In the latest issue of the IHBC’s membership journal Context, themed on the 50th Anniversary of the Civic Amenities Act and the birth of Conservation Areas, Timothy Cantell explores Conservation Area ‘Antecedents from the American South’.
Cantwell writes:
‘New Orleans …. deserves renown for the protective designation of an area of the city – the first in the USA and almost certainly in the western world. An amendment to the Louisiana Constitution of 1921 laid the groundwork for the creation of the Vieux Carré Commission in 1925. The aim was the preservation of the ‘quaint’ traditional architecture in New Orleans’ Vieux Carré, the so-called French Quarter, the only intact Spanish and French colonial settlement remaining in the USA.’
‘The Vieux Carré Statement of Significance speaks of historic buildings reflecting the blending of cultures which created a truly cosmopolitan metropolis, the scene of many important historic events through French, Spanish and American rule, and the role it played in the war of 1812, the Civil War…..New Orleans was the first to create a historic district. Others were not far behind. The old town in Charleston, South Carolina, gained area status a little later than the Vieux Carré, but as the latter’s powers evolved slowly it is
Charleston that claims the nation’s first historic preservation ordinance, in 1930. Georgetown (now within DC, but a port in Maryland well before the federal district and the City of Washington were established) followed in 1950. All three were city and state initiatives’.
View the Context article
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