La Vieja Nueva Orleans

Spanish influcence can be found in the ornate ironwork of the French Quarter

... as well as in our colorful houses

... and in the imperial arches of The Cabildo

Although the French Quarter’s early residents were indeed French, the architecture of the French Quarter is actually Spanish. To pay a war debt, France gave up control of Louisiana to Spain, who controlled the colony from 1763 until 1803. Several fires destroyed the original French architecture of the Vieux Carré during Spain’s forty-year rule of New Orleans, so the charm presently found at the heart of New Orleans can be credited to the Spanish from when their administrators rebuilt the city.

The flat-tiled roofs, tropical colors, and ornate ironwork of the French Quarter are Iberian touches brought from across the Atlantic. In order to prevent fires, the Spanish-controlled government mandated that stucco replace wood for construction material and that all buildings be placed near the street and near each other. Where there used to be yards and open spaces surrounding buildings, the French Quarter was now rendered both more intimate and more secretive, with continuous façades, arched passageways, and gorgeous rear gardens and courtyards hidden from street-view.

Construction on the Cabildo and the Presbytere, the matching edifices flanking St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square, occurred during the Spanish era. The Cabildo served as Spain’s administrative headquarters for Louisiana. It later served as City Hall, then the state Supreme Court, before it became a museum in 1911.

Unlike other nationalities who immigrated to New Orleans, the Spanish never formed a cohesive community, and throughout Spanish rule, French Creole culture still dominated. The men who served under the Spanish crown didn’t come to New Orleans with their families, and they either married local women or eventually returned to their homeland. Any lingering Spanish influence dissipated once Louisiana became American. Still, one has to credit the Spanish with helping to establish New Orleans by improving infrastructure and giving the city decades of stability.

A stroll through the French Quarter will reveal many plaques indicating the old Spanish names for streets, often just variations on the current ones, and elsewhere in the city, street names honor historical figures from the Spanish era such as Galvez, Ulloa, Miro, and Gayoso. New Orleanians love fine European cuisine, so it’s not surprising the city boasts several delicious and successful Spanish restaurants. Indirectly, Spain is reasserting its influence on New Orleans once again through the city’s relatively new but growing Hispanic community.