.

[14] Following the liberation of Toulouse on 19 August 1944,[15] during the Second World War, the Capitole was draped in French tricolour flags.

[16] On 19 February 1967, the president of France, Charles de Gaulle, visited the town and delivered a speech from the balcony of the building.