Table Of Content

While this kind of role reversal—what scholars have termed “social inversion”—undoubtedly has been a central part of Pre-Lenten festivities throughout their long history, many historians recently have sought to bring more nuance to the discussion of Carnival. Every year the private homeowners of several of the mansions in the Garden District of New Orleans open their homes for a good cause. The Preservation Resource Center, a group dedicated to preserving the unique architectural heritage of New Orleans, sponsors the Holiday Tour of Homes. The tour is in early December on a Saturday and Sunday and also includes a cafe and holiday boutique with many vendors. During the Payne family’s 62-year ownership, both Charlotte and Jacob Payne also died in the home—Charlotte in 1877 at age 74 and Jacob in 1900 at age 97. At one point, aside from family members, the Payne home also included two entire servant families, a housemaid, a nurse, a laundress, a hostler (a man who runs the horse stable), a coachman, and a handyman.
Historic Garden District Homes
While a section of the house was divided into apartments from 1912 to 1985, five generations of Trufants have occupied the main residence and still do today. Even after a fire in 2015, the family had the property meticulously restored to blend the original architect’s design with the comforts of any modern home. Although Milton Doullut died in 1928, Mary continued to live in the original Steamboat house until her death in 1959 at age 94. These architectural gems sit a-ways outside of the palatial estates of the Garden District in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, looking as if they’ve docked straight from the nearby Mississippi River. Both Steamboat Houses are named for their designer and architect Captain Milton Doullut, who, unsurprisingly, worked all his life as a riverboat captain, engineer, and shipbuilder. Captain Doullut’s wife Mary also had boating in her blood and became the first woman to earn a pilot’s license for inland waterways in south Louisiana.
CITYBUSINESS IN PRINT
Faithfully furnished with domestic goods, decorative arts and art of the period, the 1850 House depicts middle class family life during the most prosperous period in New Orleans' history. Limited docent- and curator-led tours are available as is self-directed viewing.The Museum gift shop, operated by the Friends of the Cabildo, is located in the 1850 House. It may seem odd, but this house is considered a single-story; the lower floor is a “full-height” basement, and the columns across the front create an arcade by supporting the wide front porch above. On a balmy summer evening, past the iron fence and well-trimmed hedges, you can almost picture Cable and his contemporaries Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde discussing politics over drinks. The Dillon heirs sold the property in 1919, after which the Baptist Bible Institute (now the New Orleans Baptist Seminary) used it to house professors and their families.
New Orleans houses 101: A guide to the city's historic architecture
They were historically painted in the vivid colors of the Picturesque style (the architectural equivalent to American romanticism) which focused on emotion and spontaneity over reason and control. Credit for originating this pastoral pastiche belongs to Dr. Joseph Secondo Biamenti who first commissioned the design, as well as the ornamental ironworks manufacturer Wood, Miltenberger, & Co. This decadent manor (originally referred to as “the Jewel of America’s Grand Avenues”) stands out even among the gorgeous estates on one of NOLA’s most famous promenades – St. Charles Avenue. As the nickname suggests, this Victorian Gregorian mansion is a feast to the eyes, sporting three tiers of elegant embellishments and painted all white, resembling an enormous wedding cake with intricate piping.
Thanksgiving was a “Yankee” holiday in the minds of Southerners, partially because its story originated in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, marking it as a regional celebration. Inspired by the imposing Parisian architecture the Baroness favored, the distinctive rowhouses were intended to serve as both elegant residences and fine retail establishments. In 1921 the Pontalba family sold the Lower Pontalba Building to philanthropist William Ratcliff Irby who subsequently, in 1927, bequeathed it to the State Museum. This 1886 design by James Freret for Clement Penrose is one of few examples of Eastlake architecture in the Garden District. This particular style, in America, acted somewhat as a replacement for the flat-cut gingerbread elements common in the Queen Anne style, favoring three-dimensional geometric detailing made easily by machine. Part of this home’s Eastlake charm comes from the openwork circular motif noticeable in the circle details of the arches, the tops of the front doorway and windows, the porch balustrade details, and the fence.
They made many major updates and renovations in their 22 years of ownership which were continued by Klaus-Peter Schrieber and his wife Dianne Anderson. Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses, managed by The Woman’s Exchange, preserves two 19th-century French Quarter homes and, through their architecture, collections, and history, inspires discourse about our collective past and its relevance to our present and future. Visitors, students, and researchers explore such diverse topics as the lives of the houses’ owners and enslaved people, free people of color, open-hearth cooking, mourning rituals, and the entrepreneurial pursuits of women. And Hedwig Penzel Forsyth who renovated the home extensively but sold off a large portion of the grounds. Both Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth passed away within seven years of owning the home, so the property was inherited by their daughter Rose, who lived there with her husband Frank Strachan. Rose was renowned for her gardening skill and knowledge, and she designed the current formal gardens on the grounds along with landscape architect Umberto Innocenti.
Nonprofit builds its first tiny house for the homeless in New Orleans - FOX 8 Local First
Nonprofit builds its first tiny house for the homeless in New Orleans.
Posted: Thu, 15 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Officers Shot Louisiana
Just one house down from the Morris-Israel house sits its fraternal twin, another pink, cast-iron lined, Italianate-style home complete with a carriage house. The Carroll-Crawford house is a bit grander in scale, spanning five bays wide and topped with a cornice featuring oversized dentils and a central tablet. The carriage house echoes some of the main house’s elements, including a smaller cornice and molding around the arched windows and doors. The exposed patches of brick and creeping vines give the already classic even more of an old-world feel.
New Orleans St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway

Occupying the block bounded by Chartres (then Moreau), Mazant, Royal and France streets, the two-story main house was surrounded by a wraparound ground-floor arcade and, supported by rows of stately columns, a second-floor gallery. Not to be confused with the Olivier House on Toulouse Street, the Olivier plantation house was built around 1820 by the Paris-born planter David Olivier. By then, the two-story Creole-style plantation house overlooking the Mississippi River from its perch at Chartres and Mazant streets was far past its prime, having crumbled into ruin after years of neglect.
Bradish Johnson House (McGehee) - 2343 Prytania St.
Urban enslavement in New Orleans greatly influenced the Crescent City’s status as one of the most African cities in the western hemisphere, and these contributions are ever-present through the city’s celebrated culture. McShane died in 1936, leaving the house to his wife Agnes and their only child, Rose Mary McShane Kernan, who officially inherited the home in 1969. Though additions have been made through the years, the cottage retains much of its original charming detail. You’ve gone about 1.5 miles and have absolutely earned not only bragging rights but also a break and a delicious snack on nearby Magazine Street. If you continue east down Eighth Street, you’ll run into one of New Orleans’ hubs for boutique dining and shopping.
The main décor is featured on the second-story gallery – supported by ionic columns draped in garlands and a base entablature adorned in garland friezes. This “tier” is further embellished by balustrades topped with finials modeled after classical urns and windows framed with scroll brackets, moldings, and gooseneck gables. The curved gallery on the side of the house gives the illusion of asymmetry, but it’s matched on the opposite side by an identically adorned porte-cochère (a covered entrance for vehicles).
Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme are just a couple of the notorious chefs to occupy its kitchen, and the restaurant’s continued elevation of Creole cuisine and world-class atmosphere and service continue to make it a prime destination for both locals and travelers alike. After 20 years with the Johnson family, Walter Denegre and his family lived there for 37 years. Denegre was one of the top lawyers in New Orleans as well as a very prominent member of the city’s social scene—so much so that he was even selected as King of Carnival. However, multiple sources (including The Law Library of Louisiana) cite Denegre as one of the men behind the mass lynching of 11 Italian men in New Orleans in 1891.
As with the Luling Mansion, the Pagoda House has its origins steeped in a bit of mystery, though its story is far less tragic and involves one of the city’s adopted writers – Lafcadio Hearn. Long lines of people were seen patiently waiting to buy big cups of iced tea, lemonade and coffee. Walking right into the middle of a massive, protest over the Gaza war and jawboning it with demonstrators. Fuel up before the show—or anytime—with our Southern-inspired menu, featuring the Smokehouse Platter, Brisket Nachos, Voodoo Shrimp, and so much more.
But because it is situated on a wider and deeper lot, it is set back a considerable distance from the sidewalk, making room for covered porches (or galleries) across the front at both the first and second floors. And if you run across a shotgun house that's one story tall in front but two stories tall in back, you've found a camelback. For in the background of every second-line, next to neighborhood restaurants and music clubs and framing our Carnival parades are collections of visually arresting houses you just won't find in such abundance or variety anywhere else. Looking at any of Ledner’s designs, it’s clear that this sort of challenge was right up his alley, and he executed it as only he could. He repurposed the windows and installed many upside-down alongside other arched windows on the front of the home and crafted stained-glass ceiling panels placed beneath curved balconies.
The Morris-Israel House became a single-family home again in the 60s and Meryl and Sam Israel Jr. returned it to its former glory. For nearly a century, the home remained in the Hero family until investment banker Gus Reynoir and his wife Sissy purchased it in 1978. Today, the house belongs to writer-photographer couple Sara Ruffin and Paul Costello who moved from New York in 2010 with their family. Built in 1849, this “cottage” is a bit of an oddity among the palatial estates of the Garden District as one of only six known examples of Gothic Revival architecture in New Orleans.

To avoid having to dig to build a basement, our forebears in the early 20th century invented the raised-basement house, a uniquely New Orleans house type consisting of a lower-ceilinged "basement" built at ground level with a higher-ceilinged living space above. The houses have three openings across the front, including a door that opens to a sidehall and stairway to the second floor. In some neighborhoods they are built on the front property line and have stoops, a small set of front steps; in others, they are set back far enough to have a garden and a porch across the front. Most of these one-story houses are built at the front property line, right up to the sidewalk, and have four openings across the front.
While the validity of this story is hotly debated, the deaths of the home’s architect Gallier Jr. from yellow fever in 1868 and his architect father James Gallier Sr. in 1866 in a steamboat crash are both fact. With an abundance of homes from the 19th century, many of which historic, and the secret gardens to complement them, it's no wonder why one of the favorite pastimes of visitors is to go on a tour of homes. What makes New Orleans home and garden tours so special is that most of the historic housing stock is privately owned and lived in by New Orleans families. In its over 150-year life, this Greek Revival estate has belonged to (technically) only two families, both of whom were elites in the New Orleans social scene. The first was Kentucky-born cotton merchant Jacob Payne, who built the house in 1849 to house his wife, the widowed Charlotte Downs Haynes, his stepson Andrew Haynes, and his and Charlotte’s three children. Nearing the start of the Civil War in 1860, the property was valued at $353,000, equivalent to $11.6 million in 2021, while Payne’s personal fortune was listed as $563,000 ($18.6 million in 2021).
No comments:
Post a Comment