Colonel Short's Villa and the Cornstalk Fence
Why is it significant?
You have arrived outside Colonel Short's Villa at 1448 Fourth Street, celebrated for possessing the most famous, whimsical, and artistically extraordinary iron fence in the American South.
Key Facts
| Place | Colonel Short's Villa and the Cornstalk Fence |
|---|---|
| Address | 1448 Fourth St, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States |
| Geo Coordinates | 29.92700, -90.08600 |
| Part of Walk | Garden District, Antebellum Mansions and St. Charles Streetcar: New Orleans' Gilded Avenues |
| Generated | Generated |
You have arrived outside Colonel Short's Villa at 1448 Fourth Street, celebrated for possessing the most famous, whimsical, and artistically extraordinary iron fence in the American South. Completed in 1859 for Kentucky cotton broker Colonel Robert Henry Short and his wife Mary Ward, this palatial residence was designed by prominent architect Henry Howard, who synthesized Italianate villas and Greek Revival proportions into a masterpiece of antebellum design.
Look closely at the famous cast-iron fence enclosing the garden: cast by the Wood and Perot foundry of Philadelphia in 1859, the ironwork depicts lifelike ears of corn with husks peeling back to reveal ripe kernels, entwined with blossoming morning glory vines and climbing squash leaves.
Popular lore holds that Colonel Short's wife, a homesick young bride from Iowa, pined endlessly for the golden cornfields of her Midwestern home; in an extravagant romantic gesture, her devoted husband spent an astronomical sum to order this custom cast-iron cornfield to surround her New Orleans palace. During the Civil War, when Union forces under General Benjamin Butler occupied New Orleans in 1862, Colonel Short fled the city as an active Confederate supporter; General Butler promptly confiscated the luxurious villa, using it as the official headquarters of the federal military governor. The villa's double galleries feature pierced cast-iron balustrades, fluted Corinthian columns, and a soaring belvedere cupola crowning the roof, designed to capture cool breezes off the Mississippi River.
Admiring the painted green and yellow iron ears of corn gleaming beneath the hanging moss of ancient live oaks, the sheer opulence of antebellum New Orleans comes into vivid focus. This playful work of iron art remains one of the most photographed domestic treasures in America.
Walk southwest along Coliseum Street toward the grand Robinson House on Third Street.