Garden District

After the sale of Louisiana to the United States, an influx of Americans rushed to New Orleans in pursuit of new business ventures. The French Quarter remained the bastion of old New Orleans families of French heritage who disapproved of these newcomers invading their city.  

Across Canal Street going away from the Quarter and further down from today's Central Business District, the Garden District has emerged one of the premier neighborhoods in the country.  This section of the city that the Americans and others settled possesses some of the city's finest architecture.  Greek Revival Mansions and townhouses cover these oak-lined streets.  While it doesn't have the hustle and bustle of the French Quarter, this is another section of the city that definitely has a European flare.

The Lower Garden District is composed of four different sections: the Irish Channel with its industrial buildings and warehouses, Annunciation Square with its Greek Revival architecture, Coliseum Place which became popular for residents during the 1840s and 1850s, and New Basin Canal which had a high concentration of Irish immigrants who flocked to New Orleans during the mid-nineteenth century.

Until recently, this section of New Orleans had deteriorated to squalid-like conditions.  Today however, this area has seen a greater revival than any other part of New Orleans.  Bed and Breakfasts, vintage clothing boutiques, and antique stores along with restaurants and coffeehouses line Magazine Street.  A few galleries pop up here and there, too.  

Many of the art galleries in New Orleans are located in the Warehouse District which is between the Central Business District and the Lower Garden District, all the way uptown along Magazine Street.  On the first Saturday of each month these galleries open their doors in the evening for twilight exhibitions. 

Churches can also be found throughout the Garden District and they all reflect the various ethnicities who settled here.  The Redemptorist Fathers arrived in this area and built a small German church at Josephine and Constance streets.  At this site today is St. Mary's Assumption which was built in 1852.  On Constance Street, St. Alphonsus, built in 1855 for Irish immigrants, is today a cultural community center.  From these churches, schools and orphanages popped up all over during the mid-nineteenth century, including St. Elizabeth's, one of Ann Rice's homes. The home of another famous New Orleans writer, George Washington Cable, is located at 1313 Eighth Street.

The Lower Garden District provides a refreshing change from the French Quarter.  A visitor can mosey all day along the streets and get lost in the beauty of this area and partake of the many neighborhood bars, restaurants, and shops that the Garden District has to offer.