Along with the Mint, the gray granite Custom House , 423
Canal St, was key in New Orleans' grand antebellum building
program. In order to handle the volume of commerce coming through
the port, and to celebrate its value to the city, work started in
1848 on what was to be the largest federal building in the nation;
rooting such a monster in the city's soggy soil proved difficult,
however, and what with the break during the Civil War - when the
half-finished building was used by Union General "Beast" Butler as
a prison for Confederate soldiers - the Custom House was not
completed until 1881. Mark Twain had a point when he dismissed the
foreboding Classical interior as "inferior to a gasometer," but
fans of Greek Revival architecture should head to the second floor,
where a huge marble hall , illuminated by a 54ft skylight,
poignantly recalls the lofty aspirations and optimism of the city's
golden age.
The lakeside edge of the Central Business District or
CBD, a tangle of busy gray highways, would be pretty lifeless
without the colossal home of the New Orleans Saints football team,
the Superdome . At 52 acres, with 27 stories and a diameter
of 680ft, this is one of the largest buildings in the world. You
can't really appreciate the sheer enormity of the place until you
venture inside, either by seating yourself with 76,999 others to
see a game (Aug-Dec $25-50), or second-best, by joining one
of the superlatives- and statistics-heavy tours (Mon, Wed
& Fri 10.30am, noon & 1.30pm, except during special events;
$6; tel 504/587-3808).
Spreading upriver from the World Trade Center, at the foot of
Canal Street, the revitalizing Warehouse District is being
heralded as a thriving arts community. However, though it may be a
desirable place to stick a cutting-edge gallery, the attractions
are not always immediate for the casual visitor. Most of the sights
are concentrated in the Arts District , the outcrop of art
spaces concentrated around Julia and Camp streets. Hub of the scene
is the Contemporary Arts Center , 900 Camp St (Tues-Sun
11am-5pm; ground-floor galleries free; changing exhibitions $5; ).
It's a beautifully designed space, and there's always something
interesting going on, from the temporary shows on the ground floor
to major exhibitions upstairs, along with avant-garde performances,
classic and art-house movies, free lectures and workshops - plus a
free cybercafé .
Around the corner, the impressive - and colossal - National
D-Day Museum , 945 Magazine St (daily 9am-5pm; $7), opened on
June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of the Allied invasion of
Europe. Though its collection concentrates on the events of that
devastating day, the museum also does a good job covering D-Day
invasions in the Pacific. For all but diehard military buffs, the
quantity of hardware and uniforms on show may seem a bit much, but
luckily there is enough film footage, background material and,
especially, oral testimony from both sides of the conflict to make
the place thoroughly engaging.
It can be all too easy to forget that easy-living New Orleans
has its roots entrenched in the Deep South; anyone who needs
reminding should take a look at the Confederate Museum , 929
Camp St at Lee Circle. A gloomy Romanesque Revival hulk, designed
in 1891 as a place for Confederate veterans to display their
mementos, this so-called "Battle Abbey of the South" is a relic
from a bygone age. Inside the church-like hall, glass cases are
filled with swords, mess-kits, uniforms and helmets. The sepia
photos - of the wealthy, muddy antebellum city, and sad-eyed youths
awkward in uniform - are undeniably affecting, and there remains a
funereal air about the place, with its bittersweet remembrances of
long-lost generals and their forgotten families.
Next door, at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (Mon-Fri
10am-5pm; free), you can get tasters of the eclectic collection,
which runs the gamut from rare eighteenth-century watercolors to
contemporary photography in its temporary residence at 603 Julia
St, but this represents just a drop in the ocean compared to what
will be in the purpose-built five-story gallery.