Behind the Building: The Cabildo

You’ve undoubtedly seen this building many, many times if you’ve ever visited Disneyland. It looms over New Orleans Square, usually flanked by massive crowds. But you probably don’t even know its name.

This is the Cabildo, home to Pirates of the Caribbean and inspired by a very real building in the Big Easy with an interesting history.

The “real” Cabildo in New Orleans, Louisiana, was built in 1799 in the French Quarter…as a Spanish Colonial. Why? Well, after two great fires in the city in 1788 and 1794 and the Seven Years’ War, the city was rebuilt and held under Spanish Rule before transferring back to the French in 1803. As a result, a little bit of Spanish architecture like the Cabildo hides within a city so heavily influenced by the French.

The Cabildo is a civic building, serving as the seat of New Orleans government and then the Louisiana Supreme Court.

 Source: NewOrleans.com

However, this Spanish architecture presented a bit of a problem for New Orleans Square. A very small theme park land just doesn’t have enough real estate to blend in a Spanish building without it looking out of place. So, imagineers set out to modify elements of the original building to add some French architectural flavor.

Perhaps most noticeable is the ironwork, which is much more prominent in the Disneyland version. This blends into the other French buildings in the land, with lacework and a very grand staircase at the front of the building.

Next, the roof slopes. The real building has a much less dramatically pitched roof, making it appear broader and wider. The narrower rooftops, multiple chimneys, and smaller turret both blend the building better with the surrounding square and assist with forced perspective, to make the building appear a bit larger than it actually is.

While Disneyland’s Cabildo is not a civic building, it does in a way serve a bit of a similar function. It ushers in the masses in its open courtyard and halls…though I think the similarities end there!