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Lafayette Cemetery No. 1

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1833, Benjamin Buisson. Bounded by Washington Ave., and Coliseum, Prytania, and Sixth sts.
  • (Photograph by Lake Douglas)
  • (Photograph by Karen Kingsley)
  • (Photograph by Karen Kingsley)
  • (Photograph by Karen Kingsley)

Designed at the height of one of New Orleans’s worst cholera epidemics, this cemetery was divided by two shell-paved avenues, carefully planned to accommodate a funeral procession, and intersecting at the center to form a cross. In 1857, the cemetery was enclosed by a high brick wall, and individual vaults were built into its inner face on the Washington Avenue side to help meet the need for additional burial space. By 1867, magnolia trees had been planted along the principal avenues. The formality of the plan and the landscaping reflect the idea of the cemetery as a garden of rest. Closely spaced above-ground tombs line the avenues and aisles in each of the four squares.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas
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Data

What's Nearby

Freret’s Folly
Robert Short House
James and Ellen Eustis House
Steinberg-Fishbach House
Charles Briggs House

Citation

Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas, "Lafayette Cemetery No. 1", [New Orleans, Louisiana], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/LA-02-OR146.

Print Source

buildings of new orleans book

Buildings of New Orleans, Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018, 176-177.

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