The Invisible Architect

Louisiana architect Henry Howard made an extraordinary contribution to Louisiana’s built landscape. Howard famously designed Madewood, Nottoway, and Windsor plantations, the courthouses of several outlying parishes, and numerous homes, commercial buildings, and churches throughout New Orleans. But until recently, the recollection of his extraordinary contribution had faded into the past, not to mention the fact that Howard’s work has often been misattributed to other architects. As S. Frederick Starr writes in the foreword to the new book Henry Howard: Louisiana Architect by Robert S. Brantley, “Howard, like the planet Neptune, was assumed to exist, but his identity remained largely unknown.”

This may be the case because the built environment is largely invisible to us. In the larger canvas of the cityscape, individual buildings lose their distinctive characteristics—one grand colonnade looks like another grand colonnade, making even the most accomplished architectural achievements escape our notice. The architects who shaped our historic neighborhoods and streetscapes are even harder to discern. Their lasting imprint on our collective Louisiana landscape is all around us, but with few exceptions the history of the people who dreamed those structures into being is lost to memory.

Now, thanks to a lifetime of tireless research by Brantley and the late Victor McGee, Howard’s great-great-great-grandson, the iconic buildings conceived on Henry Howard’s drafting table have for the first time been accurately and collectively documented in the new book, released in June by The Historic New Orleans Collection with Princeton Architecture Press. The famous Pontalba buildings on New Orleans’ Jackson Square, for instance, had been, according to Brantley, wrongly attributed to another architect for years. In Louisiana Architect, the tale of their construction is explored alongside the stories behind dozens more.

The architect’s work is stunningly documented though sketches, historic and contemporary photographs, and blueprints. With accompanying explanation, the skin of our landscape is peeled back to reveal design details and personal stories that make it pulse with life. New Orleans residents (and Louisiana’s tourists) owe Howard no small debt of thanks. You can purchase the volume at thnoc.org.