New Orleans

===Cityscape===
{{See also|Wards of New Orleans|Neighborhoods in New Orleans}}

[[File:orleans.bourbon.arp.750pix.jpg|right|thumb|[[Bourbon Street]], New Orleans, in 2003, looking towards Canal Street]]
[[File:Colorful houses in New Orleans.jpg|thumb|right|New Orleans contains many distinctive neighborhoods.]]

The [[New Orleans Central Business District|Central Business District]] is located immediately north and west of the Mississippi and was historically called the "American Quarter" or "American Sector". It was developed after the heart of French and Spanish settlement. It includes [[Lafayette Square, New Orleans|Lafayette Square]]. Most streets in this area fan out from a central point. Major streets include [[Canal Street, New Orleans|Canal Street]], Poydras Street, Tulane Avenue and Loyola Avenue. Canal Street divides the traditional "[[Downtown New Orleans|downtown]]" area from the "[[Uptown New Orleans|uptown]]" area.

Every street crossing Canal Street between the Mississippi River and [[Rampart Street]], which is the northern edge of the French Quarter, has a different name for the "uptown" and "downtown" portions. For example, [[St. Charles Avenue]], known for its street car line, is called [[Royal Street, New Orleans|Royal Street]] below Canal Street, though where it traverses the Central Business District between Canal and Lee Circle, it is properly called St. Charles Street.<ref>Brock, Eric J. ''New Orleans'', Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina (1999), pp. 108–09.</ref> Elsewhere in the city, Canal Street serves as the dividing point between the "South" and "North" portions of various streets. In the local [[wikt:parlance|parlance]] ''downtown'' means "downriver from Canal Street", while ''uptown'' means "upriver from Canal Street". Downtown neighborhoods include the French Quarter, [[Tremé]], the [[7th Ward of New Orleans|7th Ward]], [[Faubourg Marigny]], [[Bywater, New Orleans|Bywater]] (the Upper Ninth Ward), and the Lower [[Ninth Ward of New Orleans|Ninth Ward]]. [[Uptown New Orleans|Uptown]] neighborhoods include the Warehouse District, the [[Lower Garden District, New Orleans|Lower Garden District]], the [[Garden District, New Orleans|Garden District]], the [[Irish Channel, New Orleans|Irish Channel]], the University District, [[Carrollton, Louisiana|Carrollton]], [[Gert Town, New Orleans|Gert Town]], [[Fontainebleau, New Orleans|Fontainebleau]] and [[Broadmoor, New Orleans|Broadmoor]]. However, the Warehouse and the Central Business District are frequently called "Downtown" as a specific region, as in the Downtown Development District.

Other major districts within the city include [[Bayou St. John, New Orleans|Bayou St. John]], [[Mid-City New Orleans|Mid-City]], [[Gentilly, New Orleans|Gentilly]], [[Lakeview, New Orleans|Lakeview]], Lakefront, [[Eastern New Orleans|New Orleans East]] and [[Algiers, New Orleans|Algiers]].

====Historic and residential architecture====
{{See also|Buildings and architecture of New Orleans}} New Orleans is world-famous for its abundance of architectural styles that reflect the city's multicultural heritage. Though New Orleans possesses numerous structures of national architectural significance, it is equally, if not more, revered for its enormous, largely intact (even post-Katrina) historic built environment. Twenty National Register Historic Districts have been established, and fourteen local historic districts aid in preservation. Thirteen of the districts are administered by the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission (HDLC), while one—the French Quarter—is administered by the Vieux Carre Commission (VCC). Additionally, both the [[National Park Service]], via the [[National Register of Historic Places]], and the HDLC have landmarked individual buildings, many of which lie outside the boundaries of existing historic districts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nolamasterplan.org/documentsandrresources.asp |title=Part 2-The Plan; Section 1-How We Live; Map-Local and National Register Historic Districts |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115105708/http://www.nolamasterplan.org/documentsandrresources.asp |archive-date=January 15, 2016}}</ref>

Housing styles include the [[shotgun house]] and the [[bungalow]] style. Creole cottages and townhouses, notable for their large courtyards and intricate iron balconies, line the streets of the French Quarter. American townhouses, double-gallery houses, and Raised Center-Hall Cottages are notable. [[St. Charles Avenue]] is famed for its large [[Antebellum architecture|antebellum homes]]. Its mansions are in various styles, such as [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]], [[American colonial architecture|American Colonial]] and the [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] styles of [[Queen Anne style architecture in the United States|Queen Anne]] and [[Italianate architecture]]. New Orleans is also noted for its large, European-style Catholic cemeteries.

====Tallest buildings====
{{See also|List of tallest buildings in New Orleans}}
[[File:New Orleans Skyline from Uptown.jpg|thumb|right|upright=2.5|Skyline of the [[New Orleans Central Business District|Central Business District]] of New Orleans]]
For much of its history, New Orleans' skyline displayed only low- and mid-rise structures. The soft soils are susceptible to subsidence, and there was doubt about the feasibility of constructing high rises. Developments in engineering throughout the 20th century eventually made it possible to build sturdy foundations in the foundations that underlie the structures. In the 1960s, the [[2 Canal Street|World Trade Center New Orleans]] and [[Plaza Tower]] demonstrated skyscrapers' viability. [[One Shell Square]] became the city's tallest building in 1972. The oil boom of the 1970s and early 1980s redefined New Orleans' skyline with the development of the Poydras Street corridor. Most are clustered along [[Canal Street, New Orleans|Canal Street]] and Poydras Street in the Central Business District.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name
! Stories
! Height
|-
| [[One Shell Square]] || 51 || {{cvt|697|ft|m}}
|-
| [[Place St. Charles]] || 53 || {{cvt|645|ft|m}}
|-
| [[Plaza Tower]] || 45 || {{cvt|531|ft|m}}
|-
| [[Energy Centre]] || 39 || {{cvt|530|ft|m}}
|-
| [[First Bank and Trust Tower]] || 36 || {{cvt|481|ft|m}}
|}