Guide: John P. Klingman, Favrot Professor of Architecture, Tulane University
The tour focuses on three urban spaces in New Orleans: Jackson Square, Congo Square and Lafayette Square, the significant buildings in their environs and their contributions to New Orleans’s architectural and cultural history. Each of these spaces is of profound historical importance to the city. Although they are of identical size, each arose from and has contributed to, a completely distinct historic culture.
We will begin with a walk from the hotel to Lafayette Square, the seat of government in the American Sector from the mid nineteenth to the mid twentieth century. Anchored by James Gallier’s City Hall, a building that now bears his name, the square is surrounded by building of institutional importance, the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals and several other buildings of the US federal government. Also of note are the Lafayette Hotel and recent office and mixed use buildings. From there we will pass by other nearby CBD places and buildings of significance, the remains of South Rampart St., the recent 930 Poydras residential building, and the Civic Center complex including City Hall and the New Orleans Public Library.
The second urban public space of focus is Congo Square. Crossing Canal St. on Rampart we will see the rejuvenated theatres at the intersection, most notably the Saenger. Along North Rampart we will note the juxtaposition of the Modernist parking structure and its neoclassical neighbor, the New Orleans Athletic Club. A block away, we will pass Bienville Basin, the transformation of the last midtwentieth century housing project, Iberville. Crossing Rampart, we will enter Congo Square, a place of seminal importance to the history and development of African American music and culture. We will discuss the transformation of Congo Square over time and its current condition being subsumed within Louis Armstrong Park.
Crossing from the Treme side of Rampart into the Vieux Carre, we engage our third place of focus, Jackson Square. On the way we will proceed riverward on Dumaine St. stopping at Madame John’s Legacy, one of the oldest residential buildings in the quarter, now open to the public by the Historic New Orleans Collection. We will enter the Square and discuss its vast prospect enfronting the Mississippi River. We’ll assess the cultural significance of the Cabildo, the Presbytere and St Louis Cathedral (20), from the original French settlement of the eighteenth century. We will also consider the role of the Pontalba buildings (22) in the urban, cultural and architectural contexts. A stroll up Chartres St. to the historic Napoleon House (23) completes the tour.
Please note that this tour requires a substantial amount of walking. For those preferring a more leisurely tour, The Vieux Carre tour is recommended.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants: 22
Fee: $40
An excursion into the Big Easy's legacy of print media, the Print History Tour, encompasses an insight-packed walking tour of New Orleans’ prize historical archive—the city itself. Hitting the streets in a brisk 90-minute walk through the New Orleans Central Business District and French Quarter, guests will learn about the untold and unexpected history of New Orleans as the South’s original hub for print. Points on the tour will highlight the industry-leading newspapers and presses along with renegade printers that created the material culture of New Orleans in the late 19th & 20th centuries. (Don't forget to wear comfortable shoes for this traverse across the cobblestoned centuries!)
http://noladna.com/print-history-walking-tour-of-new-orleans/
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants: 20
Fee: $50
With Kevin Williams, SEAA archivist, Leon Miller, Head, LaRC, and Bruce Raeburn, Head of Tulane Special Collections and Curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive
This tour will give attendees a chance to get to know three of Tulane University’s most exciting special collections. Site visits to each collection with time to view the exhibition space at the Southeastern Architectural Archive at the end.
The Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) is one of the older, larger, and more comprehensive research centers for New Orleans and possibly the second largest for Louisiana as a whole after Hill Memorial Library at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. As an integrated research library and archives, LaRC offers a full range of library and archival research resources, from books and manuscripts to maps and images. The LaRC supports almost every aspect of Louisiana research, but among our special strengths are art, business, Carnival, the Civil War, environmental studies, Jewish studies, LGBTQ studies, Louisiana politics, medicine, social welfare, literature, urban studies, and women's studies.
The Hogan Jazz Archive is the leading research center for the study of New Orleans jazz and related musical genres, including New Orleans ragtime, gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, and Creole songs. Among its holdings are 2,000 reels of oral history interviews with musicians, family members, and observers that document the stories surrounding the emergence of jazz in New Orleans from the late 19th century forward. Other holdings include sound recordings, film, photography, sheet music, personal papers, records of the American Federation of Musicians local 174-496, ephemera, and realia.
The Southeastern Architectural Archive, a unit of Tulane University Libraries' Special Collections Division, is the largest repository of architectural records in the southern United States. Established in 1980, the SEAA has progressively sought to enhance the preservation and conservation of architectural records associated with the built environment of the southeastern Gulf Region (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana & Mississippi). The SEAA is now regularly consulted by over 1700 researchers per year. Specialized research collections include historic fire insurance atlases, city directories, building trade catalogs and the records of architects and firms from 1819 to the 1980s. The SEAA also houses the Garden Library of the New Orleans Town Gardeners.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants 25
Fee: $40 (includes transportation)
With Christopher Harter, Director of Library and Reference Services
The Amistad Research Center was established by the United Church Boards of Homeland Ministries at Fisk University in 1966 to house the historical records of the American Missionary Association. In 1969 Amistad became an independent non-profit organization, and the following year, it relocated to Dillard University in New Orleans. By the early 1980s, Amistad moved to the United States Mint building in the French Quarter. In 1986, Amistad sought a permanent home, and through the efforts of a coalition in New Orleans, found its permanent location on the campus of Tulane University, where the Center has resided since 1987.
From its beginnings as the first archives documenting the modern civil rights movement, Amistad has experienced considerable expansion and its mission continues to evolve. The history of slavery, race relations, African American community development, and the civil rights movement have received new and thought-provoking interpretations as the result of scholarly and community research using Amistad's resources. The holdings include the papers of artists, educators, authors, business leaders, clergy, lawyers, factory workers, farmers and musicians.
This tour will focus on holdings from the Center’s fine arts collection as well as the personal papers of artists in the collection.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants: 20With Chloe Raub, Head of Archives and Special Collections
The Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special Collections collect, preserve, and make available records that document the history of women and gender in the Gulf South. In addition, they maintain a non-circulating special collection library devoted to women's education, prescriptive literature, culinary history, Newcomb College authors, third wave feminist zines, and other topics. The Newcomb Art Museum builds on the Newcomb College legacy of education, social enterprise, and artistic experience. The Museum presents inspiring exhibitions and programs that engage communities both on and off campus, fostering the creative exchange of ideas and cross-disciplinary collaborations around innovative art.
Chloe Raub, Head of Archives and Special Collections, will offer a brief tour and will talk about the content and historical context of selected library and archival materials. Attendees will also be welcome to visit the Museum's current exhibition.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants 20
Fee: $40
Guide: John P. Klingman, Favrot Professor of Architecture, Tulane University
This tour explores New Orleans’s original city, the famed Vieux Carre, founded in 1718. Learn how the 1721 city plan reflected the unique site and environment, and see how this synergy has evolved over almost two centuries. Learn to recognize the influences of France, Spain, Africa, and the West Indies in the unique architecture and building typologies of creole cottage, creole townhouse, and the later shotgun. Along the way, we will note the range of designs for the signature elements of New Orleans architecture, and discuss critical preservation issues: the changing socioeconomic status of the neighborhood over time, and the documentation and supervision of French Quarter buildings. Finally, we will consider twenty-first century stresses upon this national treasure, highlighting current successes and challenges.
Our end-point is the historic Napoleon House on Chartres Street—a dining opportunity.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants: 22
Fee: $40
The Backstreet Cultural Museum officially opened its doors in 1999. However, its origins can be traced back three decades to when Sylvester Francis paraded with the Gentlemen of Leisure Social Aid & Pleasure Club. A man photographing the parade wanted Francis to pay $35.00 for his own photograph. To avoid such costs in the future, Francis bought both a Super 8 mm camera and a still camera and began documenting Carnival celebrations, second-line parades, and jazz funerals throughout New Orleans.
Today, the Backstreet Cultural Museum holds the world’s most comprehensive collection related to New Orleans’ African American community-based masking and processional traditions, including Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, social aid and pleasure clubs, Baby Dolls, and Skull and Bone gangs. The museum’s filmed records of over 500 events constitute the most cohesive archive documenting these cultural traditions. In addition to its permanent exhibits, the Backstreet Cultural Museum hosts public performances of music and dance, provides outreach programs, and creates an annual book, Keeping Jazz Funerals Alive, that chronicles the year’s jazz funerals.
The Backstreet Cultural Museum is a pillar in the Tremé community where second-line parades begin and end, the North Side Skull and Bone Gang and Mardi Gras Indians congregate on Mardi Gras day, and schoolchildren identify family members in the photographs on the wall. The museum is active in Tremé and promotes art and culture as important to the neighborhood’s identity and future.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants 40
Fee: $40 (includes transportation)
Guide: John P. Klingman, Favrot Professor of Architecture, Tulane University
This tour explores New Orleans’s original city, the famed Vieux Carre, founded in 1718. Learn how the 1721 city plan reflected the unique site and environment, and see how this synergy has evolved over almost two centuries. Learn to recognize the influences of France, Spain, Africa, and the West Indies in the unique architecture and building typologies of creole cottage, creole townhouse, and the later shotgun. Along the way, we will note the range of designs for the signature elements of New Orleans architecture, and discuss critical preservation issues: the changing socioeconomic status of the neighborhood over time, and the documentation and supervision of French Quarter buildings. Finally, we will consider twenty-first century stresses upon this national treasure, highlighting current successes and challenges.
Our end-point is the historic Napoleon House on Chartres Street—a dining opportunity.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants: 22
Fee: $40
With Gia Hamilton, Director of the JMC and Laura Morris, archivist at the Joan Mitchell Foundation
Join us on a tour of the Joan Mitchell Center, an artists' residency program established by the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Based in the culturally diverse and historic city of New Orleans, the Joan Mitchell Center’s mission is to support local, national, and international contemporary visual artists.
The Joan Mitchell Center is an artist residency center developed to offer both time and space for artists to create work in a contemplative environment. In addition to the Artist-in-Residence Program, the Center curates and produces public programming that serves the broader community of New Orleans, and endeavors to serve as an incubator, conduit and resource for partnerships in the arts.
The tour will be led by Gia Hamilton (Director of the Joan Mitchell Center) and Laura Morris (Archivist at the Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York), who will share about the Center as well as the Foundation's current research and exhibition projects in support of Joan Mitchell's legacy.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants 20
Fee: $40 (includes transportation)
With DJ Rusty Lazer
The Music Box is a place where play, imagination, experimentation, collaboration, community and tons of hard work come together as artist-made, interactive “musical houses.” They can be cacophonously played by the public, or harmoniously performed by professional musicians. The Music Box is an internationally celebrated and locally loved public art project, inspired by the unique musical and architectural culture of our home city of New Orleans.
The project pushes artistic boundaries, but more importantly it brings together people of all stripes for a heartwarming, creative experience that has equal appeal for a musical giant such as Thurston Moore or a gaggle of 5 year olds.
The project is the evolving brainchild of our nonprofit arts organization New Orleans Airlift. Begun in 2011 by local artists Delaney Martin, Taylor Shepherd, Jay Pennington and visiting artist Swoon, the project has grown mightily through the hard work and idiosyncratic vision of hundreds more collaborators, in a series of national and international locations.
Now, we’re giving the Music Box a permanent home: The Music Box Village. After building and tearing down two previous temporary versions, it has been our long-held dream to install our musical houses in a place where we can continue to elaborate on and improve the project.
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants 40
Fee: $40 (includes transportation)
WALKING TOUR with Joseph Makkos
An excursion into the Big Easy's legacy of print media, the Print History Tour, encompasses an insight-packed walking tour of New Orleans’ prize historical archive—the city itself. Hitting the streets in a brisk 90-minute walk through the New Orleans Central Business District and French Quarter, guests will learn about the untold and unexpected history of New Orleans as the South’s original hub for print. Points on the tour will highlight the industry-leading newspapers and presses along with renegade printers that created the material culture of New Orleans in the late 19th & 20th centuries. (Don't forget to wear comfortable shoes for this traverse across the cobblestoned centuries!)
http://noladna.com/print-history-walking-tour-of-new-orleans/
Tour participants should meet on the first level across from the bank of elevators, in front of the Spirits bar. Please be early, as tours will leave on time. Look for the tour leader’s purple Mardi Gras hat.
Max participants: 20
Fee: $50
