Shop 'n' roll: Gen. Pershing block is close to Magazine Street and parade route

on January 15, 2010 at 4:00 PM, updated January 15, 2010 at 7:52 PM

THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Touro Bouligny, in the Uptown Historic District, bounded roughly by St. Charles Avenue, Magazine Street, Louisiana Avenue and Napoleon Avenue. Most of the Touro Bouligny neighborhood was once Faubourg Bouligny, a subdivision carved out of a plantation owned by Louis Bouligny and laid out by Charles Zimpel in 1833. Zimpel's plan established a boulevard -- Napoleon Avenue -- that bisected the faubourg into East and West Bouligny.

16_street_walk_detail.JPGView full sizeThe red medallions that line the bottom edge of the front gable of the house on the Chestnut Street corner all have gold fleurs-de-lis in their centers.
THE BLOCK: The 1100 block of Gen. Pershing Street on the odd-numbered, or east (downtown), side between Coliseum on the north and Chestnut on the south. The block is just two streets off of Napoleon Avenue, where Mardi Gras parades will soon be rolling, and equidistant to Magazine Street, with its restaurants and shops. Like all other north-south streets of Faubourg Bouligny, Gen. Pershing originally was named by Zimpel to commemorate a major Napoleonic military campaign. But its name "Berlin" was dropped in 1917 when the street was renamed to honor World War I hero Gen. John J. Pershing. According to John Churchill Chase in his book "Frenchmen, Desire, Goodchildren," the name change occurred "amid confused flushes of patriotism"; another writer attributed it to "Teutonophobia."

THE HOUSES: A collection of seven houses in widely varying shapes and styles and dating from the late 19th century to the first couple of decades of the 20th. I spot a centerhall, two double shotguns, a two-story galleried house, a raised basement and two Craftsman style houses (one a double and the other a single). All have at least a small front yard, and the centerhall has a beautifully landscaped garden.

16_street_walk_main.JPGView full sizeR. STEPHANIE BRUNO Houses in the 1100 block of Gen. Pershing Street date from the late 19th century through the first decades of the 20th century.

So often when I take a Street Walk, I have planned carefully where I will go. But not this week. This week's stroll happens by chance because I notice the newly renovated centerhall house at the corner of Gen. Pershing and Coliseum streets while en route to an appointment. I have watched it for years, and now it's been beautifully restored. To heck with the weather -- I am stopping for a better look.

Anatomy of the block

Painted a brilliant white with dark-green shutters, the corner house fairly glows as the late afternoon sun reflects off of its recently painted surfaces. This centerhall has the chaste, clean lines of a Greek Revival, with a few Italianate touches such as the modillions in the parapet and the paired corbels over the box columns. There is also a dormer in the roof, centered over the wide entry, which gives it just a little vertical emphasis.

My guess is that the house is raised about 3 feet, not too high to seem unapproachable or too low to detract from its stately grace. The new owners have planted a classic garden. Boxwoods, oaks, azaleas and palms fill beds at the edge of the porch and along the wrought-iron fence. I consider the white rocking chairs on the front porch and think about how my morning coffee would taste there.

The next two houses aren't twins, but they come from the same gene pool. Both shotgun doubles, they exhibit defining elements of the Italianate style in their arched-top windows and door transoms. The one on the left has full-length windows, unlike the shorter windows on the house to its right, but both also have handsome milled brackets, quoins (the raised, square panels on the facade edge boards) and drop-lap siding (a wide portion with a narrower, indented portion). A 3-D fleur-de-lis on the left-hand house shimmers in Mardi Gras colors, supporting my suspicion that most New Orleanians already have Carnival on their minds.

A lovely two-story house comes next as I walk south toward Chestnut. It is a sidehall with galleries on both the first and second floors, an entry on the left and full-length windows next to it and upstairs. A tree prevents me from getting as good a look as I'd like, and I move on, trying to beat the sinking sun.

That brings me to a Craftsman double shotgun with a camelback far to the rear. Its strongest feature is the roofline: Instead of forming a pointed triangular shape like most front gables, this one is clipped or flattened, as if the top were shorn off. This roof type is also called a jerkinhead or half-hipped roof. A porch overhang extends out from the front and is supported by flared wood columns resting atop stuccoed pedestals. Because this house sits a little farther back on its lot than some of the neighboring houses do, the white picket fence helps call attention to it.

The next house is a puzzlement: Its raised-basement style is associated with the 20th century, but it also has a steeply pitched, side-gabled roof line. That roof line and the proportion of the windows on the side make me wonder: Are the screened-in and arched stucco openings along the front a mask for an older house?

If the white house at Coliseum had an ethereal glow to it, the next house, on the Chestnut corner, is positively afire with color and reflected light. It's a cozy little craftsman cottage painted a brilliant tangerine, with terracotta accents. The owner has adopted a fleur-de-lis theme, too, but carried it to the Nth degree. You probably can't see this passing in a car, but the red medallions that line the bottom edge of the front gable all have gold fleurs-de-lis in their centers. And the front door? Make sure you take a close look at the metal grille protecting the glass.

Life on the street

As it turns out, not a soul is out, and why would they be? It's above freezing but not enough to inspire outdoor activity. No matter -- I have a companion, a visitor from out of town who was in the car when I parked hastily and leapt out with my camera. As I snap away, she asks about the houses -- their ages, their details, the meaning of the fleur-de-lis.

And then she states the indisputable:

"It's a lot different here from where I live in New Hampshire."


