Earl Barthé (June 6, 1922 – January 11, 2010; last name pronounced bar-THAY) was an American plasterer and plastering historian. A self-described "

Creole of Color The Creoles of color are a historic ethnic group of Creole people that developed in the former French and Spanish colonies of Louisiana (especially in the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, and Northwestern Florida i.e. Pensacola, Flori ...

", Barthé is particularly admired for preserving many of the old plaster walls and ornamental cornices for historic structures within New Orleans. Originally published in print as . Reprinted 2003 (Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co.) His family company specializes in historical and decorative plasterwork and the Barthé family has been plastering since 1850. The Barthé family settled in New Orleans in the early 19th century and the family business was established by Barthé's great-great-grandfather, a master plasterer from

Nice, France Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, who married a woman from

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. The family was known in the term of the time as "free people of color." Over the years, the family has worked on many historic buildings. Most of the fine hotels and old stores along Canal Street as well as the mansions and the cemeteries' tombs on

St. Charles Avenue St. Charles Avenue (french: avenue Saint-Charles) is a thoroughfare in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. and the route of the St. Charles Streetcar Line. It is also famous for the dozens of mansions that adorn the tree-lined boulevard for much of the ...

include work by Barthé and his family. Barthé's father worked on such historic buildings as the Saint Louis Cathedral, the French Market, and the Saenger Theater. Barthé has also worked on several notable projects and is known for decorative plaster and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

work that reflects an array of French, Spanish, Anglo-American neo-classical, and African American aesthetics, in sync with the historic architecture of New Orleans. For his work, Barthé was inducted into the Louisiana AFL-CIO Labor Hall of Fame. Today, Barthé's daughter, Terry Barthé, leads the family business. In 2001, Barthé was documented as part of the New Orleans Building Arts Project which culminated in an exhibit of his work along with other New Orleans trade artists entitled, ''Raised to the Trade: Creole Building Arts in New Orleans''. The exhibit toured throughout the United States including presentations at the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution's Folklife Festival. He was a recipient of a 2005 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. In his final years, Barthé spent much of his time helping to restore historic buildings in New Orleans that were damaged or destroyed in

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

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External links

Fox News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barthe, Earl 1932 births 2010 deaths American plasterers Artists from Louisiana National Heritage Fellowship winners