Lafon was born in
Villepinte, France, and traveled to New Orleans around 1790. He designed several public buildings, including public baths (plans submitted in 1797, but the bath house was never built) and a lighthouse, and numerous private homes (including the Benachi cotton brokers' house and the Vincent Rillieux house). After the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, with the
Mississippi River open to free trade, land owners just upriver from the
Vieux Carré realized that the old quarter dominated by the Spanish and French could not contain the great number of Americans who were now flocking to the city, and they retained Lafon to subdivide their property and create an American suburb. From 1806 to 1809, Lafon also served as deputy
surveyor of
Orleans Parish, during the
territorial period prior to
statehood. He prepared elaborate plans for what is today known as the
Lower Garden District. His designs crossed the boundaries of five
plantations (Soule, LaCourse, Annunciation, Nuns, and Panis), to include all properties up to
Felicity Street. A lover of the classics, Lafon named his streets after the nine
muses of
Greek mythology:
Calliope,
Clio,
Erato,
Thalia,
Melpomene,
Terpsichore,
Euterpe,
Polymnia, and
Urania. His sophisticated plan featuring tree-lined
canals,
fountains, churches, markets, a grand classical school, and a
coliseum; but few of these features were ever realized. However, the grid pattern of streets survives, as do the parks and some of the street names leading to
Coliseum Square. In 2014-15, one of the neighborhood association's projects was to restore the
Lafon Fountain in Coliseum Square (installed c.1976), with plans to restore two other nearby fountains. Parts of the
Bywater and
Bayou St. John neighborhoods were also planned by Lafon. His professional services included
mapmaking, designing the plan for
Donaldsonville in 1806, and surveying and recommending improvements to the fortifications of New Orleans during the
War of 1812. Lafon had a long-term relationship with Modeste Foucher, a
free woman of color. When Lafon wrote his will in 1809, he acknowledged two
mixed-race children he had with Foucher, Pierre Barthélemy and Carmélite.
Thomy Lafon, a
Creole of color who was the son of Modeste Foucher, was likely named after Barthélemy Lafon, although Thomy's father was Pierre Larande. As a businessman and investor, Lafon became a rich man and was noted for his
philanthropy. However, after the
Battle of New Orleans early in 1815, he did not resume his architectural career. Instead, he turned to
piracy and
smuggling, working in league with the notorious brothers,
Pierre (1770–1821) and
Jean Lafitte (c.1780–c.1823). Lafon died of
yellow fever in New Orleans on September 29, 1820, and was buried in
Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1. ==See also==