The balconies and galleries of New Orleans help set the city apart from most American cities. However, the crescent city did not always wear her lacy attire. The early buildings looked like boxes lining the square grid of narrow streets. Where did these spaces come from? Who thought that buildings might be more attractive or functional with these islands of space clinging to the outer walls?

No one architect or early French colonist takes credit for this. One theory attributes inspiration to add galleries to the people who came from the West Indies around 1791. Their arrival after the fire of 1788 that destroyed a large part of the city gave them the chance to influence the appearance of buildings. In the style called Spanish Caribbean people constructed buildings on brick piers to lift them off the soggy soil. The galleries that surrounded their homes protected them from the penetrating heat of the sun and the torrential rains (Heard).