For our first installment of “Favorite Building Friday”, I’d like to tell you about my absolute favorite building in New Orleans. It is the Hibernia Bank Building, located at 812 Gravier Street in the Central Business District. It opened in late 1921. The building was designed by Favrot and Livaudais, an architecture firm responsible for many Louisiana landmarks. The overall style of this building is Beaux Arts, sometimes referred to as Italian Renaissance style. This architecture style was used all over the United States in this period and is characterized by the use of classical features to decorate 20th Century[…]

On this day in 1930, the dedication ceremony for the Municipal Auditorium was held. The Ceremony The program began with a prayer by Rev. Florence Sullivan, followed by a gun salute and speeches made by the Mayor Walmsley, Judge Rufus E. Foster, Edward Alexander Parsons, and Roland B. Howell. A prayer was also was also offered by Rabbi Louis Binstock. While the new building was being celebrated, much of the event was focused on remembering Memorial Day. In keeping with this holiday, men representing servicemen from all previous wars marched across the stage as different music selections were played by[…]

On this day in 1853 Gallier Hall, located on St. Charles Avenue at Lafayette Square, was dedicated as the new New Orleans City Hall. Before Gallier Hall, the government offices in New Orleans were kept in the Cabildo, located on Jackson Square in the French Quarter. With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, an influx of Americans led to tensions with the original Creole citizenry which led to a city ordinance that divided the city into three separate municipalities: the 1st -containing the French Quarter and Treme  where the population was mostly French, Spanish, and French speaking Free People of Color,[…]

On this day in 1927 the Saenger Theatre opened. Like any major event in the city, the theater’s opening was celebrated with a parade witnessed by thousands of people. The theater was the first of the Saenger Theatres built for Joseph Saenger and it cost 2.5 million dollars (in those days!). The theater had a 4000 person capacity. In these days viewers who paid 65 cents could view a silent film and a live action play, with music generated from a 2000 pipe organ, the largest organ made by the made by the Robert – Morgan Organ Company, which was[…]

On this day in 1840, President Andrew Jackson laid the cornerstone for a still unplanned monument to celebrate the victory of the Americans over the British in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 that had happened 25 years earlier. A parade containing military members, bands, and government officials escorted Andrew Jackson to the ceremony. The procession started at the State House on Canal Street (which was demolished when the State Capital was moved to Baton Rouge in 1850) and wound its way through the French Quarter down Royal Street, as far as Esplanade Avenue and then[…]