Today in history 12-8

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1794
Dec 8
Fire destroys much of New Orleans' French Quarter

On December 8, 1794, a group of boys playing in a New Orleans courtyard lose control of a fire to gusty winds. The ensuing blaze engulfs more than 200 buildings in what is now known as the city's French Quarter.

It was a devastating blow. A colony of Spain at the time, New Orleans was in the process of rebuilding after an even more devastating fire had hit the area just six years earlier. On the morning of Good Friday in March 1788, that fire had swept through New Orleans destroying 856 of its 1,100 buildings.

Most of the buildings incinerated in the two fires were made of cypress wood, which was in abundance in the region. After the devastating losses, the Spanish government put in place a series of new building codes, which stated that building walls should be made of bricks and covered with stucco, and roofs should be made with less flammable slate or tile. Structures began to be built flush to the sidewalks, eliminating front gardens that might fuel a fire.

The new building requirements changed the face of the burgeoning city, imparting on it a look similar to other Spanish colonial cities, like Cartagena. Most of the wood homes built by the French, which had occupied the region from 1682 to 1762, were eventually replaced as a result.

The signing of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 meant control of New Orleans was transferred to the United States. But the earlier Spanish colonial influences on its architecture remain.