Thomas Jordan House — 1415 Third Street
This great mansion on the corner of Third and Coliseum streets is an outstanding example of the age of opulence. Designed by an unknown architect, the house was completed in 1865 for Walter Robinson, a young Virginian who came to this city to buy Cuban wrappers for cigars and to purchase perique, an especially fine type of tobacco which to this day is grown only in St. James Parish of Louisiana.
The house’s second owner, David C. McCan, a native of Cincinnati, is remembered for his philanthropy and civic endeavor. Third occupant was Peter Pescud of Raleigh, North Carolina. His wife, Margaret C. Maginnis, who reigned in 1874 as the second queen of the New Orleans Carnival, made it a center of gay social activity.
Douglass Freret assisted the present owner, Thomas Jordan, Esq., with a fine restoration.
Viewed from the street, the house presents an impressive sight. The unknown architect set it far back on the lot, sideways to the street, with a Palladian carriage house and iron gates. The impressive scale of the house results from stories of equal height, 15 feet, 8 inches. Double galleries with curved ends adorn the façade. These feature Doric columns below and Corinthian above. Linking the columns are panels of cast iron in a pattern somewhat heavier than usual, which admirably blends with the feeling of solidity which the building gives. On the southern exposure are double galleries framed in ironwork of a lacy design, which effectively lightens and gives delicacy to the whole. Not to be overlooked is the iron fence which, with its handsome shell motifs, contributes to the effect of beauty.
Detailing of the interior, with its elaborate carved door and window trim, fine plaster cornices and ceiling centerpieces, and especially the superb winding staircase, is among the most elaborate in the city. All the rooms are palatial, furnished with choice antiques, many the work of America’s foremost cabinet makers.
Painted ceilings are features of both living and dining rooms, that of the latter executed with great delicacy after the manner of Robert Adam. The wallpaper in the dining room is the famous Züber 1834 “Scenic America”. The chimney piece of this room was designed to contain a wooden eagle found at the mouth of the Mississippi after a hurricane. Carved from cypress, it is believed to be the sternboard of a pilot boat built in Charleston at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
A fascinating fact about this house is that it was said to be among the first in the city to have inside plumbing, water being supplied from cisterns on the roof, which also provided protection from fire.