 eep walking until you get to divided Jackson Avenue, then turn right to cross Prytania Street, and continue down Jackson to the impressive: - Buckner House, at the end of the block. Wealthy Kentucky cotton baron Henry S. Buckner had New York architect Lewis E. Reynolds design this plantation-style mansion for him after he moved here in the mid 1800s. Completed in 1856, it features 48 Ionic and Corinthian columns across its wraparound double galleries, and an interior measuring 22,000 square feet. Walk to the corner of Jackson and Coliseum Streets, where you can appreciate the size and sculpture of this huge structure.
This house is only one of five houses Buckner commissioned in "American" New Orleans, but it is the largest of the five; unbelievably it was built for only $30,000. Turning the corner at Coliseum Street, walk up Coliseum until you get to the next block. On the right side at the beginning of the block, and stretching for roughly half of the block, is the group of row houses known as the:
- Coliseum Street Row. Encompassing the addresses 2301 to 2329, these simple residences were all built in the 1860s as a kind of real estate development. They were all designed as combination side-hall "shotgun" houses, the first three with the addresses 2305, 2307, 2309 having been built in 1868 for John Hall from a Henry Howard design. The houses are sometimes referred to as the Seven Sisters,
based on a story (not true) of a Garden District resident (name unknown), who had seven daughters, and built these homes as wedding presents for each of them. Continue to the corner of First Street. On the right at 1407 First is the:
- Pritchard-Pigott House, an interesting Greek revival double-galleried townhouse. On the left across the street at 1331 First is the:
- Morris-Israel House, a beautiful Italianate cast-iron galleried townhouse built in 1869 for Joseph C. Morris. The house was designed by Irish architect Samuel Jamison in the "new" style, when Greek revival became too commonplace in the design of many Garden District homes. The spectacular top-to-bottom ironwork galleries were manufactured here in New Orleans by Jacob Baumiller's foundry,
and are similar to the galleries found on the:
- Carroll-Crawford House on the same block. Just take a left here at First Street and head toward the river until you get to number 1315, at the end of the block. You'll immediately spot the similarity between the two houses. There's a good reason for this: they were both designed by the same architect in the same Italianate style, and built in the same year! This house was built in 1869 also, for Joseph Carroll, a Virginia-born cotton factor. Mark Twain was among the guests at the many lavish parties held here. Around the corner on Chestnut Street is the elegant but simple carriagehouse. Just across Chestnut Street from here is the:
 Brevard-Wisdom House,
1239 First Street. This magnificent mansion was built for commission merchant Albert Hamilton Brevard after designs by James H. Calrow. Dating from 1857, it displays both Greek revival and Italianate styles, thanks to a renovation in the 1860s. Galleries are placed on both floors, with Ionic columns on the first floor, and Corinthian columns on the second. The house was expanded in 1869 to include a library wing on the Chestnut Street side, and hexagonal bays. It was later purchased by Judge John Minor Wisdom, then by novelist Anne Rice, who made it her primary residence. Due to the rose pattern in the design of the lovely fence in front, the house was sometimes known by the name Rosegate. Continue walking down Chestnut Street back toward Jackson Avenue until you get to Philip Street. Turn right here,
and look to your right. The house on the corner, number 1238 Philip, is the:- Rodenberg-Merritt House. Grain dealer John H. Rodenberg had this house built in 1853 in the Greek revival style, with 18-inch-thick walls and 14-foot-high ceilings. The irregularly-shaped mansion had two semi-octagonal side bays added on the Chestnut Street side of the house in 1869. Next door to the Rodenberg House at 1220 is the:
- Delgado-Rice house, a large frame Italianate mansion built in 1857 for a Creole lady, Mrs Augustin M. Tureaud. It was later purchased by Samuel Delgado in 1868. His nephew, Isaac Delgado, whose art collection helped form the Delgado Museum of Art, lived in the house after that. The museum is now called the
New Orleans Museum of Art.
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