History, people, fables and critical essays on the 24/7 life of the French Quarter. “The great music of the city is…when you say good morning and good evening.” (Mr. Jerome Smith)
Seeing visual clues about how the buildings and the open square have been designed and used and redefined during that 170 years is amazing. This pic was taken right before retail shops returned to the Upper Pontalba. Notice the sash windows on the ground floor! *Notice it is also still a road and not yet made into the permanent pedestrian mall.
1973 courtesy of the Vieux Carre Commission, photographer unknown
The lower Pontalba DID have some retail throughout the 20th century including the 1850 house and Tourist Center, the latter opening in 1965.
The letter to the editor below from the same year that the picture was taken indicates the tension that often arises between preservationists and entrepreneurs: “The commission’s decision to restore the first floor shops was to bring back to the building and Jackson Square the kind of activity and occupancy originally envisioned by the Baroness Pontalba when she erected these buildings. No ‘tourist’ shops will be allowed. Only shops which will be patronized locally..””
[N.B. Henry M. Krotzer, Jr. was employed by the firm Koch & Wilson.] — Source: Times-Picayune Author: Henry M. Krotzer, Jr., architect Date: Saturday, April 7th 1973.
The cultural and political significance of the square has already been well researched and widely published, all of it illustrating its role over the 305-year history of New Orleans. Many writers have highlighted its colonial role as a military parade grounds up to and continued to include its current role as the chief tourist mecca for the more than 10 million visitors the city hosts annually.
Since the archives of written pieces on that history exists, this series of articles will instead focus on how entrepreneurs have used the Square since 1850. That date was chosen because it is when the Almonaster/Pontalba family added its final (of many previous) contributions to the Square with the iconic 4-story red brick buildings that still anchor the upper (west) and lower (east) sides of the Square. The buildings built by Micaela Almonaster Pontalba, a native daughter of the city who sailed back to France after they were completed never to return, set the scale and rhythm of how the Square conducts business to this very day.
Baroness Pontalba herself will be one of the entrepreneurs that this series will celebrate, as her efforts are a perfect prologue for the modern uses of the Square. Her half-decade long development of the two Pontalba buildings will center this story, as will the later generations of the Pontalba family who could not withstand the late 19th century and early 20th century abandonment of the square by the city’s elite. Luckily for them, others stepped in once again to keep the Square a democratic and dynamic place.
Even though the buildings remain the most significant contributor to how commerce is conducted in these 2.5 acres, the Baroness’ original plan for their use has to be considered an almost total failure. Instead, in true New Orleans fashion, the Square’s users adapted them through philanthropic intervention, city, state and federal oversight, and the sheer vehemence of New Orleanians who saw their value. These interventions happened at various times over the last 170 years, often at the last possible moment before demolition would have invariably led to the loss of the Square’s daily activity.
Around 1850 as the Pontalba buildings were under development along with the Square.Boyd Cruise, 20th century artist
That these 80 plus blocks of the French Quarter are constantly changing is the idea is at the heart of this blog really; every 6-8 hours a new group of users are in control of these streets and activity.
Over the last 40 years, I have wandered these blocks in busy times, at slow points, before, during, and after disaster, during the recent and massive “festivalization” that happens more and more on these tiny blocks, and on so many “regular” days.
The “stage” of the actual buildings is the wow factor, but when you see it used and often abused by folks, you start to notice the wear and tear more than the beauty.
Therefore, the opportunity to see it without the people is rare and allows to remind yourself of the beauty and the appropriate scale of it all.
The block has its share of plaques with details of people long gone, businesses and residences with deep family, literary, and civic histories, and of course, astonishing architecture. Because of that, it seems an ideal block to dive into the long history of the city, as well as to analyze the current uses to see what New Orleans and particularly the French Quarter, is about now.
The block has around 14 buildings, depending on how one assesses complexes such as the Le Petit building now operating as 2 separate businesses, and the wraparound buildings on the Royal corner which have Royal Street addresses but also have side entrances and addresses on St. Peter.
There are 11 addresses on the downtown side and 8 on the uptown side of the street.
First on the list: The Arsenal
615 St. Peter (secondary address: 614 Pirates Alley.)
Current photo. Note the added bas-relief images on the top of the building (exploding cannonballs on the parapet and cannons and flags in the cast-iron panels above the entablature!) not on the building in the earlier pictures below, although some of the designs seem to have been indicated in the description*.* Nor do the early 20th-century pictures include the ironwork now on the top windows and the fence.
This forbidding building (“one example of the beautifully austere Classical Revival and Gothic Revival”), with its dusty gates and grimy plaques, is often missed by pedestrians and even when spied, is often assumed to just be a side entrance to the Cabildo Museum that fronts the square.
History
This property always belonged to the City of New Orleans. The site was occupied as early as 1728 by a French guardhouse and prison which was destroyed by fire on 21 Mar 1788 (the Good Friday fire). It was rebuilt by the Spanish and again destroyed by fire on Dec 8, 1793. It was AGAIN rebuilt in connection with the Cabildo in 1795 (by Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba’s father) and was used as a prison or “calaboose” until 1837. On 25 Feb 1836, Governor S. B. White, of Louisiana, approved an Act of the Legislature authorizing:
“That the Civil Engineer shall draw a plan and estimate of an Armory, to be built on a lot of ground belonging to the City of New Orleans on the site of the old prison, near the principals and that said building shall be at least two stories high and so constructed as to contain twenty pieces of artillery, and ten thousand stands of arms; and that the sum of twenty thousand dollars be appropriated for that purpose. Said building to be commenced as soon as the City Council of New Orleans, or a majority thereof shall have notified the Governor of the State, of their consent to transfer to the State the property of the ground necessary for the aforesaid building”
The new arsenal building, designed by Dakin and Dakin Architects, was used from 1846 until the Civil War by the Orleans Artillery and as a state Arsenal. Donated toLouisiana State Museum on January 1, 1908.
Arsenal Facade view of the Arsenal at 615 St. Peter Street in Vieux Carre. The building was designed by James H. Dakin and built in 1839. The scene depicted is ca. 1850
From the original 1830s building contract:
“The front door on St. Peter Street will be made four inches thick in double thickness and the outside lined with iron or zinc, and the whole bolted together with strong iron bolts with neat fancy oast heads of two-inch projection, and hung in two folds with six trap hinges three feet six inches long, each end fastened on the inside with a strong iron bar and face bolts in the most substantial manner. The front windows will be made as represented by the elevation with sashes one and three-quarters inches thick, hung in boxed frames with lines and weights, and glazed with long cylinder glass. There will be an iron screen or guard in front of each window, as represented by the drawings with frames or margins three inches wide by three-quarters inch thick, filled with network or diagonal bars one and a quarter by three-eights inches rabated together at every intersection, and the whole secured to the wall or front of the sash frame in the most substantial manner. The small …. of the center window will be made of wood, and the lintel between the door and the window of bricks. The attic or friese windows will be made with glased (sic) sashes hung to swing on the inside of the wall, properly fastened, and the front of the openings will be filled with such ornaments as are shown by the drawings, neatly carved in wood. **In the centre tablet above the cornice will be placed the arms of the State of Louisiana, made of cements, or some other suitable and durable material in the most tasty manner and style. All the other ornaments of the front and the . . . and entablature and blocking or attio above the cornices will be rough formed with bricks and stone work and finished with cement in imitation of white marble.”
Genthe, Arnold, photographer taken between 1920-1926
Richard Koch, Photographer, June, 1934 IRON LANTERN BRACKET IN COURTYARD
Historic American Buildings Survey: Survey No. 18-6
Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
I’ve written about this wonderful festival before (see bottom of post) and was happy to find time to go again this year. I believe I went first in the late 1980s, and then began to go annually around 1999 or so.
I have a good outsider viewpoint to share so maybe that this “world-class literary festival”(as a globe-trotting festival-goer firmly declared to me years ago) remains relevant and exciting. The good news is that the people attached to the festival are excellent, and grow increasingly more representative of the city and region. The bad news is fewer locals that are not writers or theater buffs attend even though there are many exciting and enjoyable topics for non-writers. The other bad news is that it is banged about on all sides by a half dozen or more events and festivals happening in the same week.
I’d like to see:
more outdoor events (still like my idea from earlier post of having Streetcar movie playing in Square on Thursday night) should also be a short brass band event to celebrate TW’s birthday (bring back the birthday toast and singing, just move to Square or to Pirate’s Alley)
more interaction between other TW festivals and this one
more on St. Louis!
more on local lore, local history from the 20th century, (an era possibly the least understood of New Orleans’ 3 centuries…)
bring back popular panels from early years
sponsor a nearby Tennessee Flea market full of all (quality) things New Orleans 20th century as well as collector’s editions of his works
more items for sale such as reproduction posters of productions, clothing not directly tied to festival but TW related. Work with stores in FQ to highlight TW and literary items that weekend.
more panels and materials on/from Mississippi, TW’s other home
more panels and materials on the Mississippi River history and places from St. Louis to New Orleans
highlight other Southern writers with their own small track (Flannery, Eudora even gasp Anne Rice)
more with emerging writers, especially with schools around the city (i.e.Neighborhood Story Project)
TWLF history hunt with prizes
Tie in TWLF with FQ Fest and JazzFest with a linked exhibit or sponsored musician
Let’s just make this a engaging, engrossing, and illuminating weekend, centered around the great modern playwright who loved this city.
A cross section of things I’ve written about the festival on this blog:
French Quarter block by block 
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