page_title: Buildings and architecture of New Orleans
section_title: Central Business District
hierarchical_section_title: Buildings and architecture of New Orleans / New Orleans neighborhoods / Central Business District
caption_attribution_description: Charles Moore's Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans. Photo by Walt Lockley From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Charles_Moore_Piazza_d%27Italia.jpg
context_page_description: The buildings and architecture of New Orleans are reflective of its history and multicultural heritage, from Creole cottages to historic mansions on St. Charles Avenue, from the balconies of the French Quarter to an Egyptian Revival U.S. Customs building and a rare example of a Moorish revival church.
  The city has fine examples of almost every architectural style, from the baroque Cabildo to modernist skyscrapers.
context_section_description: For much of its history, New Orleans' skyline consisted of only low- and mid-rise structures.  The soft local soils are susceptible to subsidence, and there was doubt about the feasibility of constructing large high-rises in such an environment.  The 1960s brought the trail-blazing World Trade Center and Plaza Tower, which demonstrated that high-rise could stand firm on the soft ground.
  One Shell Square took its place as the city's tallest building in 1972, a title it still holds.   The oil boom of the early 1980s redefined the New Orleans skyline again with the development of the Poydras Street corridor.  Today, high-rises are clustered along Canal and Poydras Streets in the Central Business District (CBD).
  Located within the CBD is one of the world's most famous pieces of postmodern architecture, Charles Willard Moore's Piazza d'Italia.
  The district has a number of significant historicist buildings.  Perhaps the most notable are the Moorish revival Immaculate Conception Church and the Egyptian revival U.S. Custom House.
  Lafayette Square has some notable art deco civic buildings.
caption: Piazza d'Italia by Charles Willard Moore, New Orleans.
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