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November 28, 2004

Maison Blanche, 1890s

The first building to occupy the corner of Canal and Dauphine Streets was the original Christ Church Episcopal church. The church’s chapter sold the property to Isidore Newman in the mid 1890s and built the lovely cathedral that still stands at St. Charles Avenue and Sixth Street. Newman demolished the original church building and constructed his first Maison Blanche department store on the site. This is that first store building. This building remained on the corner from 1898 until 1910, when it was demolished to make way for the second Maison Blanche building, which now houses the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The streetcars in this photo are an interesting mix. On the left-hand side is one of the unpowered trailers used on the West End excursion line. Single-truck Brill cars are operating on the inside tracks, and a Ford, Bacon & Davis single-truck car is on the right-hand outside track. You can tell the difference in the single-truck cars by the size of the upper deck--the Brills have a much smaller upper decks than the FB&D car. The FB&D car is the same type as RTA streetcar #29, the subject of last week’s feature photo.

Notice all the horse-drawn carriages and wagons pulled up in front of the store. Angle parking on Canal Street lasted long after automobiles replaced the horses, into the 1930s.

Credit for this photo goes to H. George Friedman’s wonderful Canal Streetcar history site.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at November 28, 2004 8:47 PM

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