Pontalba Buildings facts for kids
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Pontalba Buildings
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 Location in East New Orleans
Location in Louisiana
Location in the United States
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| Location | 500 St. Ann Street & 500 St. Peter Street, New Orleans, Louisiana |
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| Built | 1849 |
| Architect | James Gallier; Henry Howard |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000934 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | May 30, 1974 |
| Designated NHL | May 30, 1974 |
The Pontalba Buildings are two famous buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana. They stand on two sides of Jackson Square in the historic French Quarter. These matching red-brick buildings are four stories tall. They were built in the late 1840s by a wealthy woman named Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba.
Today, the ground floors have shops and restaurants. The upper floors are apartments. These apartments are thought to be the oldest continuously rented apartments in the United States.
Contents
History and Design of the Pontalba Buildings
Baroness Pontalba was a very smart businesswoman. She invested in real estate, which means buying and selling land and buildings. She bought the land on both sides of the main square, which was then called Place d’Armes.
Between 1849 and 1851, she built these two large buildings. They cost over $300,000, which was a huge amount of money back then! The buildings were designed like fancy Parisian row houses.
Special Features of the Buildings
The Pontalba Buildings were the first in New Orleans to use cast-iron balconies. These beautiful iron railings soon became a very popular style in the city. If you look closely at the cast-iron panels on the first-floor balconies, you can see her initials, 'AP', woven into the design.
The building on the side of Jackson Square that faces Rue St. Peter is called the Upper Pontalba Building. The building on the other side, facing Rue St. Ann, is called the Lower Pontalba Building.
Changes in Ownership and Use
Baroness Pontalba passed away in France in 1874. Her family owned the buildings until the 1920s. However, they didn't take care of the buildings, so they started to fall apart.
The family eventually sold the lower building to a kind person named William Ratcliffe Irby. He was a philanthropist, meaning he gave a lot of money to good causes. He later gave the building to the Louisiana State Museum.
Local leaders bought the upper building. In 1930, they sold it to a group called the Pontalba Building Museum Association. This group then gave the upper building to the City of New Orleans, which has owned it ever since.
From Row Houses to Apartments
Many people believe the Pontalba Buildings were the first apartment buildings in the U.S. However, a historian named Christina Vella says this isn't true. The buildings were first built as row houses, not apartments for rent. They were changed into apartments during the 1930s. This was during the Great Depression, a time when many people struggled financially.
The famous writer Truman Capote once described them as "...the oldest, in some ways most somberly elegant, apartment houses in America, the Pontalba Buildings."
National Historic Landmark Status
In 1974, the Pontalba Buildings were named a National Historic Landmark. This is a special title given to places that are very important to the history of the United States. They earned this title because of their unique and early architecture.
See also
In Spanish: Edificios Pontalba para niños
