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09 · American Vernacular & Regional

Creole Townhouse

c. 1790–1850

Stuccoed brick row buildings on the sidewalk, with iron balconies, arched openings and a carriageway to a rear courtyard.

Look for

Wrought-iron balcony Stucco wall Courtyard Round arch
Hermann-Grima House, New Orleans, Louisiana: an example of Creole Townhouse architecture
Hermann-Grima House, New Orleans, Louisiana. Photo: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0
Pontalba Buildings, New Orleans, Louisiana
Pontalba Buildings New Orleans, Louisiana · unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0
LaLaurie Mansion, New Orleans, Louisiana
LaLaurie Mansion New Orleans, Louisiana · APK, CC BY-SA 4.0
Gallier House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Gallier House New Orleans, Louisiana · Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 4.0
Townhouse on Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
Townhouse on Bourbon Street New Orleans, Louisiana · Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0

what it is

Creole townhouses are masonry buildings of two or more stories in New Orleans' French Quarter, built from about 1790 to 1850. The facade stands directly on the property line, with no front yard, and has an asymmetrical arrangement of arched openings. Walls are brick, usually covered in stucco. Roofs are side-gabled and set with dormers, with a parapet (a low wall) along the edge. Upper floors carry wrought or cast iron balconies or galleries, and a carriageway, a passage through the building, leads to a rear courtyard.

The Hermann-Grima House (1831), a Federal style house with galleries, and the LaLaurie Mansion on Royal Street, rebuilt after 1838, are French Quarter examples. The four-story Pontalba Buildings (1849-1851) line two sides of Jackson Square. French Colonial buildings such as Madame John's Legacy (1788) differ: they have a brick basement under a wood-frame main floor and wooden galleries, while townhouses are stuccoed brick built to the sidewalk.

how to spot one

Wrought-iron balcony A balcony with a railing of wrought (hammered) or cast (molded) iron, often worked into scrolls and leaves. It is common in New Orleans's French Quarter and in Spanish Colonial towns. Stucco wall A wall coated with stucco, a plaster of cement or lime, sand and water, finished smooth or textured. It is common on Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival and Mediterranean Revival buildings. Courtyard An open-air space enclosed by the walls of a building or group of buildings. It brings light and air to inner rooms in Roman, Islamic, Chinese and Spanish Colonial houses. Round arch An arch shaped as a half circle, often built from wedge-shaped blocks called voussoirs. It is used over doors, windows and between columns in Roman, Romanesque, Renaissance and Richardsonian Romanesque buildings.

Also look for

DormerParapetFrench doorsTransom window

history

Creole townhouses developed in New Orleans after the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 and a second fire in 1794, which together destroyed about 80% of the city's buildings. The Spanish colonial government, which then ruled Louisiana, issued building codes that banned wooden siding in favor of brick covered in stucco and required thick fireproof walls between adjoining buildings. The French-speaking population kept its own building habits and added timber balconies and galleries of Caribbean origin. In many townhouses a carriageway replaced the front entrance and gave access to the interior courtyard.

Cast iron galleries replaced the timber ones in the mid-1800s. The Pontalba Buildings (1849-1851), designed by James Gallier and Henry Howard for Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba, are the first recorded use of cast iron galleries in the city, and similar multi-level galleries were soon added to older buildings in the French Quarter as well. Townhouses continued to be built in New Orleans into the 1850s, when James Gallier Jr. built his own house at 1132 Royal Street (1857-1860) with a carriageway and courtyard but with Greek Revival and Italianate detail.

where to find it

The French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana: the Pontalba Buildings on Jackson Square, the Hermann-Grima House on St. Louis Street, and the LaLaurie Mansion and Gallier House on Royal Street.

easy to confuse with

Cahokia Courthouse, an example of French Colonial French Colonial Living floors raised a story off the ground, wrapped in full-width porches under one broad hipped roof. Mission San Xavier del Bac, an example of Spanish Colonial Spanish Colonial White stucco walls, red clay tile roofs, arcades, courtyards, and wrought iron grilles. Elvis Presley Birthplace, an example of Shotgun House Shotgun House One room wide and several rooms deep: a narrow gabled house with a full-width front porch. Single house on Spring Street, an example of Charleston Single House Charleston Single House A narrow house with its gable end to the street and tiered side porches reached through a street door.