A Brief History of 735 Touro Street
by Tonya M. Jordan, Living History NOLA
Introduction
735 Touro Street is located in the Faubourg Marigny, just steps away from the popular Frenchmen Street music scene. Known for its vibrant culture and historic architecture, the Faubourg Marigny is one of New Orleans’s great treasures. Sitting immediately downriver from the original site of New Orleans, this area played witness to the founding, growth and rise of one of America’s great cities.
New Orleans was founded by French and Canadian colonists in 1718. They chose the site of the present-day French Quarter for their new town. The area beyond the original city was divided into narrow, deep tracts fronting the river, extending northward on past Baton Rouge and southward as far as the marshy land would allow. These tracts were eventually claimed one-by-one by French nobles who wished to have a stake in the Crown’s newest enterprise. During the 18th century, colonists developed these long strips of raw wilderness into Louisiana’s river plantations.
Early Plantation History
The story of 735 Touro Street begins here, with the first tract of land downriver from the original city, or the French Quarter. It measured nearly eight arpents, or approximately 6.5 acres across fronting the river, from present-day Esplanade Avenue to Franklin Avenue, and extended from the river back to a Bayou St. John. It is known to history as the Marigny Plantation, and the current residence at 735 Touro Street is situated on this land.
Claude Joseph Villars Dubreuil was this plantation’s first owner of record. Dubreuil was a driving force in building up the new city, both figuratively and literally. He arrived in the area in 1719, before the planned city had even been built. He was a manager on the ground when the chosen site of the new city was first cleared. He also oversaw the construction of the city’s first protective levees. He quickly became the Crown’s contractor of choice, and oversaw the construction of many of the city’s original buildings as well. In exchange for his service, the Crown granted Dubreuil a large tract of land upriver from New Orleans, in the vicinity of present-day Jefferson Highway. Here he cleared the land, built his residence and established a plantation.
During his tenure as royal contractor in the colony, he oversaw the construction of the Ursuline Convent, which still stands on the corner of Chartres and Ursulines Street. Built between 1745 and 1752, it is the oldest original structure in the French Quarter.
Pierre de Rigaud Cavagnial de Vaudreuil became the Governor of New France Louisiana in 1743. While in office, he granted the land just outside and downriver of the city to Dubreuil. That he was given such prime real estate speaks to the favor Dubreuil enjoyed among the colonial powers that be. Here, just outside of the city’s boundary, Dubreuil’s energy for enterprise and innovation found its fullest expression. On this land he established a new plantation and constructed a new residence. The mansion was located close to the present-day intersection of Elysian Fields and Chartres Street.
In 1745, he turned his original Uptown plantation over to his sons and moved to his new plantation just outside of the city, the area now known as the Faubourg Marigny. Here he dug a canal (now filled) from the river to an offshoot of Bayou Barataria. He used the canal to transport cypress from the swamps to his property and to power a sawmill. He also built a large brickyard and tile works on the planation. This is where Dubreuil manufactured the bulk of the materials used for in his city construction projects. The location immediately next to the city was ideal for these enterprises. Not only did he now live very close to the city, he produced a mass of building materials in close proximity as well.
Dubreuil also grew crops on his new plantation. By 1753, he was growing rice and wax there. Beyond his many other achievements in the early history of the city, Dubreuil is also hailed a pioneer in the Southern sugar industry. Beginning in the 1740, a number of colonists in Louisiana had attempted to cultivate sugar on their land. After several failed attempts, Dubreuil eventually had success in 1757 with plants he had shipped in from Santo Domingo. He was not able to pursue this agricultural endeavor further, though. Claude Joseph Villars Dubreuil died later that same year.
Dubreuil’s level of success in the New World is astonishing. Arriving in the colony landless in 1719, by the time of his death, he owned a 4,000+ square foot residence, a large plantation, a brickyard, a sawmill, and a tile manufacture. All three of his legitimate children had plantations of their own, given to them by their father Claude Joseph. This success speaks to the opportunity that a clean slate can provide to those who are enterprising and talented. However, it also speaks to harsher realities of colonial society. It is well-known that Dubreuil used black slaves in the majority of his construction projects. He also owned 260 slaves on his plantation outside the city. Clearing land, manufacturing materials, constructing buildings -- these are projects that Dubreuil oversaw, but countless black hands did the actual work. His meteoric success, therefore, speaks both to his talent and to the cruelty of the times.
From Plantation to Faubourg
After Dubreuil’s death, the plantation passed to a series of owners, including Jacques Delachaise, Marie Gauvrit de Monleon, Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent and Laurent Sigur. In 1798, Pierre Philippe de Marigny acquired the property, and it is his name that is associated with the land today. Philippe was born in New Orleans in 1750. He served as a colonial commandant under Spanish rule. In his time, Phillipe Marigny was the richest man in the colony. In 1798, he entertained the Duc d’Orleans, the future King Louis Philippe, on his new plantation. Phillipe died in 1800, and the plantation passed to his son, Bernard Bertrand de Marigny de Mandeville.
Bernard was born in 1785, and as his father’s sole surviving male heir, he managed to undo the great Marigny fortune in one generation. A notoriously reckless spender with a passion for gambling, it was Bernard who, in 1806, hired a surveyor and a builder to divide the plantation into squares and lots, and thus created the Faubourg Marigny. In the early months of 1806, people purchased lots big and small in the new neighborhood. The initial development ran from Esplanade Avenue to Rue d’Enghein (now Franklin Avenue), and from Levee Street to Rue des Bons Enfants, or St. Claude Avenue. Bernard continued living in his family home close to the river, but new homes and buildings went up behind his. In 1810, the neighborhood was extended beyond St. Claude up to present-day Johnston Street.
735 Touro Street
This lot is part of Lot 259 on the original map of the Faubourg Marigny. Bernard Marigny named the streets of his new neighborhood himself, and the streets bounding this lot were originally called (Touro), Casa Calvo (Royal), Grandhommes (Dauphine), and Francais (Frenchmen). The current names came into use in the late 1800s. Lot 259 originally measured 100 feet across the front on Touro Street and was 120 feet deep. Over the decades, it was divided up to create the 35 feet across by 68 feet deep lot that exists at 735 Touro Street today. Evidence suggests that the current house at 735 Touro Street was built between 1830 and 1862.
This research projected was funded by Dayna English and conducted by Tonya M. Jordan of Living History NOLA. For more information about this project or Living History NOLA, visit www.livinghistorynola.com.
by Tonya M. Jordan, Living History NOLA
Introduction
735 Touro Street is located in the Faubourg Marigny, just steps away from the popular Frenchmen Street music scene. Known for its vibrant culture and historic architecture, the Faubourg Marigny is one of New Orleans’s great treasures. Sitting immediately downriver from the original site of New Orleans, this area played witness to the founding, growth and rise of one of America’s great cities.
New Orleans was founded by French and Canadian colonists in 1718. They chose the site of the present-day French Quarter for their new town. The area beyond the original city was divided into narrow, deep tracts fronting the river, extending northward on past Baton Rouge and southward as far as the marshy land would allow. These tracts were eventually claimed one-by-one by French nobles who wished to have a stake in the Crown’s newest enterprise. During the 18th century, colonists developed these long strips of raw wilderness into Louisiana’s river plantations.
Early Plantation History
The story of 735 Touro Street begins here, with the first tract of land downriver from the original city, or the French Quarter. It measured nearly eight arpents, or approximately 6.5 acres across fronting the river, from present-day Esplanade Avenue to Franklin Avenue, and extended from the river back to a Bayou St. John. It is known to history as the Marigny Plantation, and the current residence at 735 Touro Street is situated on this land.
Claude Joseph Villars Dubreuil was this plantation’s first owner of record. Dubreuil was a driving force in building up the new city, both figuratively and literally. He arrived in the area in 1719, before the planned city had even been built. He was a manager on the ground when the chosen site of the new city was first cleared. He also oversaw the construction of the city’s first protective levees. He quickly became the Crown’s contractor of choice, and oversaw the construction of many of the city’s original buildings as well. In exchange for his service, the Crown granted Dubreuil a large tract of land upriver from New Orleans, in the vicinity of present-day Jefferson Highway. Here he cleared the land, built his residence and established a plantation.
During his tenure as royal contractor in the colony, he oversaw the construction of the Ursuline Convent, which still stands on the corner of Chartres and Ursulines Street. Built between 1745 and 1752, it is the oldest original structure in the French Quarter.
Pierre de Rigaud Cavagnial de Vaudreuil became the Governor of New France Louisiana in 1743. While in office, he granted the land just outside and downriver of the city to Dubreuil. That he was given such prime real estate speaks to the favor Dubreuil enjoyed among the colonial powers that be. Here, just outside of the city’s boundary, Dubreuil’s energy for enterprise and innovation found its fullest expression. On this land he established a new plantation and constructed a new residence. The mansion was located close to the present-day intersection of Elysian Fields and Chartres Street.
In 1745, he turned his original Uptown plantation over to his sons and moved to his new plantation just outside of the city, the area now known as the Faubourg Marigny. Here he dug a canal (now filled) from the river to an offshoot of Bayou Barataria. He used the canal to transport cypress from the swamps to his property and to power a sawmill. He also built a large brickyard and tile works on the planation. This is where Dubreuil manufactured the bulk of the materials used for in his city construction projects. The location immediately next to the city was ideal for these enterprises. Not only did he now live very close to the city, he produced a mass of building materials in close proximity as well.
Dubreuil also grew crops on his new plantation. By 1753, he was growing rice and wax there. Beyond his many other achievements in the early history of the city, Dubreuil is also hailed a pioneer in the Southern sugar industry. Beginning in the 1740, a number of colonists in Louisiana had attempted to cultivate sugar on their land. After several failed attempts, Dubreuil eventually had success in 1757 with plants he had shipped in from Santo Domingo. He was not able to pursue this agricultural endeavor further, though. Claude Joseph Villars Dubreuil died later that same year.
Dubreuil’s level of success in the New World is astonishing. Arriving in the colony landless in 1719, by the time of his death, he owned a 4,000+ square foot residence, a large plantation, a brickyard, a sawmill, and a tile manufacture. All three of his legitimate children had plantations of their own, given to them by their father Claude Joseph. This success speaks to the opportunity that a clean slate can provide to those who are enterprising and talented. However, it also speaks to harsher realities of colonial society. It is well-known that Dubreuil used black slaves in the majority of his construction projects. He also owned 260 slaves on his plantation outside the city. Clearing land, manufacturing materials, constructing buildings -- these are projects that Dubreuil oversaw, but countless black hands did the actual work. His meteoric success, therefore, speaks both to his talent and to the cruelty of the times.
From Plantation to Faubourg
After Dubreuil’s death, the plantation passed to a series of owners, including Jacques Delachaise, Marie Gauvrit de Monleon, Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent and Laurent Sigur. In 1798, Pierre Philippe de Marigny acquired the property, and it is his name that is associated with the land today. Philippe was born in New Orleans in 1750. He served as a colonial commandant under Spanish rule. In his time, Phillipe Marigny was the richest man in the colony. In 1798, he entertained the Duc d’Orleans, the future King Louis Philippe, on his new plantation. Phillipe died in 1800, and the plantation passed to his son, Bernard Bertrand de Marigny de Mandeville.
Bernard was born in 1785, and as his father’s sole surviving male heir, he managed to undo the great Marigny fortune in one generation. A notoriously reckless spender with a passion for gambling, it was Bernard who, in 1806, hired a surveyor and a builder to divide the plantation into squares and lots, and thus created the Faubourg Marigny. In the early months of 1806, people purchased lots big and small in the new neighborhood. The initial development ran from Esplanade Avenue to Rue d’Enghein (now Franklin Avenue), and from Levee Street to Rue des Bons Enfants, or St. Claude Avenue. Bernard continued living in his family home close to the river, but new homes and buildings went up behind his. In 1810, the neighborhood was extended beyond St. Claude up to present-day Johnston Street.
735 Touro Street
This lot is part of Lot 259 on the original map of the Faubourg Marigny. Bernard Marigny named the streets of his new neighborhood himself, and the streets bounding this lot were originally called (Touro), Casa Calvo (Royal), Grandhommes (Dauphine), and Francais (Frenchmen). The current names came into use in the late 1800s. Lot 259 originally measured 100 feet across the front on Touro Street and was 120 feet deep. Over the decades, it was divided up to create the 35 feet across by 68 feet deep lot that exists at 735 Touro Street today. Evidence suggests that the current house at 735 Touro Street was built between 1830 and 1862.
This research projected was funded by Dayna English and conducted by Tonya M. Jordan of Living History NOLA. For more information about this project or Living History NOLA, visit www.livinghistorynola.com.