Spanish Influences on New Orleans Architecture

Exhibit By: Keegan Lucas

St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans

First time visitors to New Orleans are almost certain to spend much of their visit exploring the city’s famous French Quarter. The layout of this historic district is the same as when the city was originally planned, with its gridiron blocks and central square, but the prevalent architecture in the French Quarter bears the imprint of another colonial power.

Brief History

In 1718, New Orleans was founded by the French, who were anxious to establish a port that could help them control the Mississippi River Valley, with the added benefit of limiting the ability of the English to spread west from their colonies along the Atlantic. By 1723, New Orleans was made capital of the expansive territory known as Louisiana. However, the French were never very aggressive with their colonization efforts and the city grew slowly in its early years.

French control lasted only 45 years. After losing the Seven Years War (also known as the French & Indian War), France ceded Louisiana to the British and Spanish, with New Orleans going to Spain in 1763. Growing settlement in the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys meant increasing commercial activity and growth in New Orleans, during Spanish rule.

Two major events transformed the city during this time, resulting in the French Quarter as visitors know it today. Both events were fires, the first and largest in 1788. The map to the left shows the extent of this fire, which destroyed over 800 buildings – the majority in the city. Just six years later, a second fire destroyed over 200 structures. Because most of the structures built up to this time were wooden, the fires spread easily, destroying most of the original French colonial architecture.

In response, the Spanish government enacted strict building and fire codes, which required plaster or stucco exteriors and called for more fire resistant material such as brick for the construction of buildings more than one floor in height. Roofs were also to be tiled.

Although New Orleans and Louisiana were transferred back to the French in 1800, and then purchased by the United States in 1803, the architectural style established by the Spanish continued on for some time as the city prospered and expanded. The following pages contain some examples of the remaining French colonial architecture and then contrast it with the prevalent architecture established in the Spanish period.

Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Building

Spanish Influence in Architecture

The buildings in this exhibit are representative of what would have been the predominant architecture in the city prior to the fires. The Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop building (right), built between 1772 and 1791 per the National Historic Registry, though a historical plaque on the building suggests it was built as early as the 1720s. If the later date is correct, all three buildings shown here were built during the Spanish period, but before the second fire, indicating the continuing use of the French colonial style until the fire codes were enacted.

Gabriel Peyroux House

The Gabriel Peyroux House was built in 1780, and was the first house on its block. Similar to Lafitte’s, it used the popular “brick-between-posts”, or “briquette-entre-poteaux” method of construction, with the posts remaining exposed. This can be contrasted with structures built in New France (Quebec, Canada) where stone was plentiful and encouraged by city officials in Montreal and Quebec City to reduce the risk of fire. Stone was not readily available near New Orleans, resulting in the use of timber.

Madame John’s Legacy House

This house, called Madame John’s Legacy, was built in 1788 but is said to be a replica of a home built on the site much earlier. It includes a raised basement level, which was popular in the flood-prone city. Like Lafitte’s and Peyroux, this building has a hipped roof, one that is sloped on all sides to allow an efficient runoff of water after heavy rains. These buildings did not typically have interior hallways connecting rooms, the covered gallery on the outside served as a passageway. This gallery is a feature often seen in French Caribbean architecture.

Old Ursuline Convent

The building officially regarded as the oldest in the city and the entire Mississippi River Valley, is the Old Ursuline Convent, completed in 1753. Built to house nuns specifically sent to New Orleans by King Louis XV, the building exhibits a more continental influence compared to the colonial structures that dominated the city at the time. In evidence again is the hipped roof and unlike other colonial construction, the underlying structure is brick.

The fact that the building was spared by the 1788 fire was attributed to divine intervention, as the winds shifted just before reaching the convent.

The French Quarter

Sign on Bourbon Street

Signs like this, mark French Quarter streets with the names they were called under Spanish rule. Note that while Louisiana and New Orleans were ceded back to the French in 1800, the agreement stated that the Spanish would continue to govern the territory, until the French were prepared to take over. In 1803, the French both officially took control and then proceeded to sell Louisiana to the United States.

French Quarter Building Arch

This sign marks what is now known as Bourbon Street, the center of the French Quarter’s nightlife. The following pages will show some of the distinctive features, that the Spanish left New Orleans with when they rebuilt the city after the devastating fires in 1788 and 1794.

The photographs presented are representative of commonly recurring architectural features in the French Quarter. The difference between the first picture on the left and the buildings below on the right are immediately striking. The Spanish fire and building codes required common wall construction and for buildings to be sited directly adjacent to the street.

French Quarter Buildings with Spanish-influenced Architecture

These pictures also show three very common elements introduced with the rebuilding of the city. Required by the new code, buildings now were constructed with stucco or plaster exteriors. If the underlying structure had any timber, it was to be cemented over, so as not to leave exposed wood. Arches and courtyards became popular design elements attributed to Spanish influence, and access to those courtyards was granted through wide, covered carriageways.

Example French Quarter Arch

Perhaps the most iconic details in French Quarter architecture are the balconies and galleries that adorn most multistory buildings. The terms are not interchangeable – a gallery is a platform supported by posts extending to ground level, while a balcony only has supports extending from the wall. Both balconies and galleries exhibit intricate ironwork, another Spanish import. Wrought iron gave way to cast iron in the 19th century.

It is important to point out that the Spanish style was not exclusive to other influences. French, Caribbean and American influences mingled in the city during Spanish rule, and continued after the purchase of Louisiana by the United States. Many buildings in the French Quarter date well into the 19th century and continued a tradition of this architectural melting pot.

Cabildo Building in New Orleans

The Cabildo was built between 1795 and 1799 to house the governing council of New Orleans. It is of historical importance to the United States as the place where the ceremonial transfer of Louisiana from the Spanish and then French occurred.

Quoting from www.frenchquarter.com, a clearinghouse of information related to the district, the Cabildo was “designed for the Spanish governing council by Guillemard, a French-born architect. The Cabildo [was] built in the style of Spanish town councils in Spain and the Americas…” But the original Cabildo did not include the third story and mansard roof. The mansard roof, a French design element, was added in 1847, forty-four years after New Orleans’ had been transferred to the United States of America. This makes the Cabildo, a prominent building in the city’s history, one of the best examples of the architectural history of the French Quarter.

References:

Books:

Fraiser, Jim. The French Quarter of New Orleans. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003. 11-17, 23-31.

Harris, Cole. “France in North America.” North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent.Second Edition. Ed. McIlwraith, Thomas & Muller, Edward. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2001. 65, 85.