5515 Marais Street — Fats Domino's New Orleans Home

Antoine 'Fats' Domino lived for decades at 5515 Marais Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans — a neighbourhood he refused to leave even as his success could have taken him anywhere in the world. Domino had grown up in the Lower Ninth Ward, learned piano from his brother-in-law Harrison Verrett, and recorded his first hits at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Recording Studio on Rampart Street beginning in 1949. He painted his house yellow and pink — the colours of his album covers — and it became a neighbourhood institution. He turned down opportunities to relocate, remaining loyal to the community where he had grown up.

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on 29 August 2005, the Lower Ninth Ward was among the worst-affected neighbourhoods. The Marais Street house was badly flooded, and Domino was briefly reported missing before it emerged that he had been rescued from his rooftop by boat. The spray-painted message on his house — 'Fats Domino R.I.P.' — was a premature eulogy that circulated widely in the disaster's news coverage. He survived, was relocated temporarily, but eventually returned to New Orleans. His survival became a symbol of the city's resilience.

Fats Domino died on 24 October 2017 at the age of 89. He is one of the architects of rock and roll — his rolling piano style and enormous commercial success in the 1950s made him one of the first Black artists to cross over to mainstream American radio. The Marais Street house is a private address in a neighbourhood still marked by Katrina's devastation and long recovery. It is a site of cultural heritage in the story of New Orleans music.