Tremé is rich in art, architecture, and community

Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in the United States.

What is now Tremé was a plantation in the late 1700s. Hat maker and real estate developer Claude Tremé owned and subdivided this land, and in 1810 he sold it to the city of New Orleans. This new subdivision became home to several free persons of color and residents of European descent.

The neighborhood has consistently been a cultural incubator. In the 1800s, the city designated a portion of land for free persons and black slaves to congregate, play music, and sell goods. This gathering place later became known as Congo Square.

Tremé was also known for its portion of North Claiborne Avenue, which had a neutral ground—green space that divides two directions of traffic—lined with hundreds of oak trees. An alternative to Canal Street, which was a major commercial area in New Orleans, North Claiborne Avenue had over 100 businesses and several residences. But that changed in the second half of the 20th century. In an aggressive U.S. Interstate Highway System plan, the city opted to turn Tremé’s North Claiborne neutral ground into an elevated expressway for Interstate 10. That project wiped out the avenue’s oak trees and a considerable portion of its businesses.

Today, the neighborhood holds some of the richest Creole architecture found in New Orleans. It’s a buffet of vibrant Creole cottages built in the 1830s, townhouses erected in the 1840s, and double shotguns that date back to the 1890s. An excellent example of Creole architecture in Tremé is the Meilleur-Goldthwaite House, a villa built in 1828 that houses the (currently closed) New Orleans African American Museum.

Tremé is also home to one of the oldest African-American Catholic parishes in the nation. Founded in 1841, the St. Augustine Church sits on the corner of Governor Nicholls and Henriette Delille streets. Architect J.N.B de Pouilly, who assisted in the renovation and expansion of the St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter, designed this church. On the side of the church is the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, a fallen chain cross that commemorates the lives of slaves of African descent who died in New Orleans and were buried in unmarked graves.

Tremé holds two cultural museums. Around the corner from St. Augustine Church is the Backstreet Cultural Museum, which has exhibits on black contributions to New Orleans, such as second lines, Mardi Gras Indians, Baby Dolls, and black Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs. The neighborhood also holds Tremé’s Petit Jazz Museum, which has artifacts, recordings, and books that explore the developments of jazz in New Orleans.

The neighborhood is not only rich in culture, but in green space, too. On Rampart Street sits the 32-acre Louis Armstrong Park. It has sculptures of music icons such as Louis Armstrong and Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief Allison Montana; it’s home to the Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts; and it holds the original site of Congo Square. Tremé is also home to a sizable section of the Lafitte Greenway, which is a 2.6-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail that connects Mid-City to Tremé. Nearly spanning the length of the neighborhood, it has over 500 trees, bioswales, permeable pavement for stormwater management, and several open fields.

While the neighborhood has cultivated some of New Orleans’s renowned artists and architectural styles, it struggles to keep the residents who have perpetuated that culture. The Data Center reports that Tremé’s population dropped from 8,800 residents in 2000 to 4,500 around 2016. While Tremé is less populated than it was 18 years ago, the census-based data does not show the impact Hurricane Katrina had on neighborhood abandonment.

Even with the drop in population, the neighborhood continues to struggle with a lack of housing. As tourists seek ever more “local” experiences of New Orleans, Tremé has become a hotspot for developers to invest in short-term rentals. Fewer people own homes in the neighborhood: The most recent data in the American Community Survey supports that 28.9 percent of residents in Tremé are homeowners while 71.1 percent identify as renters.

However, residents remain hopeful for their neighborhood and grateful for the culture, life, and energy that has been instilled in the neighborhood for over 200 years. In this photo essay, we catch a glimpse of what makes Tremé noteworthy.