 | |
| French Quarter | |
| Continuity: | Real world |
| Aliases: | Vieux Carré |
| Category: | Neighborhood |
| Continent: | North America |
| Country: | United States of America |
| State: | Louisiana |
| City: | New Orleans |
| Points of interest: | St. Louis Cathedral |
The French Quarter is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana; also known as the Vieux Carré. It was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. Most of the extant historic buildings were constructed either in the late 18th century, during the city's period of Spanish rule, or were built during the first half of the 19th century, after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Thanks for that, Thomas Jefferson. The district as a whole has been designated as a National Historic Landmark, with numerous contributing buildings that are separately deemed significant. It is a prime tourist destination in the city, as well as attracting local residents.
The French claimed Louisiana in the 1690s, and Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville was appointed Director General in charge of developing a colony in the territory, and founded New Orleans in 1718. In 1721, the royal engineer Adrien de Pauger designed the city's street layout. He named the streets after French royal houses and Catholic saints, and paid homage to France's ruling family, the House of Bourbon, with the naming of Bourbon Street. New Orleans was ceded to the Spanish in 1763 following the Seven Years' War. The Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 and another in 1794 destroyed 80 percent of the city's buildings, and so nearly all the French Quarter dates from the late 1790s onwards.
Because of its distance from areas where the levee was breached during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as well as the strength and height of the nearest Mississippi River Levees in contrast to other levees along the canals and lakefront, it suffered relatively light damage from floodwater as compared to other areas of the city and the greater region.
Oh yeah, and it goes without saying... vampires love the place.
Points of Interest[]
- Cabildo
- The Cabildo was the seat of Spanish colonial city hall of New Orleans, Louisiana, and is now the Louisiana State Museum Cabildo. It is located along Jackson Square, adjacent to St. Louis Cathedral. The original Cabildo was destroyed in the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788. The Cabildo was rebuilt between 1795–99 as the home of the Spanish municipal government in New Orleans, in 1821 Spanish coat of arms removed from the façade pediment and replaced with the extant American eagle with cannonballs by the Italian sculptor Pietro Cardelli and the third floor with mansard roof was later added in 1847, in French style.
- Jackson Square
- 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. 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.
- St. Louis Cathedral
- St. Louis Cathedral is a Catholic church located in Jackson Square in the center of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the oldest existing cathedral in the contiguous United States and was first erected in 1718. It was raised to the rank of cathedral in 1793. The second St. Louis Cathedral was burned during the great fire of 1788 and was expanded and largely rebuilt and completed in the 1850s, with little of the 1789 structure remaining. The cathedral is situated in a promenade section of Chartres Street that runs for one block between St. Peter Street on the upriver boundary and St. Ann Street (rue Sainte-Anne) on the downriver boundary. It is located next to Jackson Square and facing the Mississippi River in the heart of New Orleans, situated between the historic buildings of the Cabildo and the Presbytère.
Appearances[]
Films[]
- Angel Heart
- Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
- Frankenstein (2004/II)
- Hatchet
- Hatchet II
- Hatchet III
- Interview With the Vampire
- Renfield
Television[]
- Constantine: Waiting for the Man
- Interview with the Vampire: Is My Very Nature That of a Devil
- Monsterland: New Orleans, Louisiana
- Originals: Always and Forever
- Originals: Tangled Up in Blue
- Originals: Girl in New Orleans
- Originals: You Hung the Moon
- Quantum Leap: Lee Harvey Oswald (Part 1)
- True Blood: In the Beginning
- Vampire Diaries: The Originals
Novels[]
Comics[]
Notes[]
- "Vieux Carré" and "Vieux Carre" both redirect to this page.