Morning in the Quarter

by Cheri Randolph

Title

Morning in the Quarter

Artist

Cheri Randolph

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Most visitors to New Orleans are familiar with the night spots and raucous activity on Bourbon Street, but few realize that this is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in the United States. In this quiet early-morning view of the Quarter or Vieux Carre, the visitor seems to have been transported to another place in time.

Many of the buildings date from before New Orleans became part of the United States, although there are some late 19th century and early 20th century buildings in the area as well. Since the 1920s the historic buildings have been protected by law and cannot be demolished, and any renovations or new construction in the neighborhood must be done according to regulations to match the period historic architectural style.

Most of the French Quarter's architecture was built during the time of Spanish rule over New Orleans and this is reflected in its architecture. The Great New Orleans Fire (1788) and another great fire in 1794 destroyed most of the Quarter's old French colonial architecture, leaving the colony's new Spanish overlords to rebuild it according to more modern tastes—and strict new fire codes, which mandated that all structures be physically adjacent and close to the curb to create a firewall. The old French peaked roofs were replaced with flat tiled ones, and now-banned wooden siding with fire-resistant stucco, painted in the pastel hues fashionable at the time. As a result, colorful walls and roofs and elaborately decorated ironwork balconies and galleries, from both the 18th century and the early 19th century, abound. (In southeast Louisiana, a distinction is made between "balconies", which are self-supporting and attached to the side of the building, and "galleries" which are supported from the ground by poles or columns.)

On December 21, 1965, the "Vieux Carre Historic District" was designated a National Historic Landmark

Note: This image has been processed using a digital watercolor filter. It will be more effective if printed on watercolor or Somerset Velvet paper.

Uploaded

February 4th, 2012

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