Pontalba Buildings

The Pontalba Buildings form two sides of Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. These are matching red-brick block long 4‑story buildings built in the 1840s by the Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba. The ground floors house shops and restaurants; and the upper floors are apartments that are supposedly, the oldest continuously rented such apartments in the United States. However, according to Christina Vella, historian of modern Europe, adjunct professor at Tulane University in New Orleans and writer of the book Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness de Pontalba says this is something, "Carriage drivers in New Orleans like to tell tourists; that the Pontalba was the first apartment buildings in the...