Historic Buildings of the French Quarter (ISBN 156554997X)

Excellent, excellent, excellent...:
This book, as other reviewers have said, is about the architecture of the Quarter and the history that drove its trends and changes. It is an excellent book if you are interested in architectural details and some floor plans in historic buildings of the Quarter as well as typical buildings that would have been built there. If you want to learn about types of buildings in the Quarter, why the Quarter developed as it did and see line drawings of specific historic buildings, then this is your book. If you want a glitzty photo book showing interior design of said buildings, this is NOT the book for you (thank God, like we need more of that!). It is my hope that Lloyd Vogt branches out and produces a similar book in other areas with a distinct architectural heritage as it appears to me that most books that address this topic are of the interior design eye-candy type.

Another classic work from the master on N.O. architecture:
Founded by the French, developed by the Spanish and the West Indian Creoles, finally acquired by the United States, le Vieux Carre, the French Quarter, is sixty-six square blocks of solid history spread over nearly three centuries. Despite several desvastating fires, a surprising amount of early architectural history remains, and this lush volume of pen-and-ink drawings of buildings and floorplans is notable as both history and art. An introductory section describes the sources and development of vernacular architecture in south Louisiana, the roles of wrought iron, brackets on shotgun houses, and the courtyard plan, and the influence of each succeeding cultural overlay. Then, arranged into chronological chapters, Vogt describes in some detail more than forty structures and locations, both public, like Jackson Square (originally la Place d'Armes) and the U.S. Mint (erected in 1838 on the site of Fort San Carlos), to private dwellings, including the Peyroux House (built c.1780), the Bosque House (1795), and the La Rionda-Correjolles House (c.1810)-- with a full discussion of generic building types and styles for each period. How many visitors to the Quarter are aware that Pat O'Brien?s inhabits what was once the townhouse of planter John Garner, or that Preservation Hall was the home of Madame Fanchon, a free woman of color, from 1817 to 1866, or that the Le Carpentier House on Chartres was not only the home of novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes and the birthplace of Paul Morphy but also the site of a series of murders by the Italian "Black Hand"? A glossary and selected bibliography will also be useful to the student, though an index would have been very handy as well. The author is well known among students of New Orleans architecture; his _New Orleans Houses: A House-Watcher's Guide_, now in its fifth printing, has become the standard reference.

Blends history with architectural insights:
The New Orleans' historic French Quarter was founded in 1718 by the French, moved to Spanish control, and was home to generations of occupants who built grand ballrooms, courtyards, and Spanish structures. Historic Buildings Of The French Quarter uses black and white line drawings to blend history with architectural insights, illustrating building types and styles of different eras and profiling some sixty representative buildings. Students of either regional history or architectural history will find it revealing.

AUTHORITY, MAGNIFICENCE, AND CHARM -- ALL IN ONE EXTRAORDINARY VOLUME:
This book is an absolutely astonishing achievement, and is most highly placed among my favorite books of any genre. Most readers will find this to be the finest book on the many historic buildings of the French Quarter, and for many reasons. First, the writing is superbly clear. One need not be an architectural engineer to understand the many fine points covered; believe me, with Mr. Vogt's writing, even we amateurs pick it up easily. One also need not be an historian to comprehend the intricate and detailed timelines involved; these are seamlessly integrated into the writing so that one learns the history naturally, as a matter of course, and a great many historical characters come vividly to life for our reading pleasure. Yes, the buildings described of are built of brick and plaster and colombage and other stuff, but to Mr. Vogt, they are also built from a heady infusion of cultures from many continents converging on a place called New Orleans to create an spicy mix of styles and traditions. In other words, to Mr. Vogt these glorious buildings, some now more than two centuries old, are not inanimate objects, but very, very much alive. Second, the outstanding pen and ink drawings are invitingly warm, showing these appealing buildings in a classic way that blends remarkably well with the written text. I've often found myself pleasantly studying one of the drawings (or perhaps just daydreaming) for several minutes at a time before resuming my reading. When first flipping through the pages of the book, one might be inclined to say that line drawings usually look pretty similar, but I would suggest there is considerable variety in Mr. Vogt's work. Artists should find his approach particularly interesting, with some subjects shown at night rather than in bright daylight, others after a rain, and so on. Take a closer look, and appreciate the artistry unique to each and every drawing. I have now read this book several times (something I never expected to do when I first bought it), and each time find myself so deeply immersed in pictures and words it's as though I'm living altogether in another time and place. The book is that coherent, that illuminating, that much of a pleasure to enjoy. For anyone who thinks they might even be slightly interested in this subject, this is likely just the volume for you. Mr. Vogt focused his work on the greatest American city of New Orleans, and that was surely enough to keep him happy for a lifetime. Would that he had had more time to complement this work with another on the early architecture of, for instance, whatever might remain in Biloxi, Martinique, Haiti, Cuba, and other antecedents and contemporaries of New Orleans as it was growing up. In the present volume, he gave us just enough to tease us. Perhaps a bright, enterprising scholar of architecture will be able to follow up some day; that would surely honor Mr. Vogt's lifetime achievements. "Historic Buildings of the French Quarter" is highly recommended without the slightest hesitation to anyone who enjoys a truly fine book.