Gallier House

James Gallier Jr. built this house in 1857 as his answer to a question: what does a perfect Creole home look like when one of the city's most important architects designs it for himself? He moved in with his wife and children in 1860. By then he'd already shaped the skyline — the French Opera House, the Garden District mansions that still anchor those oak-shaded blocks — but this narrow Royal Street townhouse was where he solved problems for his own family. Indoor plumbing. A ventilation system that moved air through rooms before anyone expected such a thing. One of the first private bathrooms in New Orleans. The front gate is cast iron he designed specifically for this house, not catalog-ordered like most of the ironwork in the Quarter. Stucco over soft local brick to keep wind and water from eating the walls. Brick-on-brick foundations that widen below the surface. The house mixes Italianate stucco treatment with classical formality at the entrance — eclectic in the way a working architect's home often is, a testing ground for ideas that don't all have to match. The interior is restored to the 1860s with original furnishings, wallpaper, and decorative arts. The museum interprets both the Gallier family's life and the enslaved people who lived in the service wing. The courtyard garden and carriageway are intact. In 1974 it was declared a National Historic Landmark for its association with Gallier. In 1996 the Woman's Exchange became steward after acquiring it from Tulane. Guided tours. Admission charged. Combo ticket available with Hermann-Grima House. You go to see what cutting-edge looked like in 1860, and what it cost.