Henry Howard (1818–1884) was an Irish-born American architect. Over the course of four decades, he designed over 280 buildings in Louisiana, including several plantation houses during the

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...

era. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, he designed many town houses in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Early life

Henry Howard was born on February 8, 1818, in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland. Here he learned the architectural trade at his father's architectural office. He emigrated to the United States in 1836, first living in New York City. Within a year, he joined his brother in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Career

Howard first worked as a builder/carpenter in New Orleans, where he built residential stairs. He was employed by architects

James H. Dakin James Harrison Dakin (August 24, 1806 – May 13, 1852), American architect . Best known for his Neo-Gothic style. Best known as Architect of the Old Louisiana State Capitol, Old Bank of Louisville, and other public buildings. Early life Dakin w ...

and Henry Molhausen. A few years later, he completed the

Pontalba Buildings The Pontalba Buildings form two sides of Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. They are matching red-brick, one-block-long, four‑story buildings built between 1849–1851 by the Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba. ...

, started by

James Gallier James Gallier (24 July 1798– 3 October 1866) was a prominent nineteenth-century Ireland, Irish-born American architect, most famed for his buildings in New Orleans. Gallier Hall, which he designed and once served as New Orleans City Hall, is ...

By 1848, he designed the

Madewood Plantation House Madewood Plantation House, also known as Madewood, is a former sugarcane plantation house on Bayou Lafourche, near Napoleonville, Louisiana. It is located approximately two miles east of Napoleonville on Louisiana Highway 308. A National Histori ...

near

Napoleonville Napoleonville is a village and the parish seat of Assumption Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 660 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Pierre Part Micropolitan Statistical Area. The village is best known as the loca ...

. He went on to design several other plantation

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

s, such as Nottoway (1859, the largest surviving

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

in the South), Belle Alliance, Indian Camp Plantation (1859), Belmont Plantation in St. James Parish, and

Edgewood Edgewood may refer to: Places Canada *Edgewood, British Columbia South Africa *Edgewood, a University of KwaZulu-Natal campus in Pinetown, South Africa United States Cities and towns *Edgewood, California *Edgewood, Florida *Edgewood, Illinois, a ...

(1859) in Natchez, Mississippi . Colonel-Short's-Villa-818

Howard also designed town houses like the Samuel W. Logan House, the Robert H. Short House and the Goldsmith-Godchaux House (1859). The Goldsmith-Godchaux House is "significant for its painted interiors. Has more fresco wall decoration and stenciling than probably any other mid-nineteenth century residence in the South."Goldsmith-Godchaux House at Historical Marker Database
retrieved 4 Nov. 2017. CarvilleDistWM

In at least a few of these projects, Howard worked with a partner,

Albert Diettel Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

, including Edgewood and possibly Indian Camp Plantation. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

of 1861-1865, Howard joined the

Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...

and worked at the Confederate Naval Iron Works in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

. After the war, Howard resumed designing houses. Over the course of his career, he designed over 280 buildings, some of which were wrongly attributed to James Gallier.

Other works

* Belle Grove Plantation, Iberville Parish, Louisiana * Carrollton Courthouse, New Orleans *

White Hall Plantation House White Hall Plantation House is an 1840s Italianate and Greek Revival plantation house attributed to the architect Henry Howard and built in 1848-49 by Elias Norwood. It is located in Legonier, a hamlet on the east bank of the Atchafalaya River ...

, Pointe Coupee Parish

Personal life and death

Howard married Miss Richards of New York; they had 11 children. He died of paralysis on November 25, 1884, in New Orleans.

References

External links

Henry Howard
in

Louisiana Historical Association The Louisiana Historical Association is an organization established in 1889 in Louisiana to collect and preserve the history of Louisiana and its archives. The organization was formed, in part, for the operation of New Orleans' Memorial Hall A m ...