Uptown homes are lovely on Loyola Avenue

THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Uptown, a historic district bounded roughly by South Claiborne Avenue on the north, Tchoupitoulas Street on the south, Toledano Street on the east and Lowerline Street on the west. It's such a huge area with so many distinct cultures that it includes neighborhoods such as Freret and Milan, Bouligny and Touro-Bouligny, Hurstville, Rickerville and more.

I choose a portion to explore near the intersection of Freret Street and Napoleon Avenue.

THE BLOCK: The 4400 block of Loyola Avenue on the odd-numbered, or north, side of the street, between Napoleon Avenue on the east and Jena Street on the west.

The Napoleon end of the block faces Samuel Square, one of the planned green spaces in Faubourg West Bouligny, developed by Samuel Kohn (hence the name of the square) and Laurent Millaudon (whose namesake is Laurence Square at Napoleon and Magazine Street).

I am just three blocks from Freret Street and tempted to call the neighborhood "Freret," but a couple of websites tell me I am just outside of its boundaries.

THE HOUSES: Five distinctive houses from the early years of the 20th century. Four are large, two-story homes in the Neo-Classical Revival style that dwarf the petite shotgun at the corner of Jena.

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Freret Street has become such a stylish destination for dining, yoga, art, drinking and shopping that it's almost hard to remember that the Freret Market and annual Freret Street Festival used to be the main draws to the area.

But no matter how many burgers are grilled, pizzas are baked and cocktails are poured, the market -- from noon to 5 p.m. today -- remains an irresistible draw.

With yummy food offerings and dozens of artists' booths, it's a great way to enjoy the La Nina weather in early February. If you're there and in the mood for a walkabout, Samuel Square lies just three blocks away.

Anatomy of the block

The first stop, at the corner of Jena and Loyola, is a meticulously renovated shotgun with a side porch and entry shaded by a pretty pergola. The design is thoughtful: Pale-colored shutters on the front porch, the same over the side door; a criss-cross pattern over the panels on the front, the same for the wood railing on the side. A jolt of color from the entry door -- it's an unabashed tangerine -- provides the exclamation point to the understated composition.

Its immediate neighbor is a grand home with Neo-Classical Revival details. I can't say for certain whether the home is a single unit, but the single front door tells me that it was when it was built. A covered porch at the first level, and uncovered porch at the second, invite sitting, facilitated by the grouping of chairs I spot. On the first floor, Tuscan columns support the porch above; on the second, a balustrade stretches between short box posts with recessed panels. My favorite feature: the bold dormer on the hipped roof, extending forward from the roof ridge almost to the eave, and featuring a diamond-pattern window framed by millwork.

A lemon-buttercream confection appears on the right, a kissing cousin of its neighbor and replete with Neo-Classical Revival details. Common elements include the two-level porches, the second-floor balustrade, deep eaves and dormer windows. But it's the well-articulated gable on this house that distinguishes it. Forming a triangle of impressive portions and embellished with modillions, the roofline serves as a fitting crown to this beauty.

If only I had my hedge trimmers with me (and the permission of the owners) to prune away the greenery blocking the view of the green house I encounter next. It's tricky but, by maneuvering, I am able to catch glimpses of the home's glorious details and stitch them together into a coherent image. The house is a double, and each half has access to both the downstairs and the upstairs porches. To individualize each unit, roof features differ from one side to the other. On the left, I spot a gable with stucco and millwork strips. On the right, a hipped roof with a dormer. No imagination was spared here, from the square-within-square pattern of the porch railings, to the stained-glass dormer window, to the wonderful configuration of the glass panes in the transoms over the downstairs doors and windows -- all was done with the utmost attention to detail.

If the first three two-story houses were large, the fourth is a behemoth. I study it for awhile trying to figure out why it seems larger than its neighbors and realize that it is at least 50 percent wider. Whereas each unit in the double house on the left is one room wide, judging from the placement of windows and doors, here each unit has a hallway in addition to the one-room-wide living space. The plan is similar to that of a sidehall shotgun or a double-gallery townhouse. Although the tall, narrow, stained-glass window on the roof dormer enchants me, I find the dual front porches -- their roofs supported by a colonnade of Tuscan columns -- to be the home's most appealing feature.

Life on the street

In my years of Street Walking, I have met preachers, bowling alley owners, sultry singers and any number of fascinating people who make life in this city so astonishingly captivating. But today is a first.

Rebecca Taylor-Perryman is sitting on the front porch of the buttercream house, yellow hibiscus shrubs blooming in the yard in front of her. She is seeking solitude with her iPad but is too nice to send me packing when I begin barraging her with questions.

"I have only lived in this house since December, but I like it," she tells me, then explains that she was drawn here by love. "I moved in with my boyfriend."

A California native, she came to New Orleans for graduate school and will graduate in December. Her course of study? Archaeology, specifically the Upper Paleolithic.

Hmmm... does Paleolithic mean Stone Age?

"That's right," she tells me. "The Upper Paleolithic is late Stone Age, from 10,000 to 40,000 B.P." ("Before the Present.")

Her excavation site is in southwest France and is called "Peyre Blanque."

"White rock, for the flint that was used," she explains. "The site dates to about 14,000 B.P. and is contemporaneous with many of the cave paintings."

I ask her to spell everything for me so I can get it right.

"You don't need to write it down?" she asks. "You must have a very good memory."

Not really. But receiving an impromptu lesson on the Upper Paleolithic from an archaeology student while on an Uptown Street Walk is a rather memorable experience, wouldn't you say?

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R. Stephanie Bruno can be reached at housewatcher@hotmail.com.

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Uptown homes are lovely on Loyola Avenue