LCV Winter 2012 - (Page 95)

includes anecdotes about the house’s Union occupation beginning in 1863, noting how General Benjamin Butler redecorated with a neighbor’s furniture — pieces he’d swapped from down the street. The 1840s and 1850s brought Italian influence to the prevailing Greek Revival design, a shift that would become even more pronounced after the Civil War. The author shares a wealth of description and photographs to illustrate subtle changes in taste that brought arched windows and other Italian ornamentation to familiar designs. Of note is the Rodenberg House (1853-54), updated with Italianate bays in 1869. In the years just before the Civil War, Gothic Revival came into fashion; a number of houses reflecting this style are still found in the Garden District. The Briggs House (1849), designed by James Gallier Sr., is an elegant interpretation of the style, with the uniquely New Orleans additions of cast-iron galleries to soften its stucco exterior. The author’s underlying theme is the rise of American influence over the early Creole culture and ethos. Fraiser points out that for all the naysaying from old-line Creoles, it was these “new men” who brought technological innovations to the Garden District and the city at large. The money and foresight of and those he inspired built many of them on large lots as a sign of the “new men” coming into full power as members of the city’s elite. The Walker Mansion (1885) and Truffant House (1891) make this statement well through their size and ornate detail. Fraiser notes that for the most part, Modern Age prosperity passed New Orleans by — the city’s record of corruption, poor education, race relations and crime were as much a part of Gilded Age New Orleans as they are in the 21st century. Twentieth-century construction is a mixed bag in the Garden District. Numerous older homes were razed in the post-World War II era; mid-century modern gems, ranch houses, and tightly-packed townhouses took their place. A few examples of earlier “traditional” styles have been built in the past 20 years, but they are rare. Perhaps more important to the neighborhood’s future is a commitment to renovation and restoration. Shotgun houses and smaller versions of grand mansions could easily have fallen prey to developers. Gentrification brought a wave of young people who have become the Garden District’s “new men (and women)” of the present day. Maps are crucial in a work like this, but they are glaringly absent from Fraiser’s book. Both the text and the neighborhood itself are difficult to navigate without well-designed graphics. Locals know these cotton factors, bankers and industrialists introduced gas lighting, running water and somewhat reliable street drainage to New Orleans. Further, the “new men” of the Garden District reshaped Carnival. In 1857, The Mystic Krewe of Comus, chartered by former residents of Mobile, Alabama, paraded through the Faubourg St. Marie and French Quarter for the first time. The glorious, well-organized parade was a marked departure from celebrations that had degenerated into a season of street brawls. Even the Creole newspapers were impressed with the spectacle, with the Daily Crescent calling the 1858 parade “the most brilliant and novel affair New Orleans had ever seen.” Sometimes overlooked in the shadows of their neighbors’ grandeur, small but compelling architecture is found in the Garden District’s shotgun houses. These narrow, efficiently designed structures had been built in the city since the 1830s, but in the 1860s their design began to echo what was seen on larger homes. The “Seven Sisters” on Coliseum (1868) and the Harmony Street Row (1871), by John Hall and Henry Hall, are fine examples of restrained elegance. After the Civil War, Reconstruction-era wealth brought Queen Anne-style homes to the Garden District. These are perhaps most prominent on St. Charles Avenue, and are homes that a casual visitor to the city recognizes instantly. Architect Thomas Sully the dividing lines, cross streets, and landmarks, but in a stand-alone book intended for a wide audience, the omission is disappointing. And while one can see the logic in following a chronological progression of architectural styles and influences, it seems to have kept Fraiser from addressing the block-by-block nature of the Garden District. Additionally, historical context is often dropped in with little sense of transition — it’s frequently up to the reader to create links between the information itself and how it connects to the Garden District. There’s much interesting material about the yellow fever and cholera epidemics, the importance of free persons of color to the city’s growth, as well as a number of other topics that relate (often tangentially) to the Garden District. Few readers will follow sequentially from cover to cover, but perhaps that’s all the more reason to have found a way to make each section cohesive and fully engaging. Readers of this handsome volume will be tempted to turn first to the index to see how many of the houses they’ve visited. Given New Orleanians’ love of talking “real estate and restaurants” at any dinner party or social gathering, this book is destined to grace many a Crescent City coffee table. __________________________________________________________________ Thomas Uskali, a New Orleans-based writer and actor, also reviews books for the Mobile (Ala.) Register. Winter 2012-13 • Louisiana CuLturaL Vistas 95 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LCV Winter 2012

LCV Winter 2012

https://www.nxtbook.com/leh/lcvwinter2012/lcvwinter2012
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com