This lithographic print mounted to canvas is one of forty-one sheets designed by New Orleans lithographer P. Adt for Luther Homes (active c. 1842-1881), the proprietor of an iron railings business that operated in the years prior to the Civil War. Luther Homes appears in New Orleans city directories as a blacksmith in 1842 and 1846, but by 1853 he became the sole owner of a foundry and railing business, the successor to Homes and Bennett/Foundry and Ornamental Iron Works, located at the corner of Benton and Euphrosine Streets with its office at 106 St. Charles. By 1854, Mr. Homes announced his desire to sell the St. Charles hardware store so that he could "give his full attention to the Foundry and Railing business" (DP March 30).
The forty-one prints document a wide range of ornamental railings, as well as architectural capitals, pilasters, and mantels. The New Orleans Daily Creole (October 11 1856) includes a wood engraving of Homes's iron works, and various issues of The Daily Picayune and The Daily True Delta contain the company's paid advertisements.
Mr. Homes later became an active member of the Louisiana Jockey Club (secretary in 1868) and the Mechanics and Agricultural Fair Association (treasurer and secretary in 1877).
Above: Figure No. 11. P. Adt, Lithographer and Printer, New Orleans. [Architectural drawings: including designs for grill work, spindels, and. . . ]. Vol. 1, circa 1860. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.
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