French Property Insider, Weekly E-Zine About Investing in France

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I arrived just today to a snow-covered Paris and gray skies that look as if more will fall before the day is over. There is more predicted for tonight and Saturday and next week with temperatures below freezing.

I hope that you all had as wonderful a Thanksgiving vacation as I did, visiting with family and friends in Knoxville and New Orleans. If you are a reader of Parler Paris, then you already know all about the adventure, from eating Tennessee pies to fried seafood in New Orleans, not to mention turkey, of course.

It was a natural transition to move from "Nouvelle Orléans" to Paris, France, considering the history of New Orleans over which the French had so much influence. I grew up on "Fleur de Lis" Drive, one block from one of the two canal levees which broke and flooded the city during Hurricane Katrina. The Fleur de Lis emblem has become THE symbol for New Orleans and a craze to have taken hold like wild fire. You will now find it at every turn, in every home, in every shop, in every corner of the city no matter where you look, to the point of absurdity.

In France, you wouldn’t want to mark yourself with the symbol, which for them represents an alignment with the monarchy, out of fashion since the French Revolution! But today, the French would just assume you had visited New Orleans!

The "French Quarter" or "Vieux Carré" is the oldest part of the city, founded in 1718 by French Canadian naval officer Jean Baptiste Bienville on a 70-square grid along the eastern bend of the Mississippi River, named after the Regent Duc d'Orleans. In 1762, Louisiana was transferred by Louis XV to Charles III of Spain and for four decades, the Spaniards ruled, erecting the plastered brick houses with walled garden courtyards adorned by graceful wrought iron balconies that we know today. It's ironic that it maintains the name "French Quarter" when the architecture is clearly more Spanish. Still, the street names bare the heritage of France -- Royal, Bourbon, Bienville, Burgundy, Dauphine, Chartres, etc.

The 160-year-old Pontalba Apartments overlooking Jackson Square consist of more than 30 rowhouses that Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba built as an investment between 1849 and 1851. Modeled roughly on the Place des Vosges here in Paris, the townhouses were meant "to provide families living in elegant country homes with equally comfortable and well-appointed city rentals, as well as fashionable locations for ground-level businesses"...not too dissimilar with what happened simultaneously in Le Marais.

The neighboring district 'down river' (east of the French Quarter) is the area known as the "Faubourg Marigny." The architecture in this part of town has the spirit of the Marquis Antoine Xavier Bernard Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville which still haunts this historic neighborhood that he established in 1805. Built on high ground, it escaped the flooding that fateful day when the levees broke. For the last several years, it’s been undergoing a regentrification much like the Marais in Paris and is popular for Bed and Breakfasts, lots of nightlife (live music clubs galore) and great little bistrots such as Cake Café.

The American Planning Association deemed it one of the Top 10 Great American Neighborhoods in 2009, the only Louisiana neighborhood to ever make that list. My niece lives in a “shotgun” 19th-century "Creole cottage" in the immediate vicinity of the Cake Café, where she is the bread and pastry chef. The house is ‘sooo Noo Awlins’ with its high ceilings, wood floor, ceiling fans and simple one-room-after-another floor plan. The bathroom is my favorite room in the house, all white clapboard and powder-blue walls with a classic 40s pedestal sink and claw-foot tub. Even the toilet is retro, sitting taller than today’s model so one’s feet might dangle off the floor.

The Creole cottage is a type of architecture indigenous to the Gulf Coast built between 1790 and 1840 thought to have evolved from French and Spanish colonial house-forms, influenced by France's colonial empire. While you will find the cottage throughout the Gulf Coast, in New Orleans the term tends to be more narrowly defined -- a one and one-half story house with a gabled roof, and squarish rooms with no hallways, built up to the front property line.

Architecture 'mavens' will tell you that a "Shotgun" and a Creole Cottage are not one in the same -- that their details are distinctly different, but you'd have to be fairly learned to distinguish them from first sight. The shotgun is quite narrow, usually no more than 12 feet (3.5 meters) wide, with doors at each end built at the end of the Civil War (1861–65) through to the 1920s. Its roots can be traced to Africa and Haiti.

Creole Cottages and other style houses in the Ninth Ward (4,000), destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, are being replaced by colorful houses with bat-wing roofs and louver-trellised porches thanks to "Make It Right," the charity that actor Brad Pitt founded in 2007. It has raised $31 million (including $5 million of Pitt’s own money) to build 150 houses in the Lower Ninth Ward, the symbolic epicenter of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The homes are traditional in spirit, long and narrow, with a deep front porch and angled roofs, designed as solar panels to be more efficient.

Beyond the business district, west of the Vieux Carré sitting in the curve of the river, the "Garden District" between Saint Charles Avenue and Magazine Street, was developed between 1832 and 1900. It is considered one of the best preserved collections of historic southern mansions in the United States. This whole area was once a number of plantations, sold off in parcels to mainly wealthy Americans who did not want to live in the French Quarter with the Creoles, and was laid-out by New Orleans architect, planner and surveyor, Barthelemy Lafon. Much like Le Marais, it was originally developed with only a few houses per square block, each surrounded by a large garden, hence the name, "Garden District." Later, the large lots were subdivided and made way for more houses, becoming more urbanized. The architecture is a mix of plantation, Victorian, Creole and Spanish.

New Orleans is like no other American city. Architecturally, it is the most European in style of all other American cities. Some might argue that Boston would be a contender, but I'll argue that any day of the week. One thing for sure, it's certainly the most FRENCH city and that makes it an awfully easy place to share with Paris -- keeping one foot in each for the rest of my life.

P.S. Make note that this is your chance to see our House Hunters International shows coming soon! Scroll UP to learn more!

P.P.S. For those of you in Paris, plan on visiting with me and other readers of Parler Paris on December 14th when we meet for Parler Paris Après Midi at La Pierre du Marais from 3 to 5 p.m. Learn more at parlerparis/apresmidi.html

Celebrate the Holiday Season in Paris at the Lowest Rates of the Year

Enjoy the beautiful, magical holiday season in the City of Light. Between now and December 20th, Parler Paris Apartments is prepared to offer you the lowest advertised rates! And if you prefer to enjoy Christmas and New Year here, we'll take 10% off any stay of 4 nights or more between December 21st and January 2nd!

Choose one of our comfy and luxurious Parler Paris Apartments.

Featuring...Le Saint-Tropez and La Brigitte

Le Saint-Tropez and La Brigitte are 'sister' apartments that took five years to turn into a kind of 'beach resort' in the Marais sky. With a large and well-equipped terrace over which the moon shines bright, and even more through the large skylight, big picture windows and French doors, this mosaic and "trompe l'oeil" artist-designed studio and studette were spared no expense to make you feel so at home, you may never want to leave the cool aqua and sandy tones.

Reserve today! Visit: Parler Paris Apartments: parlerparis/apartments/ to view our full selection or email: apartments@adrianleeds.com for more information.

For our luxurious and spacious apartments that accommodate up to 8, visit Paris Palais Apartments: parispalais.com/

Parler Paris Getting a mortgage in France is easier than you think...

Let us show you just how hassle-free it can be to get a French property mortgage for your dream Paris pied-à-terre or villa in the country!

Visit French Property Loan or contact Mortgage Manager John Rule at loan@adrianleeds.com

French Book your personal consultation with Adrian Leeds.

French Property Consultation
Your Complete Solution to a New Home in France..
Let the Adrian Leeds Group guide you through the process with ease and peace of mind... to have your very own pied-à-terre in Paris or home in the French countryside.

Visit frenchpropertyconsultation or email info@adrianleeds.com

Own a Piece of Paris.

Fractional ownership is the hottest way to own your piece of Paris simply, easily and inexpensively!

Here is just one of the offerings available through French Property Fractional:

French Property Fractional Le Royal du Marais - This beautiful two bedroom, two bathroom apartment is located in the building that forms one of the corners of the world famous Place des Vosges, in Paris' prestigious Marais district.

For more information on this and other fractional ownership properties now available, or to learn how you can design your own property, visit French Property Fractional.