Allison Owen
| Allison Owen | |
|---|---|
 Allison Owen 1.png Major-General Allison Owen, c. 1937 | |
| Born | |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| 💼 Occupation | Architect, Soldier, Civic Leader |
Major-General Allison Owen (1869–1951) was an American architect, military officer and civic leader. He served as commander of the Washington Artillery during World War I and later led the 56th Field Artillery Brigade. A prominent New Orleans architect, Owen designed several notable civic and religious buildings.
Early life and education
Allison Owen was born on December 29, 1869, in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1][2] His father, William Miller Owen, served as adjutant of the Washington Artillery during the American Civil War and later commanded the unit in the Louisiana National Guard.[3][4]
Owen attended Tulane University, where he studied art and architectural drawing during the period when Ellsworth Woodward directed art instruction at Tulane and helped establish the program at Newcomb College.[5][6]
Military career
Owen’s military service spanned more than four decades. He first joined the Washington Artillery Battalion in 1890, during a period of reorganization following the American Civil War and Spanish–American War.[7]
By 1916, Major Owen commanded the battalion during its federal mobilization on the Mexican border at Donna, Texas.[8]
When the United States entered World War I, the Washington Artillery was redesignated the 141st Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 39th Division, where Colonel Owen led it to France.[9] The main body of the 141st returned to New Orleans in April 1919 to a formal demobilization and civic welcome.[9]
After the war, Owen was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of the newly created 56th Field Artillery Brigade of the Louisiana National Guard, which included units from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.[10][11] He held that command until his retirement in December 1933 upon reaching the statutory age limit.[12]
Owen’s military service earned several distinctions from the Louisiana National Guard and other states, as well as recognition from French authorities for his work during and after the war.[13]
Architectural career
After teaching drawing at Tulane University, Owen partnered with Collins C. Diboll in 1895 to form the firm Diboll & Owen, active in New Orleans in the early twentieth century.[14]
Among the firm’s major commissions were the New Orleans Criminal Courts Building (1929), the Notre Dame Seminary complex, the New Orleans Athletic Club, and the former main branch of the New Orleans Public Library at Lee Circle (demolished in the 1950s).[15]
Notable works
Among Owen’s major architectural designs are:
- Notre Dame Seminary (New Orleans, 1923)[16]
- New Orleans Public Library (Lee Circle, 1908; demolished in the late 1950s)[17]
- Criminal Courts Building, 2700 Tulane Avenue (1929)[18]
- Pythian Temple (1909, commissioned by the Knights of Pythias)[19]
- New Orleans Athletic Club[20]
- St. Henry’s Catholic Church, General Pershing Street[21]
- Owen–Lassus House, 1237 State Street (1902, his own residence)[22]
- Emlah Court Building, 3823 St. Charles Avenue (1912)[23]
Civic involvement
Outside of his military and architectural careers, Owen was an active civic leader in New Orleans. He served as president of the city’s Association of Commerce during the 1927 Mississippi River flood, when business and civic groups worked to reassure residents about the city’s safety.[24] He later testified before Congress on national flood-control legislation, emphasizing the importance of federal investment in levees and spillways.[25]
Owen also led humanitarian efforts as chairman of the New Orleans chapter of the American Red Cross, coordinating relief and fundraising after the 1927 flood and remaining active during World War II.[26]
An advocate for historic preservation, Owen supported early efforts to safeguard the French Quarter, reflecting the influence of his former teacher William Woodward, one of the first New Orleans artists to promote the city’s architectural heritage.[27][28] In 1943, Pope Pius XII invested Owen as a knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great for his service to the Church and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.[29] He died on January 30, 1951.[30]
Legacy
Modern scholarship has also placed Owen within the broader context of early twentieth-century Confederate memorialization in New Orleans. As a member of the City Planning Commission, he supported renaming streets and erecting monuments that reflected Confederate memory.[31]
Many of Owen’s architectural works stand to this day.[32] However, much of his civic vision for a greener and more beautiful city was later undone. As chairman of the Parkway and Park Commission, he had overseen the planting of tens of thousands of trees and the creation of New Orleans’ azalea trail and palm-lined boulevards.[33][34]But these landscapes were permanently scarred by the construction of the Pontchartrain Expressway (Interstate 10) in the 1960s after his death, which cut through South Claiborne Avenue, destroyed over 200 oak trees, and displaced hundreds of homes and businesses that had been central to the avenue’s character.[35][36][37]
Owen’s portrait by William Woodward was included in the Louisiana State Museum’s For Home and Country exhibit from 2017-18.[38]
References
- ↑ "Owen, Allison". Dictionary of Louisiana Biography. Louisiana Historical Association.
- ↑ 1237 State Street Landmark Report: the Owen-Lassus House. New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission, February 9, 1988. Available online.
- ↑ "William Miller Owen". Antietam on the Web.
- ↑ "Washington Battalion, Louisiana Artillery". National Park Service.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ Campanella, Richard. "Ellsworth Woodward". 64 Parishes. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
- ↑ Owen, Allison (January–March 1914). "Record of an Old Artillery Organization". The Field Artillery Journal. 4 (1): 5–18.
- ↑ "Washington Artillery Collection Inventory" (PDF). Louisiana National Guard Museums. Louisiana National Guard. 2021.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "The Rewritten History of the Washington Artillery" (PDF). Washington Artillery Veterans Association. 2000.
- ↑ "National Guard of the State of Louisiana, 1938" (PDF). Department of Military Affairs, State of Louisiana. 1938.
- ↑ "History of the Florida National Guard, 1924–1940" (PDF). State of Florida Adjutant General’s Office.
- ↑ "Allison Owen Collection, 30 October 1890 – 29 December 1933". Louisiana National Guard Museums.
- ↑ "The Rewritten History of the Washington Artillery" (PDF). Washington Artillery Veterans Association. 2000.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ “Historic Pythian Temple.” SAH Archipedia. https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/LA-02-OR99
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ HDLC, 1237 State Street: The Owen-Lassus House.
- ↑ Emlah Court Apartments. SAH Archipedia, Society of Architectural Historians.
- ↑ Barry, John M. (1997). Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 228, 240. Search this book on
- ↑ Flood Control: Hearings Before the Committee on Flood Control (Report). U.S. House of Representatives, 70th Cong., 1st Sess. 1928. p. 171.
- ↑ "Owen, Allison". Louisiana Historical Association.
- ↑ 443 Lower Line Street: Architect William Woodward (PDF) (Report). New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission.
- ↑ Campanella, Richard. "William Woodward". 64 Parishes. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
- ↑ "A Century of Southern Catholic Service (1923 to 2023)" (PDF). Notre Dame Seminary. 2023.
- ↑ "Owen, Allison". Louisiana Historical Association.
- ↑ Silva, Brittanny, and Andrew Mullins III. New Orleans Street Renaming Commission Research Report[permanent dead link]. New Orleans Public Library, City Archives and Special Collections, August 2020.
- ↑ Kingsley and Douglas, Criminal Courts Building.
- ↑ Allison Owen, Greater New Orleans Spring Flower Show (New Orleans Horticultural Society, 1935), 9.
- ↑ Parkway Commission of New Orleans, Fortieth Anniversary Report, 1909-1949
- ↑ The Monster: Claiborne Avenue Before and After the Interstate[permanent dead link]. WWNO, May 5, 2016.
- ↑ What We Lost When We Built the Claiborne Expressway. Strong Towns, July 25, 2025.
- ↑ Documenting History: Iconic New Orleans Street and Looking at Its Future. Smithsonian Magazine, July 2021.
- ↑ For Home and Country. 64 Parishes. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
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