Pictures of the French Quarter

If you are paying attention, you will notice that all of the roof ventilators in the FrenchQuarter are unique.  It's the details that can make all the difference. The ventilator in this picture has a cast metal rose at the very top of it. One of the interesting bits that make these ventilators in the French Quarter so interesting

The doors have eyes. The shutters on this French Quarter doorway have the most lovely patina and the holes give the house a presence. What ghosts live behind those doors to peer out upon the life in the streets of New Orleans.

Look up! There are all kinds of interesting things to find on the roofs of New Orleans! Clay chimney extensions, tin ventilators, and ceramic doo-dads to break the monotony of an otherwise straight and boring roof line. 

How balanced and Euclidian this house is. A lamp post matching the chimney, smack in the middle, nice contrasting colors of the walls and shutters. Look it isn't leaning at all! Did I really take this picture in the French Quarter of New Orleans?

Heat and humidity are the friend of the person who likes taking pictures of weathered paint on walls. Combined with the slight shifting that almost all structures in the French Quarter are subject to, no wall has a chance against the ravages of time without regular maintenance. This particular wall is no exception and it seems it has been a month or two since someone has paid attention to it.

Why erect a big ol'  billboard when you can just paint your advertisement on the side of a building. For decades people have been exposed to this Uneeda Biscuit advertisement. I am guessing that if Uneeda Bicuits are still available today they cost a bit more than five cents. Nevertheless, the National Biscuit Company is still shouting out that Uneeda Biscuit!

Tucked right next to a Maroon house is this pair of shutters, dove grey in a sea of muted blue. 

They say that here in the French Quarter everybody has an angle. That can also be said about most fo the buildings as well this particular one has a lean to the left. This house is lucky, the walls are all leaning in the same direction!

Looking like a pointed witch's hat, this rusted ventilator holds its own between two chimnies on a steep slate roof.

If you look closely, the bricks here in the French Quarter are fascinating. If you look really close and for a long time, people will begin to wonder about you. So save yourself the social faux pas and stare at this picture instead. Years of slow seeping water have added their stain to the mortar between the brick and each brick seems to have its own story to tell.

What a lovely patina has been earned by this no parking sign and the gate it lives on. It has been there for years and has been painted around several times. Mmmm, rust against green, how lovely!

A gate between two buildings seems to lead to a land of blue sky. Is this the rumored gate that opens directly from the French Quarter to Montana? Ah it might be worth it to peek through the spaces between the boards. Would I see green fields and cattle?

Chimneys and Ventilators, chimneys and ventilators! What's with that? Well, I know the ventilator thing started when I was shooting lots of barns in the midwest. There are a lot of interesting ventilators "out there on them barns." When I arrived here in the French Quarter of New Orleans I was so thrilled I could continue my ventilator fascination. Now when you add the many curious and different chimney styles they have in the French Quarter things only get more interesting!

Look up, look down, make your eyes move all around, All kinds of nifty things can be found. This little segnent of wall is one of them. Decades and decades of weather and wear have pulled and worn the cement stucco from most of this wall except for this small continent way down against the sidewalk.

The geometries of roof lines can be so interesting. With the straight lines broken by chimneys, ventilators and the various doohickies that are to be found on roofs here, every roof has the potential to be a circus all of it's own.

The the terra cotta pipes that finish these chimneys are so interesting. The ends are broken in shards as if some giant pigeon tried once to roost on them and crushed them with it's weight. Perhaps a gigantic parrot was sharpening its beak on them to give the ends such a tattered look.

Like a pink slip under a green dress the previous color of paint peeks out where the top coat of paint has weathered and peeled on these dark green window shutters. Like all things, they may be worse for the wear, but they are more interesting and, in their own way, more beautiful.

Yikes! it is one thing to paint your walls pink. It is quite another to paint the doors within that wall a bright green. While this might not be something people in Boston do, it is a practice the folk here in the French Quarter of New Orleans engage in with impunity. Color is good, go ahead paint my day!

Ever-so-busy, an archeology of paint unveils the story of this wall. How many different colors do you see in the layers? How many years pass between a fresh coat and a new color? When, next, will the paint brush be put to work on this wall?

Here we are now on Bourbon street. The plaster "holes" on this wall are carefully manicured. However the tourists probably don't realize this and say "Oooh, wow look at this Old Wall" then they go in and buy a drink. Every time this happens the proprietor thinks "Gee, I'm glad I had that done." 

The stucco has crumbled and exposes some of the underlying brick work in this building. I like the deep turquoise of the doorway right next to this wall. 

The rear part of a compound in the French Quarter of New Orleans. This part of the building was originally built for slaves. Slave quarters are recognizable by looking for a few things. They are generally behind the main house at the back of the lot, they are often perpendicular to the orientation of the main house,  they are always small. Post-Katrina they are rented out as "efficiency apartments" for obscene rents.

The palette of colors people use to paint their houses here in the French Quarter of New Orleans is broad, delightful. Sometimes it seems neighbors take into consideration the colors of the adjoining building with lovely results. Other times to do so would continue a garish and wild scheme that, while nice for one house might be a bit overwhelming for an entire block.