Buildings and architecture of New Orleans
Encyclopedia
History of New Orleans
The history of New Orleans, Louisiana traces the city's development from its founding by the French, through its period under Spanish control, then back to French rule before being sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase...
and the city's multicultural heritage. New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
is world famous for its plethora of unique architectural styles, from creole cottages to the grand mansions on St. Charles, from the balconies of the French Quarter to an Egyptian Revival Customs House and a rare example of a Moorish revival church. The city boasts fine examples of almost every architectural style, from the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
Cabildo to the modernist skyscrapers of the Central Business District.
Domestic architectural styles
Creole Cottage
Creole cottageCreole cottage
Creole cottage is a term loosely used to refer to a type of vernacular architecture indigenous to the Gulf Coast of the United States. Within this building type comes a series of variations. An expanded version of this type of building is commonly referred to as Gulf Coast cottage, with the...
s are scattered throughout the city of New Orleans, with most being built between 1790-1850. The majority of these cottages are found in the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
, the surrounding areas of Faubourg Marigny
Faubourg Marigny
The Marigny is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: North Rampart Street and St...
, the Bywater
Bywater, New Orleans
Bywater is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Florida Avenue to the north, the Industrial Canal to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Franklin Avenue Street to the west...
and Esplanade Ridge. Creole Cottages are one-story, set at ground level. They have a steeply pitched roof, with a symmetrical four-opening facade wall, with a wood or stucco exterior. They are usually set close to the property line.
American Townhouse
Many buildings in the American Townhouse style were built in 1820-1850 and can be found in the Central Business DistrictCentral business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
and Lower Garden District
Garden District, New Orleans
The Garden District is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Central City/Garden District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: St. Charles Avenue to the north, 1st Street to the east, Magazine Street to the south and Toledano Street to the...
. American Townhouses are narrow, three-story structures made of stucco or brick. An asymmetrical arrangement of the facade with a balcony on the second floor sits close to the property line.
Creole Townhouse
Creole Townhouses are perhaps the most iconic pieces of architecture in the city of New Orleans, comprising a large portion of the French QuarterFrench Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
and the neighbouring Faubourg Marigny
Faubourg Marigny
The Marigny is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: North Rampart Street and St...
. Creole Townhouses were built after the Great New Orleans Fire (1788)
Great New Orleans Fire (1788)
The Great New Orleans Fire was a fire that destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 21, 1788, spanning the south central French Quarter from Burgundy to Chartres Street, almost to the riverfront buildings....
until the mid-19th century. The previous wooden buildings were replaced with structures with courtyards, thick walls, arcades, and wrought iron balconies. The facade of the building sits on the property line, with an asymmetrical arrangement of arched openings. Creole Townhouses have a steeply pitched roof, side-gabled, with several roof dormers. The exterior is made of brick or stucco.
Shotgun House
The shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, with doors at each end. This style of architecture developed in New Orleans, and is the city's predominant house type. Shotgun Houses were built from 1850 to 1910, and can be found throughout the city.Typically, Shotgun Houses are one-story, narrow rectangular houses raised on brick piers. Most have a narrow porch covered by a roof apron that is supported by columns and brackets, which are often ornamented with lacey Victorian motifs. Many variations of the Shotgun House exists, including Double Shotguns (essentially a duplex); Camelback house, also called Humpback, with a partial second floor on the end of the house; Double Width Shotgun, a single house twice the width of a normal shotgun; and "North shore" houses, with wide verandas on both sides, built north of Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest inland saltwater body of water in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake.It covers an area of with...
in St. Tammany Parish.
Double-Gallery House
Garden District, New Orleans
The Garden District is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Central City/Garden District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: St. Charles Avenue to the north, 1st Street to the east, Magazine Street to the south and Toledano Street to the...
, Uptown
Uptown New Orleans
Uptown is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana on the East Bank of the Mississippi River encompassing a number of neighborhoods between the French Quarter and the Jefferson Parish line. It remains an area of mixed residential and small commercial properties, with a wealth of 19th century architecture...
, and the Esplanade Ridge.
The California-style Bungalow House
California Bungalow houses were built from the early-to-mid-20th century in neighborhoods such as Mid-City, Gentilly TerraceGentilly Terrace, New Orleans
Gentilly Terrace is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Filmore Avenue to the north, People's Avenue to the east, Dahlia Walk and Benefit Street to the south and Elysian Fields Avenue...
, Broadmoor
Broadmoor, New Orleans
Broadmoor is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Uptown/Carrollton Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Eve Street to the north, Washington Avenue and Toledano Street to the east, South Claiborne Avenue to the south, and Jefferson Avenue,...
, and scattered throughout older neighbourhoods as infill. California Bungalows are noted for their low slung appearance, being more horizontal than vertical. The exterior is often wood siding, with a brick, stucco, or stone porch with flared columns and roof overhang. Bungalows are one or one-and-a-half-story houses, with sloping roofs and eaves with unenclosed rafters, and typically feature a gable (or an attic vent designed to look like one) over main portion of the house.
French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
preserve their original Colonial Spanish or French architectural styles, concentrated mainly around the cathedral and Chartres Street. Most of the 2,900 buildings in the Quarter are either of "second generation" Creole or Greek revival styles. Fires in 1788 and 1794 destroyed many of the original French colonial buildings, that is, "first generation" Creole, mostly raised homes with wooden galleries, the last example being Madame John's Legacy
Madame John's Legacy
Madame John's Legacy is a house in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. The name is taken from a story by George Washington Cable. The house was built in 1788, after a fire destroyed much of the neighborhood...
, built during the Spanish rule in 1788 and still standing at 632 Dumaine Street. The Ursuline Convent
Ursuline Academy (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Ursuline Academy is a private, Roman Catholic, all-girls high school and elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans...
(1745–1752) is the last intact example of French colonial architecture predating the city's transfer to Spain. Of the structures built during the French or Spanish colonial eras, only some 25 survived to this day (including the Cabildo
The Cabildo
The Cabildo was the seat of colonial government in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is now a museum. The Cabildo is located along Jackson Square, adjacent to St. Louis Cathedral.- History :The original Cabildo was destroyed in the Great New Orleans Fire...
and the Presbytère, in a mixture of colonial Spanish and neo-classical styles).
Two-thirds of the French Quarter structures date back from the first half of the 19th century, the most prolific decade being the 1820s, when the city was growing at an amazing rate. Records show that not a single Spanish architect was operating in the city : only French and American were, the latter gradually replacing the former as Creole style was being replaced by Greek revival architecture in the 1830s and 1840s. Spanish administrators did enforce strict building codes, requiring brick buildings to avoid another fire, but the Spaniards did not directly influence much of the Quarter's architecture. Spanish influence came indirectly with the form of Creole style, which mixed African, French, Spanish and Caribbean borrowings.
From its south end to the intersection with Claiborne Avenue, Canal Street is extremely dense with buildings. Each building, being no larger than half a New Orleans block has a notably intricate facade. All of these buildings contrast each other in style, from Greek revival, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco, to Renaissance Colonial, and one of Gothic architecture. Also there is Postmodern, Mid Century Modern, Streamline Moderne, and other types of 20th century architecture. However, most of these Buildings have lost their interiors because of Hurricane damage and Business renovations.
Jackson Square
Jackson Square, New Orleans
Jackson Square, also known as Place d'Armes, is a historic park in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.-Design:...
took its current form in the 1850s: the Cathedral
St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans
Saint Louis Cathedral , also known as the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans; it has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States...
was redesigned, mansard rooftops were added to the Cabildo
The Cabildo
The Cabildo was the seat of colonial government in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is now a museum. The Cabildo is located along Jackson Square, adjacent to St. Louis Cathedral.- History :The original Cabildo was destroyed in the Great New Orleans Fire...
and the Presbytère, and the Pontalba apartments were built on the sides of the square, adorned with wrought iron balconies. The trend of wrought and cast iron balconies in New Orleans can be traced back to this period.
St. Charles Avenue
St. Charles Avenue is famed for its large collection of southern mansions in various styles of architecture including Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
, Colonial, and Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
styles such as Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
and Queen Anne Style
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
.
The city of New Orleans was the largest in the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
at the start of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The city was captured
New Orleans in the Civil War
New Orleans, in Louisiana, was the largest city in the Southern States during the American Civil War. It provided thousands of troops for the Confederate States Army, as well as several leading officers and generals...
barely a year after the start of hostilities without combat in, or bombardment of the city itself. As a result, New Orleans retains the largest collection of surviving Antebellum architecture
Antebellum architecture
Antebellum architecture is a term used to describe the characteristic neoclassical architectural style of the Southern United States, especially the Old South, from after the birth of the United States in the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War...
.
St. Charles Avenue is also home to neighboring Loyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans is a private, co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name of the Jesuit patron, Saint Ignatius of Loyola...
and Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, both which sit across the street from Audubon Park.
Central Business District
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
skyline consisted of only low and mid rise structures. The soft soils of New Orleans are susceptible to subsistence, and there was doubt about the feasibility of constructing large high rises in such an environment. The 1960s brought the trailblazing World Trade Center New Orleans
World Trade Center New Orleans
Prior to June 2011, the World Trade Center of New Orleans was housed in the historic World Trade Center Building, located at 2 Canal Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana...
and Plaza Tower which demonstrated that high-rise could stand firm on New Orleans' soil. One Shell Square
One Shell Square
One Shell Square is a 51-story, skyscraper designed in the International style by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, located at 701 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the tallest building in both the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. The...
took its place as the city's tallest building in 1972, a title it still holds. The oil boom of the early 1980s redefined New Orleans' skyline again with the development of the Poydras Street corridor. Today, New Orleans' high-rises are clustered along Canal Street
Canal Street, New Orleans
Canal Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter , it acted as the dividing line between the older French/Spanish Colonial-era city and the newer American Sector, today's Central Business District.The...
and Poydras Street in the Central Business District.
Located within the Central Business District is one of the world's most famous pieces of Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...
, Charles Willard Moore
Charles Willard Moore
Charles Willard Moore was an American architect, educator, writer, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and winner of the AIA Gold Medal in 1991.-Life and career:...
's Piazza d'Italia
Piazza d'Italia
The Piazza d'Italia is an urban public plaza located at Lafayette and Commerce Streets in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. It is controlled by the Piazza d'Italia Development Corporation, a subdivision of New Orleans city government...
.
The district has a number of significant historicist buildings. Perhaps the most notable are the Moorish revival Immaculate Conception Church
Immaculate Conception Church (New Orleans)
Immaculate Conception church, locally known as Jesuit church, is a Roman Catholic church in the CBD of New Orleans. The church is located at 130 Baronne Street and is part of the local Jesuit community. The present church was completed in 1929....
and the Egyptian Revival United States Custom House (New Orleans)
United States Custom House (New Orleans)
The U.S. Custom House in New Orleans, Louisiana, also known as the Old Post Office and Custom House, is a National Historic Landmark, receiving this designation in 1974 and noted for its Egyptian Revival columns...
.
Lafayette Square, New Orleans
Lafayette Square, New Orleans
Lafayette Square is the second oldest park in New Orleans, Louisiana and was designed in 1788 by Charles Laveau Trudeau alias Don Carlos Trudeau , general surveyor of Louisiana under the spanish government...
has some notable Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
civic buildings.
Cemeteries
New Orleans is famous for its elaborate European-style cemeteries, including Greenwood CemeteryGreenwood Cemetery, New Orleans
Greenwood Cemetery is a cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana.The cemetery was opened in 1852, and is located on City Park Avenue in the Navarre neighborhood.The cemetery has a number of impressive monuments and sculptures...
, Saint Louis Cemeteries
Saint Louis Cemetery
Saint Louis Cemetery is the name of three Roman Catholic cemeteries in New Orleans, Louisiana. All of these graves are above ground vaults; most were constructed in the 18th century and 19th century....
, and Metairie Cemetery
Metairie Cemetery
Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road .-History:This site was previously a horse...
. Because of New Orleans' high water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
, graves are not dug "six feet under": stone tomb
Tomb
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...
s are the norm.
Preservation
Preservation Resource Center
The Preservation Resource Center is a non-profit organization which promotes the historic preservation of buildings and architecture in New Orleans.-Mission:New Orleans is a city famous for its architecture...
, are devoted to promoting the preservation of historic neighborhoods and buildings
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
in New Orleans. New Orleans has suffered from the same problems with sinking property values and urban decline
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
as other major cities. Many historic structures have been threatened with demolition. During Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005...
, several historic New Orleans neighborhoods were flooded, and numerous historic buildings were severely damaged. However, there is a general notion by both rebuilders and new developers to preserve the architectural integrity of the city.
Notable structures
- United States Custom House (New Orleans)United States Custom House (New Orleans)The U.S. Custom House in New Orleans, Louisiana, also known as the Old Post Office and Custom House, is a National Historic Landmark, receiving this designation in 1974 and noted for its Egyptian Revival columns...
, notable Egyptian Revival building. - Immaculate Conception Church (New Orleans)Immaculate Conception Church (New Orleans)Immaculate Conception church, locally known as Jesuit church, is a Roman Catholic church in the CBD of New Orleans. The church is located at 130 Baronne Street and is part of the local Jesuit community. The present church was completed in 1929....
, notable Moorish revival building.
See also
- List of tallest buildings in New Orleans
- New Orleans neighborhoodsNew Orleans neighborhoodsIn 1980 the New Orleans City Planning Commission divided the city into 13 planning districts and 72 distinct neighborhoods.While most of these assigned boundaries match with traditional local designations, some others differ from common traditional use...
- James GallierJames GallierJames Gallier was a prominent New Orleans architect.He was born James Gallagher in Ravensdale, County Louth, Ireland in 1798. He worked in England during his early career, designing the Godmanchester Chinese Bridge which crosses a mill stream of the River Great Ouse in 1827, and then working on the...
- Painted LadiesPainted ladies"Painted ladies" is a term used for Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book...