Tara — Gone with the Wind House
New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Marker Inscription
Tara. Erected in 1941 for businessman George J. Palmer (1897-1977) and his wife Juliette Wehrmann Palmer (1907-1980), who modeled their family home after the fictitious O'Hara residence in the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind". Andrew M. Lockett, Jr. was the architect. Cornelius Hurst developed this area as Hurstville in 1832. It was the first of the uptown faubourgs. In 1894 the William J. O'Donnell residence was built on this site after designs by Southron R. Duval. Jackson Brewing Company president Lawrence Fabacher later acquired the property and added a casino, greenhouses & a stable. These structures were demolished in 1940. This plaque was placed in 2015 by the Palmer children: George Jr., Jared, Richard, Robert, Vernon, Juliette and Walter, and the owner, Marilyn Springer Martin.
Erected by Orleans Parish Landmarks Commission
The Story
This uptown corner sits in Hurstville, laid out by Cornelius Hurst in 1832 as the first of New Orleans' uptown faubourgs, or suburbs, as the young American city pushed upriver from its Creole core. In 1941 businessman George J. Palmer and his wife Juliette built their family home here as a loving replica of Tara, the plantation house from the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind" — a striking example of how a Hollywood image of the Old South shaped real Southern architecture. The site had already seen an 1894 residence and, later, a colorful chapter under Jackson Brewing Company president Lawrence Fabacher, who added a casino, greenhouses, and a stable before it was all cleared in 1940.
Why it matters
Tara captures a distinctly American phenomenon: a movie's romanticized vision of the antebellum South becoming brick-and-mortar reality, layered atop the real story of how New Orleans grew through its 19th-century faubourgs.
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Related people
- · George J. Palmer
- · Juliette Wehrmann Palmer
- · Andrew M. Lockett, Jr.
- · Cornelius Hurst
- · William J. O'Donnell
- · Southron R. Duval
- · Lawrence Fabacher
Themes & tags
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