This month’s cover features the architectural drawing Plan of a Large and Elegant Residence in the Second District. The 1896 drawing details a home at 720 St. Louis St. in New Orleans, an example of a c. 1833 Transitional-style residence, perhaps designed by Gurlie and Guillot for Pierre Soule, the president of the New Orleans Improvement Co.

The image is part of the Collins C. Diboll Vieux Carré Digital Survey, an electronic version of the Vieux Carré Survey housed at The Historic New Orleans Collection since 1966. Created to bolster local historic preservation efforts, the survey is an extensive study of the properties within the French Quarter. More information is available at www.hnoc.org/vcs/index.php.

Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1966.7.1 i-iv