Marlyville - Fontainebleau in New Orleans in Orleans Parish, Louisiana — The American South (West South Central)
First Presbyterian Church
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, February 17, 2018
1. First Presbyterian Church Marker
Organized 1817.
The first pastor (1818-1820), the Rev. Sylvester Larned, built a church in 1819 in the plain Gothic Style on St. Charles Street near Gravier Street, William Brand, Architect-Builder.
A Greek Revival style church was erected 1834-1835 on Lafayette Square, its design attributed to George Clarkson, Architect.
It burned in 1854 and was replaced (1855-1857) by a splendid Gothic Revival church designed by Henry Howard, Architect and built by George Purves.
The noted clergyman, The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Morgan Palmer, was its pastor from 1856 until his death in 1902.
The church was dismantled in 1938 to provide a site for a Federal Building. The congregation moved to this South Claiborne Avenue site, and the church and adjacent Palmer Hall were dedicated on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. The architects, Sam Stone, Jr. and Douglas V. Feret, incorporated in the sanctuary some elements from the old church.
The bell in the tower was cast in 1856, and from the Lafayette Square Church gave the curfew signal at the time of the Federal occupation of New Orleans during the Civil War.
Erected 1985 by Orleans Parish Landmarks
this page online
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Religion & Religious Structures. In addition, it is included in the American Presbyterian and Reformed Historic Sites series list.
Location. 29° 56.518′ N, 90° 6.579′ W. Marker is in New Orleans, Louisiana, in Orleans Parish. It is in Marlyville - Fontainebleau. It is at the intersection of South Claiborne Avenue (U.S. 90) and Jefferson Avenue, on the right when traveling north on South Claiborne Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5401 South Claiborne Avenue, New Orleans LA 70125, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Louisiana’s River Parishes. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, on the Gulf Coast, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the Viceroyalty of New France,
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, February 17, 2018
2. First Presbyterian Church Marker
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: First Unitarian Universalist Church (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor (approx. Ό mile away); Tulane Stadium (approx. 0.4 miles away); Zimmermann Residence (approx. half a mile away); Humphrey Residence (approx. 0.6 miles away); Newcomb Pottery Garden (approx. 0.7 miles away); H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College (approx. Ύ mile away); Valence (approx. 0.8 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in New Orleans.
Regarding First Presbyterian Church. The First Presbyterian Church is one of 445 American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Sites registered between 1973 and 2003 by the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS), headquartered in Philadelphia. Approved sites received a metal plaque featuring John Calvins seal and the sites registry number (PHS marker location unknown).
The following text is taken from the Presbyterian Historical
circa 1935
3. ...Showing City Hall, Soules College and First Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, LA.
View of Lafayette Square showing First Presbyterian Church before relocation.
The First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, organized in 1823, was the second Protestant church organized in the city. The first two church buildings were destroyed by fires, and after changes in the neighborhood, the congregation ended up at its current location uptown in 1938. The new buildings incorporated several features of the downtown church, including the organ, bells, pews, the millwork in the rear choir loft, and most of the stained glass windows. The congregation dedicated the sanctuary and education building in 1939, and added a second education building in 1985. The entire complex sustained extensive interior damage from Hurricane Katrina flooding in 2005.
Robert Koch (Historic American Buildings Survey), 1938
4. FRONT ELEVATION (NORTH) - First Presbyterian Church, South Street, New Orleans
Significance: The present owner of the site is the Government of the United States, which acquired it with the building thereon in 1938, for the erection of the present Federal Building. The vendor was the Corporation of the First Presbyterian Church, by whom the site had been owned continuously since 1835. An earlier church was built on this site by the same Congregation in 1835, destroyed by fire in 1854, and rebuilt in 1857. This building was damaged by the hurricane of 1915, and repaired at a cost of $100,000. It was demolished in April and May 1938. - Historic American Buildings Survey
Credits. This page was last revised on February 12, 2023. It was originally submitted on February 19, 2018, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. This page has been viewed 704 times since then and 47 times this year. Last updated on August 15, 2018, by Douglass Halvorsen of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on February 19, 2018. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.
