The St. Charles Avenue Historic District

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The St. Charles Avenue Historic District encompasses all properties fronting on St. Charles Avenue between Jackson Avenue and Jena Street, with the exception of the properties which form the corner of Jackson and St. Charles Avenues. St. Charles Avenue is one of the most important residential thoroughfares in New Orleans. Its early development is linked to the presence of the streetcar line, originally known as the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, which was installed in the 1830s to link the town of Carrollton to New Orleans proper.

While the majority of the structures in the district are of late 19th and 20th century vintage, some antebellum residences survive, including the Dabney House at 2265 St. Charles, by Gallier, Turpin and Co., Architects, and the Dameron House at 2524 St. Charles Avenue. The earliest houses in the district are concentrated near Jackson Avenue. These houses can be easily recognized by their double galleried facades and Greek revival and Italianate details. More intense development of the avenue began in the 1880s, with numerous significant Queen Anne style houses being build, many designed by the prominent architect Thomas Sully. The architect's own residence at 4010 St. Charles built in 1886, and the Wallis House at 4114 St. Charles Avenue, built in 1890, are two good intact examples of his work. These later houses are less classical in their appearance, with the use of decorative wood shingles as wall covering.

In the early years of this century, the apartment building began to make an appearance, with the Emlah Court at 3829 St. Charles built 1912, being one of the first examples. As the 20th century progressed, many of the larger houses were demolished and replaced by large scale apartment buildings and commercial buildings. The intersections of Louisiana and Napoleon Avenues with St. Charles are the sites for many of the commercial buildings in the district.

The character of the St. Charles Avenue Historic District is defined by large scale residential construction two stories in height, with hipped roofs often adding to the vertical mass of the structure. The majority of the historic houses in the district are of frame construction, and are set back from the front property line behind ornamental cast-iron fences. The separation of the houses from one another and from the sidewalks adds to the apparent width of the street and provides more land for landscaping, making St. Charles Avenue one of the greenest corridors in New Orleans.