Donaldsonville Historic District

The Donaldsonville Historic District is of state significance in the area of architecture because it is the finest collection of structures from the pre-Civil War era to 1933 to be found in any of the Mississippi River parishes above New Orleans. Far from being unique, Donaldsonville is essentially similar in character to other old River Road communities; it is just more impressive. The district is also of state significance in the area of community planning because it incorporates formal planning features, which is unusual within the above context.

Donaldsonville is comparable to other Mississippi River towns in Louisiana in that it has a number of pretentious Queen Anne Revival and Eastlake residences and a number of Italianate commercial buildings, as well as some plainer frame commercial buildings. Like other older towns, Donaldsonville's patrimony mainly represents the period from 1861 to 1933.
However, four factors set Donaldsonville apart from other Mississippi River towns and qualify it as a significant piece of urban geography:

First of all, Donaldsonville's historic area is unusually large and cohesive. It has 6 35 structures closely packed in a fifty-block area with only twenty-three percent intrusions. This is something that no other Mississippi River town in Louisiana north of New Orleans can match. The sheer magnitude of Donaldsonville as a resource is impressive.

Secondly, Donaldsonville is unusual in that it retains a sizable complement of working-class areas complete with housing (shotgun houses, cottages, and bungalows) as well as neighborhood stores. Historic working-class areas are often the targets of urban renewal efforts or have suffered a considerable loss due to fire or abandonment. Donaldsonville's working-class areas are well preserved with little alteration, and they are not significantly depleted. Moreover, they contain some fine examples of shotgun houses with elaborate Eastlake galleries both front and side. (Side galleries are unusual among shotgun houses.)

With 375 shotgun houses, bungalows, and cottages in Donaldsonville, it appears that only Plaquemine is a serious rival as a center of working-class architecture along the River Road north of New Orleans. It should be noted that, on the whole, Plaquemine's working-class areas are somewhat later than those in Donaldsonville and are less ornamented.

Thirdly, Donaldsonville is noteworthy because of its fine collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century commercial buildings. It possesses a broader range of commercial structures than is usually found in most Mississippi River towns north of New Orleans. In addition to the usual false front structures and provincial Italianate buildings, Donaldsonville also possesses several neo-classical buildings and 2 fine Romanesque Revival office buildings. Moreover, the Lemann Store (N.R.), with its cast-iron gallery, its three-story sprawling mass, and its rich ornamentation, is probably the finest Italianate commercial building in any Mississippi River town in Louisiana north of New Orleans. The overall mixture of commercial structures yields a two-story scale and a far more impressive urban style than is usually found in River Road towns.

Finally, Donaldsonville is one of only three Mississippi River towns in the state north of New Orleans which go beyond the normal speculative grid plan. Donaldsonville's plan incorporates Baroque features such as a semicircular park and an axial street leading to an open public square. St. Joseph and Beauregard Town in Baton Rouge are the other two towns that incorporate formal planning features. But St. Joseph's courthouse green is merely a large public square and hence is less sophisticated than Donaldsonville's plan, and although Beauregard Town's plan is more sophisticated, very little of it survives. Hence Donaldsonville probably represents the best example of formal town planning remaining in the Mississippi River parishes above New Orleans.