The Role of American Elites in the New Courthouse Building Project

At the turn of the twentieth century, City Beautiful principles manifested themselves in the historic core of New Orleans: the Vieux Carré. City and state officials determined that the Cabildo and Presbytere were no longer suitable sites for the Louisiana Supreme Courts, and set about erecting a monumental, Beaux-Arts courthouse amid the dense, vernacular built environment of the French Quarter. Two-hundred-fifty-one individuals were displaced as a result of the expropriation and demolition of forty-one structures occupying the square bounded Royal, Chartres, Conti and St. Louis streets. While significant scholarly research has interpreted the motives and visions of Progressive-era urban reformers, few studies have addressed issues of power in shaping these narratives and in silencing the past. Through its analysis of the planning processes surrounding the Louisiana Supreme Court Building, this book acknowledges these silences and raises questions about those most impacted: the displaced.