Architects of Opulence

Abstract

Rarely has New Orleans attracted master architects. Throughout the period of French rule the city was a pestiferous swamp, thoroughly uninviting to the architecturally ambitious. Ignace François Broutin, engineer to the king, produced a number of grandiose schemes for the city, but few were actually built.1 The city prospered under Spanish rule, yet its character as a provincial trading center was only reinforced.2 Were it not for the initiative of one man, Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, the city would have entered the period of American rule without a single major monument other than the Ursuline Convent.3 Even with Almonester’s munificence, Spanish New Orleans remained a pale echo of the great rococo centers in Havana and elsewhere in the Spanish New World. Nor did the situation improve markedly under American rule. New Orleans attracted a genuine master in Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the supervising architect of the United States Capitol, but he succumbed to yellow fever before he could leave a strong and lasting mark on the city.KeywordsYellow FeverUrban ResidenceBrick BuildingCrescent CityRace StreetThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.