Gallier Hall - New Orleans, LA
Posted by: 
JimmyEv
N 29° 56.914 W 090° 04.260
15R E 782703 N 3316695
This building was begun by James Gallier, Sr. as the headquarters for the council and governmental administration of the Second Municipality. By the time it was completed in 1853, New Orleans had been reunified. It became the City Hall.
Waymark Code: WM14Q5
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 01/14/2007
Views: 63
The French weren’t very welcoming of the new American residents to New Orleans. Americans settled mainly in Faubourg St. Mary’s, later called the American Sector. Faubourg St. Mary’s grew rapidly. The American citizens of this faubourg accused the city’s cantankerous French administration of ignoring their portion of the city. This led the state legislature to divide New Orleans into three separate municipalities, each with their own city council, each controlling their own funds, but all three sharing a weak mayor. In 1836 the First Municipality (Vieux Carre and Faubourg Treme), the Second Municipality (Faubourg St. Mary’s) and the Third Municipality (Faubourg Marigny) were created.
James Gallier, Sr. was commissioned to build the headquarters for the Second Municipality’s city council and government. By the time this building had been completed, in 1853, the city’s government had been reunified by the legislature. The building then became New Orleans’s City Hall.
Architecturally, this is one of the finest remaining works designed by James Gallier, Sr. (1798-1866). The portico and facade were built of marble and stone. The rest of the building was covered in stucco, but scored to resemble stone. The entire Greek Revival Building, although not large, has a monumental feel. When City Hall moved, a painstaking restoration of the interiors was begun. Today the building is rented for events, as well as used for important civic functions.
