Coliseum Square and Greek Mythology Park

Why is it significant?

You have arrived in Coliseum Square, the serene civic centerpiece of the Lower Garden District. Laid out in 1806 by visionary French architect and surveyor Barthélémy Lafon, this elongated park was originally conceived as the cultural heart of an ambitious classical suburb named the Colisée, where…

Key Facts

Open the walk

You have arrived in Coliseum Square, the serene civic centerpiece of the Lower Garden District. Laid out in 1806 by visionary French architect and surveyor Barthélémy Lafon, this elongated park was originally conceived as the cultural heart of an ambitious classical suburb named the Colisée, where streets were poetically named after the nine Greek Muses: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Thalia, Urania, and Polymnia.

Lafon's grand urban plan envisioned a monumental classical colosseum for theatrical performances, a Roman forum, public baths, and a university academy along these park paths. Lafon inspired municipal vision reflected the democratic ideals of the early American republic, which looked to classical Athens and Rome for institutional and architectural inspiration. While financial panics and yellow fever prevented the colosseum from being built, Lafon romantic green parkland survived, centered on a bubbling neoclassical fountain. Walking through the park today, you pass under centuries-old live oaks, southern magnolias, and towering bald cypresses that provide cool shade during hot Louisiana summers.

Framing the square is an extraordinary architectural museum of mid-nineteenth-century residential styles: Greek Revival porticos with fluted Ionic columns, Italianate villas with bracketed eaves, and Queen Anne mansions with whimsical corner turrets and fish-scale shingles. In the 1960s, this historic neighborhood was threatened with total destruction when highway planners proposed running a massive multi-lane elevated interstate bridge directly through Coliseum Square. In a landmark victory for American grassroots preservation, courageous local residents and architects organized the Coliseum Square Association in 1972, successfully halting the highway and spearheading the architectural restoration of hundreds of historic homes.

Strolling along the grassy park lawns as live oaks cast dappled shade over the splashing fountain, the utopian neoclassical ambition of New Orleans' early planners is deeply moving. The park stands as an inspiring monument to neighborhood solidarity and architectural preservation.

Walk southwest along Camp Street to admire the historic Greek Revival mansions.