# James Freret

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{{Short description|American architect}}
thumb|McGehee School

'''James Freret''' (1838–1897) was an American [architect](/source/architect) who practiced in [New Orleans](/source/New_Orleans), [Louisiana](/source/Louisiana). He was prolific in designing many homes in that area.

== About ==
Freret was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Livie (née D'Arensbourg) Freret and James P. Freret.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:freret|title=James Freret Architectural Drawings|website=Tulane University Digital Library, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library|access-date=2019-01-25}}</ref> His cousin [William A. Freret](/source/William_A._Freret), also an architect, and son of New Orleans mayor [William Freret](/source/William_Freret), redesigned the [State capitol](/source/Old_Louisiana_State_Capitol) after the [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) and headed the [Office of the Supervising Architect](/source/Office_of_the_Supervising_Architect) in [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.)

He studied in the office of New Orleans architect [George Purves](/source/George_Purves) early in his career.<ref name=":0" /> Freret went on to study architecture at the [École des Beaux-Arts](/source/%C3%89cole_des_Beaux-Arts) in the early 1860s in the atelier of [Charles-Auguste Questel](/source/Charles-Auguste_Questel), one of the first Americans to study at the Ecole.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="encyc" /> He returned to the United States due to the [Civil War](/source/Civil_war), joining the [Confederate Army's](/source/Confederate_States_Army) engineering corps.<ref name="tulane">{{cite web|url=http://seaa.tulane.edu/sites/all/themes/Howard_Tilton/docs/finding_aids/147-James-Freret-Office-Records.pdf|title=James Freret Office Records, Collection 147|date=2013-11-20|website=Tulane University Library|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202224402/http://seaa.tulane.edu/sites/all/themes/Howard_Tilton/docs/finding_aids/147-James-Freret-Office-Records.pdf|archive-date=2013-12-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was wounded in the [Siege of Port Hudson](/source/Siege_of_Port_Hudson), and in 1865 returned to New Orleans to open his own architecture practice.<ref name="tulane" />

== Select works ==
*'''[Moresque Building](/source/Moresque_Building)''', New Orleans (with William A. Freret)<ref name="tulane" /> destroyed by fire in 1897.<ref name="encyc">{{cite web |url=http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=967 |title=Encyclopedia of Louisiana: James Freret |access-date=2011-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814060926/http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=967 |archive-date=2011-08-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*'''Board of Trade building''', New Orleans<ref name="tulane" />
*'''[Lemann Store](/source/Lemann_Store)''', 314 Mississippi Street, [Donaldsonville, Louisiana](/source/Donaldsonville%2C_Louisiana), NRHP-listed<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
*'''Administration Building of the [Spring Hill College Quadrangle](/source/Spring_Hill_College_Quadrangle)''', 4307 Old Shell Road, [Mobile, Alabama](/source/Mobile%2C_Alabama), NRHP-listed<ref name="nris" />
*'''[Upper Central Business District](/source/Upper_Central_Business_District)''' (Boundary Increase II) one or more works, roughly bounded by O'Keefe, Poydras, Convention Center Blvd., St. Rt. 90 and Howard Avenue, New Orleans (Freret and Wolf), NRHP-listed<ref name="nris" />
*'''Bradish Johnson House''', 2341 Prytania Street, erected in 1872. Residence of Walter Denegre 1892-1929, [Louise S. McGehee School](/source/McGehee_School) since 1929.
*'''[Little Sisters of the Poor](/source/Little_Sisters_of_the_Poor), Convent of St. Mary''' (1886) corner of Prytania and Foucher Streets, New Orleans, Louisiana<ref name=":0" />
*'''Gothic Revival Masonic Hall''' (1867-1871) also known as “New Masonic Hall”, designed for Tivoli Circle, New Orleans, Louisiana but never built.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:52862|title=Institutional No. 04|website=Tulane University Digital Library|access-date=2019-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://prcno.org/fourteenth-century-gothic-st-charles-avenue/|title='Fourteenth-Century Gothic' on St. Charles Avenue|date=2018-04-22|website=Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-25}}</ref>
*'''Jewish Widows and Orphans Home''' (1868) New Orleans, Louisiana<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{FAG|107111495}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100923115526/http://lahistory.org/site23.php Freret] in the [Louisiana Historical Association](/source/Louisiana_Historical_Association)'s ''Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' (Scroll down)

{{Commons category}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freret, James}}
Category:1838 births
Category:1897 deaths
Category:19th-century American architects
Category:American expatriates in France
Category:Architects from New Orleans
Category:People of Louisiana in the American Civil War
Category:École des Beaux-Arts alumni
Category:Confederate States Army personnel

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Freret](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Freret) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Freret?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.