The Robinson House and Italianate Grandeur
Why is it significant?
Stand before the colossal double-columned portico of the Robinson House at 1415 Third Street, widely regarded as one of the most palatial, expensive, and architecturally ambitious private residences ever constructed in New Orleans.
Key Facts
| Place | The Robinson House and Italianate Grandeur |
|---|---|
| Address | 1415 Third St, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States |
| Geo Coordinates | 29.92550, -90.08750 |
| Part of Walk | Garden District, Antebellum Mansions and St. Charles Streetcar: New Orleans' Gilded Avenues |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand before the colossal double-columned portico of the Robinson House at 1415 Third Street, widely regarded as one of the most palatial, expensive, and architecturally ambitious private residences ever constructed in New Orleans. Completed between 1859 and 1865 for wealthy Virginia-born merchant and cotton factor Walter Gourlie Robinson, this monumental villa was designed by master architect Henry Howard, who drew inspiration directly from classical Italian Renaissance palazzos.
Construction began in 1859 but was dramatically interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. As Union gunboats blockaded the Mississippi River and federal troops occupied the city, construction ground to a halt; Robinson finally completed his dream palace in 1865 at an astronomical cost exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, a staggering fortune at the close of the war.
The mansion was among the very first private homes in the American South to feature complete indoor plumbing with hot and cold running water. Large copper holding vats built into the attic collected rainwater from the slate roof, which was filtered through charcoal and gravity-fed into indoor bathrooms with marble bathtubs and flush toilets. Notice the rounded pavilion wings that terminate both sides of the two-story gallery, supported by fluted Doric columns on the ground floor and fluted Corinthian columns above. The front garden is dominated by colossal Southern live oaks and towering cabbage palms, while the brick carriage house and two-story servant quarters remain intact in the rear yard.
The sheer physical mass and neoclassical perfection of the Robinson House take your breath away. It represents the absolute summit of nineteenth-century Southern mercantile ambition, preserved in pristine condition through more than a century and a half of history.
Walk southwest along Coliseum Street toward the George Washington Cable House on Eighth Street.