This attractive volume presents a brief history and photographs of more than 250 notable structures and sites throughout New Orleans. Complete with maps identifying where each structure is located, this significant resource is organized by neighborhood and includes French Quarter townhouses, plantation homes on Bayou St. John, Garden District mansions, notable churches, distinctive warehouses, banks, and schoolhouses.
A detailed history of a New Orleans landmark. Congo Square is an iconic location in New Orleans culture, filled with the echoes of jazz and the footsteps of modern dance. Brimming with the rich history of the city, this auspicious landmark traces its origins back to the 1740s. A popular gathering place for African-Americans, the square hosted public markets, musical events, and even the Congo Circus throughout its history. Johnson's detailed analysis of the development of the landmark places the deep-set culture of both the African-American community and the roots of New Orleans music firmly in the heart of Congo Square.
Louisiana Landmarks Society's Gateway to New Orleans: Bayou St. John, 1708-2018 traces the history and architecture of the historic Faubourg St. John in New Orleans, from pre-colonial days through its evolution from a glorious semi-rural village into a popular suburban neighborhood. Published to commemorate the tricentennial anniversary of the founding of New Orleans, this trek began years ago with editor Mary Louise Christovich's inaugural research and prescient vision of recording the history and architecture of this, the future city's first European settlement. Through rich narratives, scholarly research, and gripping historical accounts, the book transcends a mere architectural survey of the neighborhood. The boundaries of the historic Faubourg St. John set the parameters for coverage from the north side of Orleans to the south side of Esplanade Avenue and from the west side of North Broad to both banks of Moss Street. Personalities, as well as geographical and economic factors and architectural trends, are explored along the way, utilizing Orleans Parish's richly abundant and unique archival resources. Exquisite full-color photographs by Robert and Jan Brantley provide contemporary views of the neighborhood, supplementing the text and pairing with notarial drawings, historical photographs, and paintings to yield a visual understanding of the landscape of this bayou neighborhood and its influence on the establishment of the city. Without it, New Orleans would not exist where it does today.
Days before the tumultuous presidential election of 1868, St. Bernard Parish descended into chaos. As African American men gained the right to vote, white Democrats of the parish feared losing their majority. Armed groups mobilized to suppress these recently emancipated voters in the hopes of regaining a way of life turned upside down by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Freedpeople were dragged from their homes and murdered in cold blood. Many fled to the cane fields to hide from their attackers. The reported number of those killed varies from 35 to 135. The tragedy was hidden, but implications reverberated throughout the South and lingered for generations. Author and historian Chris Dier reveals the horrifying true story behind the St. Bernard Parish Massacre.
New Orleans Cemeteries depicts the 'cities of the dead' in all their grandeur and decay, their exquisite artisanship and humble memorials, their voluminous historical accounts of the city and undefinable spiritual qualities. The definitive book on a very curious subject, New Orleans Cemeteries is as intensely visual as it is informative.
Lost New Orleans is the latest in the series from Pavilion Books that traces the cherished places in a city that time, progress and fashion have swept aside before concerned citizens or the National Register of Historic Places could save them from the wrecker's ball.Organised chronologically, starting with the earliest losses and ending with the latest, the book features much-loved New Orleans insitutions that failed to stand the test of time. Grand buildings erected in the Victorian era that were too costly to be refurbished, or movie theaters that the age of television made redundant are featured. Alongside the city's iconic and much-missed buildings, Lost New Orleans also looks at the industries that have declined or left town.Sites include:Ursuline Convent Compound; St. Louis Hotel and Exchange; Horticultural Hall; Old French Opera House; New Orleans Cotton Exchange; Old Masonic Temple; Poydras Market; Chess, Checkers, and Whist Club; Charity Hospital; Olivier Plantation House; Washington Artillery Hall; Union Railroad Depot; New Orleans Public Library; Solari’s Delicatessen; Sugar and Rice Exchange; Godchaux’s; Tulane Stadium; Rivergate Exhibition Hall; Lower Ninth Ward; Le Beau House.
The history of the Chalmette Monument. American forces, led by Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, defeated the British Army during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Beginning with an overview of the battle, this book details the history of this monument-which resembles an obelisk-and chronicles the building process. It also includes period photographs of the monument and portraits of significant historical figures.
The tombs and graves of the St. Louis Cemeteries rise from the ground, creating labyrinthine memorials aptly dubbed "cities of the dead." Most are in even rows with quaint street names. Some are of crumbling brick and broken marble. Others are miniature mansions clad in decorative ironwork with angelic guardians. Grand or humble, each is a relic of the story of New Orleans. Politicians, pirates, Mardi Gras Indian chiefs and one voodoo queen rest below. In an unprecedented inquiry, author Sally Asher reveals the lives within the mysterious and majestic tombs of the St. Louis Cemeteries.
In The Cemeteries of New Orleans, Peter B. Dedek reveals the origins and evolution of the Crescent City’s world-famous necropolises, exploring both their distinctive architecture and their cultural impact. Spanning centuries, this fascinating body of research takes readers from muddy fields of crude burial markers to extravagantly designed cities of the dead, illuminating a vital and vulnerable piece of New Orleans’s identity. Where many histories of New Orleans cemeteries have revolved around the famous people buried within them, Dedek focuses on the marble cutters, burial society members, journalists, and tourists who shaped these graveyards into internationally recognizable emblems of the city. In addition to these cultural actors, Dedek’s exploration of cemetery architecture reveals the impact of ancient and medieval grave traditions and styles, the city’s geography, and the arrival of trained European tomb designers, such as the French architect J. N. B. de Pouilly in 1833 and Italian artist and architect Pietro Gualdi in 1851. As Dedek shows, the nineteenth century was a particularly critical era in the city’s cemetery design. Notably, the cemeteries embodied traditional French and Spanish precedents, until the first garden cemetery—the Metairie Cemetery—was built on the site of an old racetrack in 1872. Like the older walled cemeteries, this iconic venue served as a lavish expression of fraternal and ethnic unity, a backdrop to exuberant social celebrations, and a destination for sightseeing excursions. During this time, cultural and religious practices, such as the celebration of All Saints’ Day and the practice of Voodoo rituals, flourished within the spatial bounds of these resting places. Over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, however, episodes of neglect and destruction gave rise to groups that aimed to preserve the historic cemeteries of New Orleans—an endeavor, which, according to Dedek, is still wanting for resources and political will. Containing ample primary source material, abundant illustrations, appendices on both tomb styles and the history of each of the city’s eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cemeteries, The Cemeteries of New Orleans offers a comprehensive and intriguing resource on these fascinating historic sites.
