Walking Tour of New Orleans Garden District
The Garden District is a charming historic neighborhood that is filled with a diverse mix of homes and is known for having beautiful mansions. Many of the homes there are described as having a “Creole Style” architecture, which is also known as a “French Colonial Style” architecture. Creole architecture is a juxtaposition of French, Spanish and Caribbean influences. This walking tour will bring you to some of the most famous parts of the Garden District and also provide a short summary of these sights
Tour Destinations
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Christ Church Cathedral
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Lafayette Cemetery No. 1
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Commanders Palace
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Walter Robinson House
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Anne Rice House
6. Adams-Jones House
7. Women’s Opera Guild House
8. Briggs Staub House
9. Colonels Short’s Villa
10. The Rink Shopping Center
Directions
1. Christ Church Cathedral
After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the French and Spanish population that made up the city of New Orleans was mainly Roman Catholic. Because of this, in 1805 there was an appeal published in the Louisiana Gazette calling for a place of worship for non-Roman Catholics. This led to the first non-Roman Catholic congregation in the Louisiana Purchase called Christ’s Church. After this congregation, services were held in numerous public buildings until 1816 when the first Christ Church was built at the corner of Canal and Bourbon street. As the New Orleans community continued to grow, the Christ Church was not large enough for congregations, so a new version of it was constructed in 1837. In 1845, there were plans for a third church building that was in a Gothic style instead of the Greek temple style of the one that was standing at the time. This third building did not replace the second, but it was built on the corner of Canal and Dauphine. None of these earlier buildings still stand today. The current church standing was not erected until the late 19th century after New Orleans was significantly growing. This building is in a Gothic style and was designed by Lawrence B. Valk, an architect from New York. The chapel was added in 1889 and was built to match the Gothic style of the rest of the Church. The Christ Church saw its latest expansion program in 1959, with new administrative offices, the Church School, library, assembly hall, and service areas. These new expansions also followed the gothic design of the cathedral and church.
2. Lafayette Cemetery No. 1
This cemetery was founded in 1833 and takes its name from the location it was once in, which was the City of Lafayette. This suburb of New Orleans was taken over by the larger metropolitan area in 1852. The Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is famous for its mausoleums, which are large tombs built above ground that can house multiple members of the same family. Because New Orleans is below sea level, many of the cemeteries in the city have tombs built above ground. The cemetery also includes a cruciform plan to make funeral processions possible. In 1972, the cemetery was included in the Nation Register of Historic Places to help preserve this historical site. The Lafayette Cemetery can be seen in multiple films and TV series like Hard Target (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Double Jeopardy (1999), The Originals (2013), and (2009).
3. Commander's Palace
Commander’s Palace was established by Emile Commander in 1893 on the corner of Washington Avenue and Coliseum Street. Commander’s Palace began to attract attention from gourmets all over the world by 1900. The restaurant was owned by Frank G. Giarratano during the 1920s, but it was eventually sold in 1944 to Frank and Elinor Moran because of Giarrantano’s declining health and fear of the restaurant failing during World War II. The Morans expanded the menu and encourage dining in the restaurant courtyard next to a large goldfish/koi pond, which can still be seen at the restaurant today. The restaurant was purchased later in 1969 by the Brennans, who also own other restaurants in New Orleans. Today, Commander’s Palace is still one of New Orleans’s most well-known restaurants. It is known for having award-winning food and has preserved its old and classic New Orleans style. Commander’s Palace has a Creole-inspired menu that combines recipes and flavors from both Louisiana Creole and Cajun cuisine. This restaurant is one of the many to thank for preserving, modernizing, and sharing Creole cuisine.
4. Walter Robinson House
The Walter Robinson House was built in 1859 by a famous New Orleans architect named Henry Howard, who was a cotton merchant from Virginia. This Italian-style mansion was one of the first houses in New Orleans to have indoor plumbing. This mansion is one of the largest and grandest in the district, which can be seen by its Doric* columns on the first floor, the Corinthian* columns on the second, the curved structure of the entrance, and its roof that once acted as a vat to collect water.
*Doric columns are an architectural element originating from ancient Greece. It has a very plain and straightforward design, so it is sometimes associated with strength and masculinity. They are often used for the lowest level of buildings because they are believed to be able to hold the most weight.
*Corinthian columns are ornate columns that were also developed in ancient Greece. They are more complex than Doric columns and lighter than Doric columns. The top part of Corinthian columns has lavish ornamentation carved that resembles leaves and flowers. They are rarely used as common porch columns, but— instead— they are used for Greek revival mansions or public architecture.
5. Anne Rice House
The Anne Rice House was built in 1857 by James Calrow and Charles Pride. The house contains both Greek Revival and Italianate elements. The house was commissioned by Albert Hamilton Brevard, who was a wealthy merchant. Brevard did not get to enjoy his mansion for long, dying only two years after moving into it. After his death in 1869, Brevard’s daughter sold the house to Reverend Emory Clapp, which is why the house is also known as the “Brevard-Clapp” house. Reverend Clapp advanced the house’s unique architecture by adding massive French mirrors in the double parlors on the first floor. The house was not occupied by Stan and Anne Rice until 1989, and they stayed in this house until 2004. This house was an inspiration for Mayfair Manor, which is the Garden District home of Anne’s Mayfair Witches in her series “Lives of the Mayfair Witches”. Rice drew much inspiration from her own house in her writings.
6. Adams-Jones House
The Adams-Jones house was built in 1860 for John I. Adams, a merchant who purchased the section from the former Jacques Francois de Livaudais plantation (the current day Garden District). Adams lived in the house until 1869, and—over the next century—there were various owners of the residence. In the 1960s, Mrs. Hamilton Polk Jones restored the house and established the home as a historical landmark in 1995 by the New Orleans Landmarks Commission.
7. Women's Opera Guild House
In 1859, the Women’s Opera Guild House was designed by William A. Freret in a Greek Revival style. After the Civil War, the house’s owner had lost his fortune and could not make the payments. The house was then put at auction in 1867 and bought by Freret. The octagonal wing on the side of the house was not added until the late 1890s and by a different architect than Freret. In 1944, the house was purchased by Dr. Herman de Bacchelle Seebold and his wife Nettie Kenney Seebold. The Seebolds were a couple who appreciated art and design, so they added their own elements of design to the house: elaborate plasterwork moldings, rosette medallions, Italian carved mahogany baluster, a Trumeau mirror from the Pitti Palace in Florence, and more. They also brought paintings from artists like William Adolphe Bouguereau and R.E.T. Rousseau. When the Seebolds passed away in 1965, Mrs. Seebold had hand-written her will to give their home to the Opera Women’s guild. She also included that none of the contents of the home were to be removed or sold. According to the New Orleans Opera’s website, their goal is “To enrich the lives of all people by producing opera of the highest artistic quality and providing educational opportunities through traditional and innovative approaches”. The Women’s Guild was founded in 1947 and works with New Orleans Opera by actively fundraising and advocating for the opera. Today the house can be rented out for various functions, such as weddings, dinners, and film shoots; all proceeds go to the New Orleans Opera Association.
8. Briggs-Staub House
The Briggs-Staub House was built by James Gallier Jr. in 1849 for the planter Cuthbert Bullitt. This house was built in a Gothic style, which can be seen both inside and outside of the home. During the period it was built, Garden District Protestant Americans shunned the Gothic Revival architecture because it reminded them of Roman Catholicism of their Creole antagonists. After Gallier finished the house, Bullitt would not pay for it, leading the house to be sold to Charles Briggs instead. Instead of filling the servant quarters with African slaves, Briggs hired Irish servants instead.
9. Colonel Short's Villa
Colonel Short’s Villa was built and designed by Henry Howard in 1859 for Colonel Robert Short. The house was built in an Italian renaissance style and is known for its iron-wrought fences with cornstalk motifs. In 1863, the home was confiscated to be the executive mansion of the federal governor of Louisiana, Michael Hahn; it was later returned to Short, who lived in the home until he died in 1890.
10. The Rink Shopping Center
The Rink Shopping Center was opened in 1884, originally as a roller skating rink. Crescent City Skating Rink was not only a place for skating, but it was also used to hold conferences, meetings, private parties, and even Mardi Gras Balls. At the time of its opening, it was said that 500 people could skate at once and the building had concessions, dressing rooms, a stage for a band, and many other facilities for recreational use. The era of the Crescent City Skating Rink was short-lived because, in 1889, John C. Bach bought the property to convert into a horse stable. Here, Bach would rent out horse carriages and had drivers available around the clock. The horse stable lasted almost as briefly as the skating rink, and — in 1912 — it was leased to the company Tharp-Bultman turned into a Texaco Service gas station by the 1930s. The building was later restored to its current status of being a neighborhood shopping center known for its bookstore and coffee shop.
