In 1847 the Jesuit priest Fr. Jean Baptiste Maisounabe was dispatched to New Orleans to establish a Jesuit college in New Orleans. He chartered La Société Catholique d'education religieuse et littéraire, obtained a loan from the Ursuline Sisters, and bought a parcel of land on the corner of Baronne and Common Streets. He died a year later in 1848 of Yellow Fever, contracted while ministering to those stricken with the disease, and Father John Cambioso took over the mission of building the school and church. The college opened in 1849. Father Cambioso designed the Immaculate Conception Church with the assistance of E. Giraud, a prominent church architect of the period. Construction was completed in 1857. Roulhac Toledano notes that the press of the time described the church as "Saracenic or Arabian style," but the terms Moorish and Hispano-Moorish are more often evoked.
According to the website of the Parish,
The church's architectural style is Moorish (Islamic). Both the interior and exterior of the church are adorned with symbols that reflect Christian, Jewish, and Islamic sensibilities. This decision of the original architect, Jesuit Father John Cambiaso, was inspired by a period in Spain's history when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together peacefully and exchanged freely their cultural and intellectual treasures.
The bronze altar was designed by James Freret in 1870. Due to structural instability, the church was disassembled in 1928 and rebuilt by Toledano, Wogan and Bernard using much of the material from the original church.
--Michael A. Toler, Archnet Content Manager, January 14, 2016
Sources:
Clancy, Thomas, S.J. "After the Supression." Loyola University, New Orleans. Accessed January 14, 2016. https://perma.cc/6EVQ-UBVV.
Huber, Leonard Victor. "Architecture." In New Orleans: A Pictorial History, 114. New York: Crown, 1971.
"I'm New to the Parish." Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church. Accessed January 14, 2016. https://perma.cc/4FXR-6S7T.
Toledano, Roulhac. "Faubourg St. Mary. 132 Baronne St." In The National Trust Guide to New Orleans, 94-95. Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, 1996.
