Garden District Office

About New Orleans Garden District

Every New Orleans neighborhood has a personality of its own. Residents born and raised in one part of town express extreme allegiance to that geographic spot. The Garden District of New Orleans is no exception, and home buyers and renters who want to enjoy the pleasures of living in this neighborhood will find a gigantic list of reasons why it contains some of the city’s most loyal and longtime residents.

Mention The Garden District and you will hear tales of 200-year-old oaks lining historic St. Charles Avenue, with gothic and classic mansions from one block to the next. Turn-of-the-century shotgun doubles (in every price range, in pristine condition or ready for custom renovation) can be found alongside multi-family homes, singles, plus contemporary and traditional architecture of every description.

The Garden District is also the neighborhood that showcases some of the nation’s most illustrious and sought-after Greek Revival and Italianate homes built in the past 250 years. The architectural details are a big draw for visiting tourists, but local families have known for centuries the inimitable value of the mansions in the district, marked by gorgeous Corinthian columns, detailed iron balconies and lush Southern gardens.

Established as one of the first New Orleans neighborhoods, the district was originally a place for large plantation-style homes surrounded by huge gardens. Eventually, properties were subdivided, making room for more homes, new styles of architecture and additional residents. The patchwork of styles, from grand to modest, traditional to contemporary, is what continues to make the Garden District so unique among New Orleans neighborhoods. Garden District property owners know the value of their part of town, an area that is home to so many incomparable, only-in-New Orleans amenities.

The Garden District’s Location

The Garden District is generally mapped from St. Charles Avenue to Magazine Street and from Jackson Avenue to Louisiana Avenue.

Accessibility

Some Garden District residents will tell you they don’t need a car. Others insist that properties with off-street parking are a must. Some residents rely solely on easily accessed public transit. Others suggest that a combination of personal and public transportation is a property owner’s dream. Historic streetcars traverse the Garden District portion of oak-tree-lined St. Charles Avenue. Buses run on regular schedules up and down Magazine Street, giving residents easy access to the Central Business District in one direction and Uptown and Audubon Park in the other. Additional bus routes take the north-south route, connecting the Garden District to other parts of New Orleans. Fares for buses and streetcars remain enviably low.

Demographics

The .2-square-mile area is dense with a population of more than 2,000, more than 1,000 households and a medium household income much greater than the rest of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana (last reported as greater than $90,000 annually), a dozen schools, several well-known churches and close proximity to several well-established hospitals and medical complexes.

Things to Do

Home buyers looking for properties in the Garden District are also looking for the kinds of amenities that have welcomed residents for centuries—top-notch private, parochial, public and charter schools, a thriving public library system with convenient branches, restaurants of every description (world-acclaimed Commander’s Palace is a cornerstone of the Garden District, joined by everything from corner po-boy spots to fine dining and every type of international cuisine), the urban oasis of Magazine Street shopping (clothing, antiques, art, decorators’ treasures), walking tours conducted daily by well-versed local guides, and the famous New Orleans Opera Guild Home on Prytania Street (an 1858 mansion still filled with European and American furniture and artwork from the 18 ^th and 19^th centuries, maintained by the Women’s Guild of the New Orleans Opera Association and available for special event rental).

Home buyers interested in the Garden District will also find an incredible array of activities and venues, including access to three weeks of Mardi Gras parades, the chance to catch historic marching clubs, and the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade (where riders toss cabbages and potatoes to the crowds). The sounds of the practice and parading of nearby high school bands is also heard daily from the porches and balconies of the Garden District. Residents also share the streets with tourists opting for a look at historic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 on Washington at Prytania (scene to many a Hollywood movie shoot), the nearby Rink, a one-time 19^th century skating rink that has been meticulously restored and transformed into a mall of shops and the beautifully elevated George Washington Cable House, designated a National Historic Landmark in honor of the American author who lived and worked there in the late 1800s.

The Louise S. McGehee School on Prytania Street is among the most illustrious private institutions in the area, which is also dotted with many other convenient public and private elementary, secondary and high schools. Learn more about the Garden District.