James Freret (1838–1897) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who practiced in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. He was prolific in designing many homes in that area.

About

Freret was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Livie (née D'Arensbourg) Freret and James P. Freret. His cousin William A. Freret, also an architect, and son of New Orleans mayor

William Freret William Alfred Freret Sr. (1804 – June 14, 1864) was Mayor of New Orleans from May 10, 1840, to April 4, 1842, and again from February 27, 1843, to May 12, 1844. He was born in New Orleans, and was of mixed English and Fren ...

, redesigned the

State capitol A capitol, or seat of government, is the building or complex of buildings from which a government such as that of a U.S. state, the District of Columbia, or the organized territories of the United States, exercises its authority. Although m ...

after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

and headed the

Office of the Supervising Architect The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939. About The office handled some of the most important architectural commissions of ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He studied in the office of New Orleans architect George Purves early in his career. Freret went on to study architecture at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

in the early 1860s in the atelier of

Charles-Auguste Questel Charles-Auguste Questel (19 September 1807 – 30 January 1888) was a French architect and teacher. As well as designing new buildings, his projects included the preservation of historical monuments. He worked on several historical monuments i ...

, one of the first Americans to study at the Ecole. He returned to the United States due to the

, joining the Confederate Army's engineering corps. He was wounded in the

Siege of Port Hudson The siege of Port Hudson (May 22 – July 9, 1863) was the final engagement in the Union (American Civil War), Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi River in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses S. Grant, Ulysses Grant was S ...

, and in 1865 returned to New Orleans to open his own architecture practice.

Select works

* Moresque Building, New Orleans (with William A. Freret) destroyed by fire in 1897. *Board of Trade building, New Orleans * Lemann Store, 314 Mississippi Street,

Donaldsonville, Louisiana Donaldsonville (historically ) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Baton ...

, NRHP-listed *Administration Building of the Spring Hill College Quadrangle, 4307 Old Shell Road,

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, NRHP-listed * Upper Central Business District (Boundary Increase II) one or more works, roughly bounded by O'Keefe, Poydras, Convention Center Blvd., St. Rt. 90 and Howard Avenue, New Orleans (Freret and Wolf), NRHP-listed *Bradish Johnson House, 2341 Prytania Street, erected in 1872. Residence of Walter Denegre 1892-1929, Louise S. McGehee School since 1929. * Little Sisters of the Poor, Convent of St. Mary (1886) corner of Prytania and Foucher Streets, New Orleans, Louisiana *Gothic Revival Masonic Hall (1867-1871) also known as “New Masonic Hall”, designed for Tivoli Circle, New Orleans, Louisiana but never built. *Jewish Widows and Orphans Home (1868) New Orleans, Louisiana

References

External links

*
Freret
in the

Louisiana Historical Association The Louisiana Historical Association is an organization established in 1889 in Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the n ...

's ''Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' (Scroll down) {{DEFAULTSORT:Freret, James 1838 births 1897 deaths 19th-century American architects American expatriates in France Architects from New Orleans People of Louisiana in the American Civil War École des Beaux-Arts alumni Confederate States Army personnel