Misplaced Pages

#6993

64-540: The Pontalba Buildings form two sides of Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans , Louisiana . They are matching red-brick, one-block-long, four‑story buildings built between 1849–1851 by the Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba . The ground floors house shops and restaurants; and the upper floors are apartments which, reputedly, are the oldest continuously rented such apartments in

128-657: A mansion on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris which she used to host an endless, lavish succession of balls and soirées. Her mansion is known today as the Hôtel de Pontalba , and serves as official residence of the United States Ambassador to France . She was described as a "flamboyant, temperamental redhead", though portraits depict her with brown hair, blue-grey eyes, and pale skin; Christina Vella described her complexion as

192-499: A French national. Sometime after the wedding, Micaela and Célestin, accompanied by both their mothers, left Louisiana for France. They arrived in July 1812 and the couple took up residence with Célestin's family at Mont-l'Évêque , the moated, medieval de Pontalba chateau outside Senlis which was about 50 miles from Paris. Her mother, Louise Castillon, went to live in a rented house in Paris before she set about astutely buying up property in

256-500: A life of affliction and resilience. Her portrait as a young wife shows a woman of grace and reflection; her photograph at an older age shows a hardened veteran with unmistakably masculine features," a highly subjective opinion of a lady in her latter years, and of little to no historical import. In 1848 at the outbreak of revolution in France , Micaela and two of her sons, Alfred and Gaston, departed for New Orleans. There, she quickly became

320-557: A native of Mairena del Alcor , Andalucia , Spain , was a wealthy notary and politician who amassed a fortune in real estate and land transfers from his power on the Cabildo , the Spanish governing council of New Orleans, and his contacts with the Spanish Crown. On 20 March 1787, he married Louise Denis de la Ronde (1758 - 1825), who was 30 years his junior. Despite that Christina Vella , in

384-498: A pair of dueling pistols, and then committed suicide. She survived the attack, although her left breast and two of her fingers were mutilated by gunfire. Her husband, Cèlestin, succeeded his father as baron, and Micaela was thereafter styled Baroness de Pontalba. She eventually obtained a legal separation from her husband. Micaela was responsible for the design and construction of the famous Pontalba Buildings in Jackson Square , in

448-415: A theatre where she put on plays. She put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into her project, ordering costumes for the performers and hiring local people for the minor roles and Parisian artists for the leading roles. She often performed onstage in the amateur theatrical productions which were attended by her friends from Paris. However, the constant interference of her eccentric father-in-law eventually turned

512-458: Is a crucial site, with much of the game's action focusing on it and a number of characters making their appearance there. In the 2017 novel Poisoned Tears , by Honduran author J. H. Bográn, one of the victims of the novel's serial killer is found in Jackson Square. On Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve '17 with Ryan Seacrest , Jackson Square rings in the new year for the first time during

576-674: Is a historic park in the French Quarter of New Orleans , Louisiana . It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, for its central role in the city's history, and as the site where in 1803 Louisiana was made United States territory pursuant to the Louisiana Purchase . In 2012 the American Planning Association designated Jackson Square as one of the Great Public Spaces in the United States. The square

640-536: Is named for Andrew Jackson , the 7th president of the United States. Jackson Square was designed after the famous 17th-century Place des Vosges in Paris , France , by the architect and landscape architect Louis H. Pilié . Jackson Square is roughly the size of a city block (GPS +29.9575 -90.0630). Sculptor Clark Mills' equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson (a recasting of the Washington, D.C., statue ), hero of

704-636: Is the setting of an early scene in the graphic novel Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh . In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Image in the Sand ", Joseph Sisko ( Brock Peters ) reveals that he met his first wife Sarah ( Deborah Lacey ) in Jackson Square. Jackson Square is one of the most important locations that can be visited in the computer game Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers . The park

SECTION 10

#1732852332007

768-578: The Battle of New Orleans and seventh U.S. president for whom the former military parade ground was named, was erected in 1856. Iron fences, walkways, benches, and Parisian-style landscaping remain intact from the original design by Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba , in 1851. She also built the Pontalba Buildings , which flank the old square . The flagpole, symbolizing the 1803 ceremonial transfers from Spain to France and then from France to

832-663: The Civil War days. Jackson Square has been the site of hundreds of live music events. Every year, the square hosts the French Quarter Festival and Caroling in Jackson Square. Occasionally, formal concerts are given in the park. Jackson Square has been filmed in numerous television shows and movies. Among these are the films Angel Heart , The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , King Creole, and television series K-Ville , Treme , Memphis Beat and The Originals . It

896-650: The Democratic claimant to the office of the Governor , defeated the New Orleans militia, seizing control of the state's buildings and armory for a few days. They retreated before the arrival of Federal forces, which temporarily re-established order. From the 1920s through the 1980s the square was famous as a gathering place of painters of widely varying talents, including proficient professionals, talented young art students, amateurs, and caricaturists . The 1960s and 1970s saw

960-525: The French and Indian Wars . Through her father, Louise was the great-granddaughter of famed Judge and poet René-Louis Chartier de Lotbinière of Maison Lotbinière , a great-great niece of Simon-Pierre Denys de Bonaventure and, through his wife, Charlotte Denys de La Ronde, a great-niece of Claude de Ramezay . Louise's mother, Madeleine (Broutin) Denys de la Ronde, was the daughter of Ignace Francois Broutin , royal engineer, celebrated architect, and commandant of

1024-652: The Great Depression ). In the short story "Hidden Gardens," Truman Capote describes them as "the oldest, in some ways most somberly elegant, apartment houses in America, the Pontalba Buildings." They were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974 for their early and distinctive architecture. Jackson Square, New Orleans Jackson Square , formerly the Place d'Armes (French) or Plaza de Armas (Spanish),

1088-437: The Pontalba Buildings . Their exteriors resembled the edifices in Paris' Place des Vosges . The construction of the Pontalba Buildings cost more than $ 300,000, and she was a constant visitor to the construction sites, often supervising the work on horseback. The cast-ironwork decorating the balconies were also her personal design and she had her initials "AP" carved into the center of each section. Micaela knew so much about

1152-618: The St. Louis Cathedral , the Presbytere and the Cabildo , all of which line one side of Place d'Armes . The original church and Cabildo had been destroyed in the Great New Orleans fire of 1788 . Shortly afterwards, Micaela's mother, Louise, married Jean-Baptiste Castillon, the 25-year-old French Consul. The bride being seven years older than the groom was widely exaggerated, garnering much scorn from

1216-552: The United States , reflects Louisiana's rich colonial history. During the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) repainted façades, renovated buildings, and improved landscaping in and around the park. In 1971, the pedestrian zone in the vicinity of Jackson Square was created, when three surrounding streets were closed to vehicular traffic—Chartres, St. Peter, and St. Ann. Early French colonial New Orleans

1280-462: The United States . Baroness Pontalba, an accomplished businesswoman, invested in real estate, purchasing the land on the upriver and downriver sides of the Place d'Armes. She constructed two Parisian-style row house buildings between 1849–1851, at a cost of over $ 300,000. The buildings include the first recorded instance in the city of the use of cast iron ' galleries ', which set a fashion that soon became

1344-598: The "hue of stored muslin". She was not classically beautiful... she was intelligent and strong-willed, and attracted much admiration from the Parisians for her opulent parties. French Quarter noted historian Sally Reeves adds, "Contemporaries called her persistent, bright-eyed, intelligent, vivacious, prompt, shrewd and business like. Male historians characterized the Baroness as strong-willed, imperious, penurious, self-indulgent and vacillating, while her female biographer uncovered

SECTION 20

#1732852332007

1408-492: The Battle of New Orleans, playing crucial roles in advising Jackson, and in rallying local support. It was alleged that when she was landscaping the garden, she threatened the mayor with a shotgun after he tried to prevent her from tearing down two rows of trees. Shortly after Jenny Lind's visit, she and her sons left New Orleans for good and went back to Paris where her eldest surviving son, Célestin, and his family resided. She spent

1472-586: The French militia at Fort Natchez . Her only brother was wealthy plantation owner Pierre Denis de La Ronde (1762 - 1824), who would distinguish himself in the Battle of New Orleans , the Night Attack of which was then fought on his much-admired, if widely misnamed ( Versailles, Louisiana ), plantation, and beneath its equally misnamed allée of Southern live oaks . Prior to his death, her father had commissioned architect Gilberto Guillemard to design and construct

1536-401: The age of four. Micaela was educated, along with other Creole daughters of the French and Spanish elite, by the nuns at the old Ursuline Convent on la Rue Conde, now Chartres Street. She was an artistic and musical child who, by the age of 13, owned her own piano. At home she spoke French, although she knew Spanish, and later learned English. In keeping with Creole tradition, a marriage

1600-522: The beginnings of the square as a place of business for New Age and pagan devotees telling fortunes and reading palms and tarot cards. They sit on St. Ann or St. Peter street, alongside of the park. The section of Chartres St. which comprises the parvis of Saint Louis Cathedral, the Presbytère, and the Cabildo is shared by visitors and artists, musicians, and varied street performers, such as jugglers and magicians. The performers generally work for tips . On

1664-631: The broadcast with the Fleur-de-lis drop at midnight Central Time (1:00 a.m. ET in New York's Times Square). Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba On April 26, 1798, when Micaela was just 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years old, her Spanish father, Don Andrés Almonester y Rojas , died, leaving her his sole surviving heir. Micaela inherited a considerable fortune. Her estate was capably administered by her mother, Louise Denys de la Ronde, referenced as "a superbly competent businesswoman who had greatly increased

1728-560: The buildings until the 1920s; but they did not take an interest in the townhouses, so they fell into disrepair. The heirs sold the lower building to local philanthropist William Ratcliffe Irby, who in turn bequeathed the property to the Louisiana State Museum . Local civic leaders acquired the upper building, which they sold to a foundation in 1930, the Pontalba Building Museum Association. The foundation turned

1792-507: The ceremony which was conducted in Spanish - a language Micaela's groom did not understand. In contrast to her mother's second marriage, the citizens of New Orleans strongly approved of this match, considered even more important a marriage than that of her mother to Don Almonaster , perhaps the most important marriage ever contracted in New Orleans between the Creole progeny of two illustrious families. Immediately upon her marriage, Micaela became

1856-421: The chest, one bullet passing through the hand that she had instinctively put up to cover one of the gun's muzzles. Despite her injuries, Micaela made an attempt to escape her father-in-law and outside the door she fell into the arms of her maid who had rushed up the stairs upon hearing the first gunshot. With the armed baron still in pursuit, Micaela was dragged down the stairs to the drawing room where she fell to

1920-460: The city including a home on the Place Vendôme . She had become a widow for the second time in 1809 with the death of Jean Baptiste Castillon. At first the marriage was successful; Micaela became pregnant shortly after their arrival in France and eventually bore her husband a total of four sons and a daughter. To alleviate the boredom of country life, she converted a large room at the old chateau into

1984-428: The city's Roman Catholic priests and other church officials. At the start of the 19th century, it was adapted as a courthouse, and in the 20th century it became a museum. The Place d'Armes was the site for public execution of criminals and rebellious slaves during the 18th and early 19th centuries. After the 1811 German Coast Uprising , three slaves were hanged here. The heads of some of the executed rebels were put on

Pontalba Buildings - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-572: The city's gates. (The same thing happened in St. Charles Parish , and a third slave-trial tribunal was held in St. John the Baptist Parish .) In the Reconstruction Era , Jackson Square served as an arsenal. During the insurrection following the disputed 1872 gubernatorial election , in March 1873, it was the site of the Battle of Jackson Square. A several-thousand-man militia under John McEnery ,

2112-510: The city's heart in the colonial era. The center of the three is St. Louis Cathedral . The cathedral was designated as a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI . To its left is the Cabildo , the old city hall, now a museum, where the final version of the Louisiana Purchase was signed. To the cathedral's right is the Presbytère , built to match the Cabildo. The Presbytère was initially planned for housing

2176-476: The company ceased to operate independently, the building was converted into several businesses, including restaurants and specialty shops. In recent years, some retail space has been converted into luxury condominiums. Diagonally across Decatur Street downriver from the square is Café du Monde , open 24 hours a day. Part of the historic French Market , it is known for its café au lait , prepared with chicory , and for its beignets , served there continuously since

2240-529: The de Pontalbas had made the proposition to her mother by letter, having regarded a matrimonial tie between the two families as a "business merger that would transfer the Almonester wealth into their hands". The prospective groom duly arrived in Louisiana with his mother, Jeanne Françoise le Breton des Chapelles Delfau de Pontalba, and after an acquaintance of just three weeks he and Micaela were married. The marriage

2304-468: The design and construction of buildings that historian Christina Vella described her as a "lay genius in architecture". At the time the buildings were row houses . Micaela and her sons occupied the house at number 5, St. Peter Street. When Swedish singer Jenny Lind visited New Orleans for a month in 1851, Micaela graciously allowed her the use of her own house along with a chef. Prior to her departure, Lind publicly expressed her gratitude to Micaela for

2368-742: The early 1820s, to escape the tyranny of her father-in-law, Micaela persuaded Célestin to set up his own household in Paris, and the couple and their children moved into one of his father's homes on Rue du Houssaie, close to her mother's residence. The 1825 death of her mother left Micaela as the heir and manager of her parents' considerable estates, which now included numerous properties in Paris. The de Pontalbas furiously demanded that she sign over all of her New Orleans property to them, in exchange for her being allowed to assume control of her mother's Paris houses. In 1830, without her husband's permission, she went to New Orleans for an extended visit, in an effort to assert her land rights on American soil. Also taking

2432-498: The era. Micaela's attempts to protect her fortune and separate from Célestin so enraged Baron de Pontalba that he resorted to violence. On October 19, 1834, during one of her visits to the chateau, he stormed into her bedroom and shot Micaela four times in the chest at point-blank range with a pair of duelling pistols . After the first shot, she allegedly screamed out: "Don't! I'll give you everything". Whereupon he replied: "No, you are going to die" and shot her another three times in

2496-405: The floor, crying out, "Help me". Baron de Pontalba stood over her bleeding, unconscious body, yet he fired no more shots and returned to his study. She survived the shooting attack, despite multiple shot wounds. One of the bullets had crushed her hand; her left breast was disfigured and two of her fingers were mutilated. That evening, the baron committed suicide in his study by shooting himself in

2560-479: The head with the same dueling pistols. As Célestin had succeeded to his father's barony upon the latter's suicide, Micaela was henceforth styled Baroness de Pontalba. After several more lawsuits, a civil law judge ordered the restitution of her property and Micaela was granted a legal separation from her husband, although they were never actually divorced. With some of the money her mother had willed her, she commissioned noted architect Louis Visconti to construct

2624-406: The heart of the French Quarter . In 1855, she had built the Hôtel de Pontalba in Paris , where she lived until her death in 1874. Her life eventually became the plot for an opera: Pontalba: a Louisiana Legacy , composed by Thea Musgrave . A play by Diana E.H. Shortes entitled The Baroness Undressed , and several novels , are also based on her dramatic life. Micaela Leonarda Antonia Almonester

Pontalba Buildings - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-469: The heart of the French Quarter, was little better than a slum; its parade ground muddy, and houses squalid and neglected. She owned most of the property in Place d'Armes as it formed part of her vast inheritance. Her assets there valued at $ 520,000, but despite being owner of the third most valuable property in the French Quarter, she made little profit from it as most of her tenants were slack in paying

2752-549: The inheritance since Almonester's death." Following Micaela's marriage, in 1811, to her French cousin, Joseph-Xavier Célestin Delfau de Pontalba, she moved to France. The marriage was not successful and she became a virtual prisoner at the de Pontalba chateau near Senlis . Having failed, despite his concerted efforts over more than two decades, to gain possession of Micaela's entire inheritance, her father-in-law, Baron de Pontalba, eventually shot her four times at point-blank range with

2816-651: The introduction to her Pulitzer Prize -nominated biography, Intimate Enemies , describes Micaela's mother as "a poor French Creole , famed for marrying her father;" Louise was, in reality, a highly regarded beauty from a very wealthy family of no little import whose marriage had been arranged to extend a powerful alliance with Almonester. Louise was the eldest child of wealthy French-Canadian Naval Officer Pierre Denys de La Ronde (1726-1772), reassigned from Nouvelle-France to Nouvelle-Orleans by his Godfather , later French Louisiana Governor , Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnial , and later distinguished in

2880-410: The invading British as a field hospital. Upon her return to France, the baron accused Micaela of deserting his son, Célestin; she then became a "virtual prisoner" of the de Pontalbas. In frustration, she took her children and returned to Paris, where she began a series of lawsuits to obtain a separation from Célestin; these initial attempts were not successful, due to the strict French marriage laws of

2944-455: The latter's lavish hospitality. Afterward, Micaela auctioned the furniture Lind had used. Micaela was also instrumental in the name change of Place d'Armes to Jackson Square; as well as the decision to convert it from a parade ground to a formal garden. She also helped finance the bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, featured prominently in the square, at whose side her uncle, Colonel Pierre Denys de La Ronde (1762 - 1824), had fought during

3008-444: The leader of fashionable society, her salons drawing the city's most important and influential people. The wealthiest woman in New Orleans at the time, her contemporaries regarded Micaela as having been shrewd, vivacious, and business-like. Seeing New Orleans for the first time after an absence of many years, Micaela had immediately noticed that the once-stylish French Quarter had become derelict and unsightly. The Place d'Armes, in

3072-460: The local population, who showed their displeasure by conducting a riotous charivari that lasted for three days and nights, and featured effigies of her new bridegroom and dead husband in his coffin. The charivari was only called off once Louise had promised to donate the sum of $ 3,000 to the poor. Being the sole heiress to a considerable fortune, Micaela was the richest girl in the city. Her younger sister, Andrea Antonia, had died in 1802 at

3136-543: The marriage into a disaster, exacerbated by Célestin's own weak character. Her father-in-law, Baron Joseph Delfau de Pontalba, who had served as an officer in the French and Spanish armies, was greedy and unstable, and over the years proceeded to make Micaela's life extremely unhappy and intolerable. The baron was already greatly disappointed with Micaela's dowry , appraising it to be much smaller than he felt that he had been led to expect. The $ 40,000 in cash plus jewelry that Micaela brought to Célestin as her dowry, which had been

3200-490: The most prominent feature of the city's residential architecture. The cast-iron panels in the first floor balustrade feature her initials, 'AP', intertwined in the design. The building fronting Rue St. Peter, upriver from Jackson Square, is the upper Pontalba. The building on the other side, fronting Rue St. Ann, is the lower Pontalba Building. Baroness Pontalba died in France in 1874, and the Pontalba family retained ownership of

3264-676: The opportunity to travel, Madame de Pontalba stopped in Washington DC where President Andrew Jackson sent his carriage and secretary of state Martin Van Buren to bring her to the White House as his guest. The celebrated Battle of New Orleans , in which Jackson had defeated the invading British on 8 January 1815, had been fought on the grounds of the Chalmette Plantation , belonging to her Uncle Ignace Martin de Lino (1755 - 1815), which

SECTION 50

#1732852332007

3328-531: The other two sides of the square are the Pontalba Buildings , matching red-brick, block-long, four‑story buildings built in the 1840s. The ground floors house shops and restaurants; the upper floors are apartments, the oldest continuously rented apartments in North America. Diagonally across Decatur Street upriver from Jackson Square is the Jax Brewery building, the original home of a favorite local beer. After

3392-816: The remainder of her life at her mansion on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. When her estranged husband suffered a physical and mental breakdown she took him in and cared for him up until her own death. Micaela Almonester de Pontalba died at the Hôtel de Pontalba in Paris on April 20, 1874 at the age of seventy-eight. By this time she was already a legend in the city of her birth, as one of New Orleans' most dynamic personalities. Micaela left three surviving sons: Célestin (1815-1885), Alfred (1818-1877), and Gaston (1821-1875). Her first-born son, Joseph, and only daughter, Mathilde, had died as babies. Célestin and Alfred both married and had children whose descendants continue to reside in France into

3456-473: The rent. Micaela put her imagination to work and made energetic plans to remedy the situation. She ordered the houses to be demolished and hired the skilled building contractor Samuel Stewart to renovate the Place d'Armes. The following year after obtaining an agreement from the city for a 20-year tax exemption, she personally designed and commissioned the construction of the beautiful red-brick town houses forming two sides of Place d'Armes which are today known as

3520-432: The sum agreed upon when the marriage contract was drawn up, represented only one-quarter of her Almonester inheritance; the remaining three-quarters was retained and grown larger by Louise. The old baron, intent upon seizing the vast Almonester fortune, had forced Micaela into signing a general Power of Attorney giving her husband control over her assets, rents, and capital, both dotal and as heir of her father's estate. In

3584-416: The town hall (known as the Cabildo ) in 1795. Following the 1815 Battle of New Orleans , during the first half of the 19th century, the former military plaza was renamed Jackson Square, for the battle's victorious General Jackson . In the center of the park stands an equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson erected in 1856, one of four identical statues in the U.S. by the sculptor Clark Mills . The statue

3648-457: The upper building over to the City of New Orleans, which has owned it since the 1930s. According to Christina Vella , historian of modern Europe, the Pontalba Buildings were not the first apartment buildings in the present-day U.S., as is commonly believed. They were originally built as row houses , not rental apartments . The row houses were turned into apartments during the 1930s renovations (during

3712-450: Was also burned by invading forces (reputedly causing his death from a broken heart shortly after returning to his "treasured home" three weeks after the Battle). The decisive Night Attack had also been fought next door, on the plantation grounds of his half-brother, Micaela's Uncle, Colonel Pierre Denys de La Ronde (1762 - 1824), which was also mostly ruined, having afterward been commandeered by

3776-432: Was arranged for Micaela in 1811 when she was just fifteen. Although Micaela was in love with an impoverished man, she had no choice but to accept the husband her mother had picked for her. Her husband-to-be was her 20-year-old cousin, Joseph-Xavier Célestin Delfau de Pontalba, known as Célestin or "Tin-Tin", who although born in New Orleans, lived with his family in France. According to Micaela's biographer, Christina Vella ,

3840-486: Was born November 6, 1795, in New Orleans , Louisiana , the eldest and only surviving child of Don Andres Almonester y Rojas and his aristocratic French wife, Louise Denys de la Ronde, a member of one of the most illustrious families in Louisiana. At the time of her birth, Louisiana was owned by Spain, though Spanish settlers were then greatly outnumbered by the colony's previous owners, who were mainly French. Don Andres,

3904-525: Was celebrated on 23 October 1811 at St. Louis Cathedral and attended by the most influential members of Creole society. Indicative of her high social rank amongst the Creole community, Micaela was given away at the wedding ceremony by nobleman and second cousin Bernard de Marigny , acting as a representative of Marshall Ney , the trusted military commander of Emperor Napoleon I . Father Antonio De Sedella officiated at

SECTION 60

#1732852332007

3968-512: Was centered on what was then called the Place d'Armes ( lit.   ' weapons’ square ' ). Under Spanish colonial administration in the second half of the 18th century, the name was Plaza de Armas , which also means a place d'armes . Following the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788, the Spanish officials rebuilt the St. Louis Church (elevated to cathedral in 1793) in 1789 and

4032-462: Was dedicated in a grand ceremony on Saturday, February 9, 1856. The square also has four slightly older statues, neoclassical representations of personifications of the four seasons, one near each corner of the square. The square originally overlooked the Mississippi River across Decatur Street , but the view was blocked in the 19th century by the construction of higher levees . The riverfront

4096-452: Was long devoted to shipping docks. The 20th-century administration of Mayor Moon Landrieu installed a scenic boardwalk on top of the levee to reconnect the city to the river; it is known as the "Moon Walk" in his honor, and has since been expanded and paved. The space between Decatur Street and the "Moon Walk" is designated as " Washington Artillery Park". On the north side of the square are three 18th-century historic buildings, which were

#6993