Can you believe the detail on this New Orleans beauty? Circa 1850 in the Lower Garden District. It sits directly across the street from Coliseum Square Park.
I was intrigued with the question of why this was known as “Coliseum” street and why the park was named as such (especially since there is no actual coliseum), so I researched a bit to find out. The Lower Garden District itself wasn’t realized until 1962 when the Coliseum Square Association came together to revitalize the community after hard economic times during the war and the early 20th century.
Before that, in 1806, Barthelemy Lafon was contracted by a couple plantation owners to subdivide their property. He ended up designing what is now considered the Lower Garden District. In fact, his designs brought in 5 other plantations including the one owned by the founder of New Orleans, Bienville. He named streets after Greek mythology muses including Calliope, Erato, and Polymania. And he intended for a large coliseum to go up in Coliseum Square Park, but after that never came to fruition, the name stuck.
