New Orleans City Planning Commission
Planning Districts One
Although Canal Street once acted as the "neutral ground" between competing populations, today the Vieux Carré, Central Business District and Warehouse District share common interests. After various periods of decline during the 20th Century, all have recently enjoyed renewed prosperity, driven largely by the tourist industry and cultural activities as well as by the return of residential use. Today downtown New Orleans and the Vieux Carré are thriving, desirable areas for commerce, tourism and residences, with Canal Street serving as a locus for economic activity rather than a barrier between opposing groups. As District One continues to be revitalized, however, a number of land use issues need to be addressed. For the CBD, the challenge is to encourage growth and technological advances while maintaining the integrity of historic structures and sites. For the Vieux Carré, the challenge is similar: to maintain historic and residential integrity in the face of growing tourism. In the Warehouse District, the challenge is to preserve its identity as the city's cultural center for the arts while accommodating residents' needs for neighborhood commercial services and parking. The land use plan identifies the many sensitive areas of Planning District One and creates a vision of how the 18th century is to meet the 21st century.Vieux Carre, Central Business District,
Warehouse District
Section I: Boundaries
Planning District One contains three neighborhoods, Central Business District (14A), Vieux Carré (14B) and the Warehouse District (14C), and is roughly bordered by the Mississippi River, Pontchartrain Expressway, 1-10/Claiborne Avenue, and Esplanade Avenue. The Vieux Carré is bordered by the Mississippi River, Canal Street, Rampart Street, and Esplanade Avenue; the Central Business District by the Mississippi River, Poydras Street, Loyola Avenue, Pontchartrain Expressway, I-10/Claiborne Avenue, and Canal Street; and the Warehouse District by the Mississippi River, Pontchartrain Expressway, Loyola Avenue and Poydras Street. Please note that neighborhood 14C is new with this Land Use Plan, and takes the place of Census Block Group 77.001, which had formerly been used to describe the newly-developing Warehouse District. This formal change to the Planning Commission's neighborhood designation was suggested during the land use workshops held to develop this Plan.
Section II: Development History
The robust history and urban nature of these districts attract residents and businesses alike. The unique architecture and flavor associated with New Orleans originates in the Vieux Carré. Few other places in the nation allow one to feel so transported in time and place. The downtown area of New Orleans has for the most part been able to escape the urban blight that has afflicted many American cities. The city owes this fortune to the rich history that envelops District One.
The history of this district spans many years and many uses. For the purpose of respecting the vast differences among the various parts of Planning District One, this section will identify each neighborhood as its own entity.
Vieux Carré
The Vieux Carré is the original township of New Orleans, founded by Jean Baptiste LeMoyne de Bienville in 1718. At the time, it consisted of roughly 100 huts scattered along the riverbank. A flood in 1721 wiped out the town and gave French leaders the opportunity to plan. A French engineer was enlisted and with the help of 10 men, cleared the land where the Vieux Carré sits today. The neighborhood was built upon a traditional French military plan with a symmetrical gridiron street pattern and a central square, the Place d'Armes (now known as Jackson Square), facing the river and fronting the church.
Fires in 1788 and 1794 destroyed most of the buildings that had been erected in the Vieux Carré. The Spanish had taken ownership of the territory in 1765, and were the ruling party at the time of re-building. New structures followed Spanish design guidelines for fire prevention, resulting in the distinctive character of the district today: brick and stucco walls, tile roofs and iron balconies.
When Americans began arriving after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, they settled upriver from the Vieux Carré and largely ignored the European settlement. For their part, the French and Spanish preferred to remain in their own neighborhoods. Over time the central township became rather crowded and by the late 19th century, those of European descent began to settle into other regions of the city. This and the effects of the Civil War led to the deterioration of the edges of the Vieux Carré: the river became inaccessible because new docks were constructed, Rampart Street was the edge of the red-light "Storyville" district, and Iberville Street became a service alley for Canal Street merchants. A recession during this period was cause for many investors to demolish existing structures to erect low-cost rental property in the form of the "shotgun" house. The neighborhood was slowly turning into a slum, suffering from deep neglect.
Fortunately, with the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s there began a growing concern among residents to preserve the history of the district. This led to the creation of the Vieux Carré Commission in 1936, giving the governing body power to regulate architecture. Interest in the area heightened as the French Market and Jackson Square were renovated. Tourists were attracted to the cleaned up areas and property values rose, putting slums out of business and inspiring additional rehabilitation of buildings. The Commission ran up against frequent opposition from those who thought the historic district regulations were standing in the way of progress. However, the Commission had sufficient political support to stand as the voice of reason and continue the work of preservation.
One of the Commission's most significant victories was defeat in the 1960s of the proposal to build an interstate along the riverfront, where declining industrial use had led to an increasing supply of abandoned warehouses. Instead of a highway, the warehouses were cleared for public use. Recently, the Aquarium of the Americas, Woldenberg Park and the pedestrian walk have helped revitalize the area's land use and tourist economy. Ironically, the same phenomenon that has helped fuel economic growth in the Vieux Carré is now threatening its residential integrity. Today the Vieux Carré is under constant pressure to develop more sites for tourist facilities. This desire is pressing residents downriver and out of the neighborhood. Inflated rents and property values have driven low and middle-income families to other areas of the city. However, the historic character of buildings exists today with storefronts lining the streets of the 66-block neighborhood. Shotgun homes from the 19th Century still house residents and Jackson Square remains the center it was planned to be almost three hundred years ago.
Central Business District (Faubourg St. Mary)
The Central Business District was originally the plantation of Bienville, who began to sell off portions of land in the early 18th Century. Due to its proximity to the Mississippi River, as well as fires in the Vieux Carré, Faubourg St. Mary became the center of commercial trade in the city by the early 19th Century. Following the Louisiana Purchase the area became a neighborhood for arriving Americans. Development of the New Basin Canal at present-day Lee Circle in the 1830s connected the American neighborhood with Lake Pontchartrain and encouraged Faubourg St. Mary to grow away from the River. Canal Street, which paralleled the New Basin Canal, then displaced Chartres Street as the center for commercial trade.
The mid-19th Century was a busy development period in Faubourg St. Mary. Cotton, sugar, and shipping industries were extremely vital. Other service businesses such as banking institutions, wholesale dry goods trade, and leisure/amusement businesses grew from the boom. Carondelet Street, Canal Street, Magazine Street and St. Charles Avenue became the most important commercial corridors in the city. The Civil War brought an abrupt end of construction as businesses were ruined and the economy slowed. Adding to the depressed market was the invention of steam locomotives, which stole shipping business away from the river and, hence, the city.
However, the city's proximity to the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico later became advantageous for trade of commercial agriculture products grown in the American South and Latin America. The World's Fair Exposition in 1884 and re-building of the city's port facilities brought commercial life back to the area; skyscrapers dotted the landscape and the first electric streetcar began service in 1893.
A fire in 1892 destroyed most of the district, but buildings began to rise rapidly by the turn of the new century. Indeed, the early years of the 20th century brought great prosperity to New Orleans. More land was made available for development in the city after 1899, when the engineer Baldwin Wood invented what came to be known as the Wood pump. This heavy duty pump quickly raised large volumes of debris-laden water a short vertical distance, and by 1920 had been used to drain the city's backswamp. After World War II, with the port in decline and the economy in a slump, and despite the drainage pumps being in place and the Mississippi River Bridge having been erected with elevated ramps through the heart of the faubourg, business was bleak. Commercial industry deserted the dense urban area for more suburban locales.
The last quarter of the 20th century has brought life back to the CBD. Along with economic growth, two plans have helped to revitalize the area. The 1956 Prospectus for Revitalizing the Central Business District and the 1975 Growth Management Plan made a number of recommendations that have been partially or fully realized. From the transportation recommendation of 1956 Prospectus, Poydras Street was widened, creating a major development opportunity. Poydras became the major artery of the CBD, anchored by the World Trade Center at the riverside end and the Louisiana Superdome at the lakeside end. Inspired by the success of the Lykes Building, numerous high-rise office buildings were constructed and leased, with the thriving oil industry as the principal economic driver. Louisiana was an ideal location for petroleum headquarters due to its extensive coastline on the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
The Prospectus also recommended grouping public buildings, including Civic Plaza (until the 1960s a low-lying area of substandard housing with no sewer hookups and poor drainage) and the Union Passenger Terminal at the lakeside end of Poydras, and the Port Center (which included the Rivergate Convention Center) at the foot of Canal and Poydras. One negative result of the Prospectus was the demolition of historic structures along South Rampart and Loyola in line with recommendations for surface parking lots serving the needs of the downtown area.
The Growth Management Plan, completed by the planning firm Wallace Roberts and Todd in 1975 and updated in 1987, contained four major recommendations that have significantly benefited the downtown area. Following the Plan's recommendations, four historic districts were established in the CBD-Picayune Place, the Warehouse District, Lafayette Square, and Canal Street. The districts have preserved historic structures as well as commercial space vital to the success of the CBD. However, as the Plan warned, commercial space in the skyscrapers is too expensive for many of the services that support office activity in the CBD. Furthermore, because demand for high-rise office space is finite, the Plan recommended that zoning be reduced so property owners would not hold onto property waiting for a high-rise development that was unlikely to occur. Third, the Plan recommended building up the residential base in the Warehouse District and Lafayette Square Historic District to generate economic growth and around-the-clock social activity. Lastly, from the Plan's recommendations the Downtown Development District (DDD) was created to provide overall management of the area and to enhance the provision of city services such as security and sanitation, capital funding, marketing, public ceremonies, and other functions that promote development in the CBD.
Although the CBD suffered a setback during the oil crisis of the 1980s, restructuring of the oil industry in the 1990s and a growing tourism market have brought vitality back to the district. Recreation and convention business has developed into a mainstay industry. Continued hotel construction and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, now in its third phase of development, has allowed the city to capture a large share of the nation's convention market. Together with the recommendations of the 1956 Prospectus and the Growth Management Plan, this economic growth has helped downtown come to the end of the 20th century on an upbeat note. Small businesses and residences in historic structures complement and help support the modern skyscrapers, resulting in a vibrant synergy of commercial, residential and cultural activity.
Warehouse District (situated in Faubourg St. Mary & Faubourg Delord)
Between 1820 and 1859, riverfront land grew at a quick rate due to physics of the Mississippi River, which deposited soil sufficient to create land! This new land provided many opportunities for industry serving maritime commerce in the "American" neighborhood. Soon, residences were replaced with commercial and industrial businesses. After the Civil War railroad lines were laid on newly-formed riverfront land, further encouraging industry in the Warehouse District.
In recent years there has been a redevelopment surge in the area. Filled with 19th Century warehouses that once served the industrial needs of the CBD, the Warehouse District is now the arts center of New Orleans. In 1979, there began a prominent catalyst for rehabilitation, which was the renovation of "Julia Row" -- townhouses built by American emigrants in the 1830s and 1840s. About the same time as Julia Row's renovation, the Historic District Landmarks Commission studied the neighborhood, resulting in its designation as a historic district. Interest in the area culminated with the 1984 World's Fair. Developments for the Exposition were completed along the riverfront property of the Warehouse District. Property values increased and renovation projects became even more popular, bringing a new residential flavor to the predominantly industrial area. Today the area is being further developed into a mixed use urban neighborhood with services for residents who typically work in the CBD. The attractiveness of the neighborhood continues to grow with the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center located on the riverfront and additional development of the cultural arts in this district.
Section III: Population
The following tables provide demographic statistics
on the population residing within the planning district as well as the
total population of the city of New Orleans. The statistics provide information
on each area for 1980, 1990, 1997 and 2002.