Steamboat Gothic in New Orleans

New Orleans Central Business District and Vieux Carre as seen from the Lower 9th Ward

If you happen to be staying at a romantic and historic bed and breakfast in New Orleans that offers bicycles to its guests, you might find your way to the Holy Cross neighborhood in the Lower 9th Ward.  The Mississippi River makes a hairpin turn right after it passes the foot of Esplanade Avenue.  The trees in front of the CBD in the picture above are in Algiers, on the West Bank of the river, viewed from the beginning of Sister Street on the East Bank.

The Lower 9 is infamous for being the neighborhood most tragically effected by the federal levee failures that accompanied Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  The flooding in 2005 was horrific, but two New Orleans monuments were relatively unscathed and they continue to be landmarks in Holy Cross, and all of New Orleans.

These are the Steamboat Houses:  

First steamboat house seen from the levee

Second steamboat house seen from the sidewalk

We went for a walk on the levee in Holy Cross this morning.  The breeze off the river was reinvigorating, and there were the steamboat houses.  When we first moved here, we took a trip on the Steamboat Natchez down the mighty Mississippi River.  The captain pointed out the Steamboat Houses as we passed.  A steamboat captain built himself a house reminiscent of the architecture he steered down the river.  When his son was grown and married, the captain built an identical house across the street.

They are marvelous confections of artfully carved and assembled wood.  They have spawned an architectural label that no other homes in New Orleans possess.  They are examples of the "steamboat gothic" style.  Are there other examples anywhere else?  We haven't seen any.

Even the fence is forged in steamboat gothic

Some people say the Steamboat Houses are the most beautiful buildings in all of New Orleans.  There is an argument to be made for that.  Your humble narrator has other ideas.

Meet me in New Orleans

You can stay at a peaceful bed and breakfast inn on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans.  Pedal your bike down Esplanade Avenue then turn downtown on Henriette Delille Street.  At the next intersection, turn riverside for one block and hook a right on North Rampart Street.  Follow traffic to Saint Claude Avenue and go straight on until you reach Egania Street.  You will see the Steamboat Houses for yourself.

New Orleans is full of surprises.

A votre sante.