The Role of American Elites in the New Courthouse Building Project: Progressive-era Ideologies in the Vieux Carre

<p>At the turn of the twentieth century, City Beautiful principles manifested themselves in the historic core of New Orleans: the Vieux Carre. 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-style 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 thesis acknowledges these silences and raises questions about those most impacted: the displaced.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.U.R.P.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Planning and Urban Studies

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Cottrell, Kelly

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nelson, Marla
• Mitchell, Mary N.
• Irvin, Hilary

• New Courthouse Building
• New Orleans
• Vieux Carre
• City Beautiful
• Progressive Era
• urban reform
• displaced
• Louisiana Supreme Court Building
• silences
• valuing of place
• construction of memories
• Creoles and Americans

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1214

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2197