Today the Vieux Carre Commission protects the historic nature of the French Quarter but this is is a recent development in the last century.
As the story goes, in the 1920s, Elizabeth Werlein from Michigan was walking down Royal Street in the French Quarter when she discovered that a historic building had been replaced by a California bungalow.
Werlein got a constitutional amendment passed that allowed the View Carre Commission to approve all changes to historic buildings in the French Quarter. In addition, she got the city council to give the commission the right to review and approve all demolition permits.
The French Quarter was headed for decline in the 1920s and Werlein’s work helped preserve it to be the historical neighborhood it is today.
The California bungalow at 813 Royal Street:
Source:
111 Places in New Orleans that you must not miss
Wikipedia