Martha Ann Brett Samuel

“ Mr. Robb directed his carriage out Jackson to the river, turning right at Levee Street with its Belgian block pavements, made of granite blocks dumped on the levee from foreign ships which brought them 6 as ballast. The river front as far as the boy could see was lined with flatboats, the ugly but extremely practical box-like floating storehouses, their “broadhorns” shipped and nestling so close to each other that one could walk for miles along their cabintops. ”

“ The architect, whether Mr. Payne or some unsung genius, achieved a masterpiece which has both dignity and grace. The use of the Greek Revival style of architecture could not have been more correct. The handsome portico with its double gallery is adorned with great columns, Ionic below and Corinthian above, in the great classic tradition. Massive gables of the house with their twin chimneys are typical of the high quality of materials and workmanship employed. ”

“ This early Louisiana cottage, believed to date from the 1840’s, looks today much as it did when the little railroad on Nayades Street brought wealthy business men from their offices downtown out to their palatial Garden District homes.
The façade of the house is symmetrically lovely, distinguished by the wooden railing in a diamond-shaped design, so seldom found today. Typical of the best features of homes of this period are the wide center hall, high ceilings, double parlors, cypress woodwork with hand-hammered door knobs, heart pine floors and handsome window glass. ”

“ Proceeding up the broad, high flight of center stairs, the visitor 33 crosses the wide veranda and reaches the handsome front door, which in its carved basket of fruit ornamentation repeats one of the motifs of the grillwork. An old-fashioned pull type of doorbell announces a caller. Inside one enters a center hall of breath-taking proportions. Within its area of 67 feet by 12 feet could be placed several rooms of a modern development house. Here again we find the reflection of the classic revival in the elaborate plaster work of cornices and ceiling. ”

“ Although the municipal personality called Lafayette City has disappeared, the way of life it launched within the framework of greater New Orleans will remain as long as there is a New Orleans. There was the gay, industrious, hard-working, but pleasure-loving commercial part of old Lafayette; and the spacious, gracious section of the great homes, the ante-bellum and post-bellum houses of the area known as the Garden District. ”

“ The fire began in the Lafayette Theater and took the entire block with it. Sparks jumped across the street and claimed Terpsichore Hall and several houses next door. A boy doesn’t forget a sight like that!
The crowd now gravitated around the towering flagpole at the river end of Jackson Market. If there was any place the residents of Lafayette City instinctively considered the center of town, this spot was it, under the 135 foot high flagpole. Although one block from the courthouse, it represented the heart of Lafayette out of pure sentiment. ”

“ From the entrance hall the stairway, which has rails and spindles of mahogany, extends in an unbroken flight to the floor above. The typical double parlor is divided by a large arch, necessary to support the ceiling. This arch of carved mahogany terminates in a decorative corbel at either end. Two fireplaces warmed the area in winter and many windows, all with handmade glass, provided the necessary summer ventilation. The marble mantels are unusual in that they are an unidentical pair. One depicts spring; the other, autumn. Throughout the house are rare antiques, paintings and objets d’art. ”

“ Extending the width of the house in the rear is a 38-foot-long dining room and enclosed porch. Huge sheets of glass installed in the spaces between “iron lace” grillwork of a characteristic Garden District gallery permit sweeping views of the garden while preserving the traditional character of the dwelling.
The charming garden is a prize example of achieving maximum beauty in a more or less minimum space. ”

“ The birds are done on canvas, and the field paper is a companion to that on the walls. In this room is a pair of mantels, dark Italian marble rimmed with silver plated brass, with hearths of Italian tiles. When the fireplaces are in use, fascinating designs embossed on the iron firebacks glow and stand out in relief. At the far end of this spacious chamber is a small room, now converted into a bar, which was once the room where musicians sat while furnishing music for soirées.
Native Louisiana birds in swamp setting are fireplace decorations in Brennan house. ”

“ This section, peopled as it was chiefly by those who conducted their businesses in New Orleans, but who enjoyed the shaded gardens for their residences, rapidly developed a life apart from the teeming waterfront of Lafayette City. Inevitably a rivalry began. The catalyst was the constant annoyance of pounding hooves and the odors of the slaughterhouses and tanneries. Eventually, the early residents of the Garden District were instrumental in getting the Lafayette City Council to pass restrictive measures which removed the cattle landing. ”

“ A good notion of its size can be obtained from counting the many chimneys which rise from the slate roof. Constructed entirely of wood, it exemplifies the style developed locally just before the War Between the States. Here we find the characteristic fluted Corinthian columns used on both upper and lower galleries and linked by iron grillwork. Gracefully curved upper portions of windows and shutters lend a note of harmony. The semi-octagonal bay which extends on the north side of the house was once the dining room but was transformed into a bar and kitchen in recent years. ”

“ The lack of elaborate ornamentation in the house is a testament to its great age. The pine mantels in the summer living room downstairs and the simplicity of the woodwork are examples. Also notably chaste in design is the cornice of the upstairs drawing room. It has been estimated that one square foot of this molding would weigh 12 pounds. In this room and the dining room the Italian marble mantels are replacements made many years ago. Fireplaces remain in almost every room in the house and are sometimes used in the winter. ”

“ In 1853 the Reverend William Duncan, later a professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Louisiana, opened the Young Ladies’ Seminary on the corner of Jackson and Prytania Streets. The seminary offered what was for that time quite an impressive curriculum in languages, arts and physical sciences.
Little is known today about the Carnatz Institute, a “fashionable academy for young ladies”, which in the 1860’s occupied a substantial brick cottage on the present site of McGehee School. This corner of First and Prytania streets had been one of the first settled in this part of Lafayette. ”

“ Amid architectural surroundings which bespeak a bygone age of leisure, work and study now prevail as the students pursue their exacting college preparatory curriculum.
Designed in the splendid free Renaissance style by James Freret, the mansion was constructed in 1872 for Bradish Johnson, a young man of wealth and discrimination whose family fortune was based on sugar plantations. Its erection marked the second great period of affluence for the Garden District. According to tradition it was built at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars and its furnishings were as lavish as the house itself. ”

“ The floor plan of the main floor of the house is typical, a wide central hall, in this instance eight feet wide and 33 feet long, which extends from front gallery to back gallery. Behind the characteristic double parlors on the right of the hall an added wing contains dining room and kitchen. All rooms are large, distinguished in proportion but not formal in character. Modernization has been done in an unobstrusive way by the present owners who also corrected alterations done some 20 years ago so that all changes are now compatible with the structure’s original lines. ”

“ In competition with gardens of much greater size, it won the New Orleans Garden Society Cup for three consecutive years, at which time the cup was permanently presented to the Terrys. Planned around a large swimming pool, it is skillfully laid out so as to give the impression of much greater size. Among the plantings are found azaleas, camellias, sasanquas, sweet olives, hibiscus, hydrangeas and spring bulbs. The view from the rear of the garden toward the house is particularly pleasing.
The late Dr. Terry was a tireless worker on behalf of the preservation of the Garden District. ”

“ The succession of Spanish governors, who took over the colony after 1763, failed to enforce the strict embargo against any but Spanish vessels trading with New Orleans merchants. The British, under the pretext of sailing their commercial vessels up the Mississippi past New Orleans to their own colonies at Manchac, Baton Rouge and Natchez, would tie up above New Orleans in the future Lafayette area, and carry on a heavy trade in merchandise and slaves with the businessmen and planters in and around the city. ”

“ Outside, the distinctive fence of morning glories intertwining cornstalks which was falling to pieces in 1950 when the Morans bought the house, has been restored. When the repairs were underway, an exposed base of a fence post revealed that the iron work was supplied by Wood and Perot, the famous Philadelphia foundry. Through the local agents, Wood and Miltenberger, this firm supplied a good percentage of the cast iron used in New Orleans. It is likely that the “iron lace” galleries on this house were also their work. ”

“ No houses could well be in better harmony with their surroundings, or more pleasing to the eye, or more home-like and comfortable-looking....”
“The galleries are loaded with women in soft colors, mainly white.”
George Washington Cable, who is credited with introducing the French Quarter’s charms to the world, was born on Annunciation Square, just below Lafayette City and later grew up and spent many years in various homes in the Garden District. Cable was internationally celebrated in his day for his Creole stories. ”

“ Outside, the garden has been kept in a naturalistic planting to preserve the plantation atmosphere. The large live oak in the back is a member of the unique Live Oak Society and is listed as the Livaudais oak. The big Magnolia grandiflora trees, the much beloved Southern magnolia, were said to have been planted in the year the house was built. ”

“ The cast iron capitals of the columns are marked New York, 1848.
The exterior of the house is stuccoed brick and the thick walls within are also of brick. Cypress was used for the beams; heart pine, for the floors. Window frames and doors are of mahogany. The decoration of this house is more restrained than in most of the houses built later when a greater exuberance came into vogue. The cornice design was duplicated in a miniature room depicting a New Orleans interior in the Chicago Institute of Art. ”

“ The prospects of the Garden District of Lafayette were also favorably mentioned by the editor of the Spectator, a Whig newspaper published there during the mid-century era:
“It is already the seat of fashionable residences. The property in the rear of the district has been greatly sought by merchants and bankers and professional men. Little or none has been held for speculation. ”

“ The tremendous size, the asymmetrical design and the beautiful iron work galleries on front and sides make it an unusual structure. Designing during a period when romanticism was the ascendant trend in arts and letters, the architect Henry Howard turned to the Italian villa style, which he skillfully adapted to the hot and humid New Orleans climate. Built in 1859 for Colonel Robert Henry Short, a Kentucky colonel, the house cost the wealthy commission merchant $23,750. Cost of duplication today would be impossible to estimate. ”

“ It seems reasonable to suppose that the date of construction was between that time and 1850, the dawn of Lafayette’s great era of building. Since no record of architect or builder has been found, it is a popular local supposition that Mr. Payne himself designed the house, carrying on the tradition of the previous century when many gentlemen considered skill in architecture a necessary accomplishment. ”

“ The operator of this mule car branch railroad which first served Lafayette City crosstown was the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad Company. In July, 1834, it was franchised to construct a “single railway commencing from the intersection of Jackson and Nayades Streets into said city running through Jackson to the site of the projected market house, thence branching around said market house and running to the river Mississippi.” The rate of travel could not, by law, exceed four 12 miles per hour. ”

“ House as it appears today, with galleries, ironwork added in 1870’s.
Strangely, these distinguished writers and authors went back to their offices in the East and proceeded to turn out bales of copy about New Orleans but with only side references to the Garden District. Passing mention was made of the luxury and beauty of the homes of this area, but the French Quarter was the subject of all the sketches and engraved illustrations. Rare is the surviving sketch, tintype or glass plate photo of amateur or professional. ”

“ Lovely raised cottage on Eighth Street was Cable’s home, scene of many literary gatherings during late 19th century in New Orleans.
Great sports figures knew the Garden District. The Southern Athletic Club, at Washington Avenue and Prytania Street, now Behrman Gymnasium, was a center of athletic endeavor for the elite of the area, and its volunteer military units had headquarters there. Among the sports luminaries who used its facilities was the great Jake Kilrain. He trained there in 1889 for his bout with John L. Sullivan at Richburg, Miss. ”

“ Little wonder that the ruin became “The Haunted House of Lafayette”, until it was finally torn down in 1863.
The Livaudais plantation became a valuable part of Lafayette City at its incorporation with the Faubourgs of Nuns and Lafayette in 1833. 11 It supplied, besides more river frontage, fine residential sites, covered with the rich silt from the Macarty crevasse. It would indeed grow anything, but particularly, flowers in profusion.
Omnibus line using double-decker vehicles was the first means of transportation between New Orleans, Lafayette, via Tchoupitoulas. ”