6 Best Sights in New Orleans, Louisiana

This Colonial Revival building, housing a Catholic girls' school, was built in 1900 and features wide, wraparound balconies (or galleries) and colonnades facing a large garden. The academy is exceptionally beautiful during the December holiday season, when the galleries are decked with wreaths and garlands.

The emergence of Colonial Revival architecture in the late 19th century was expressive of local weariness with the excesses of the Greek Revival craze that had dominated the mid-century. Anthemion is an excellent example of this return to simplicity. Built in 1896 for the druggist Christian Keppler, it served as the headquarters of the Japanese consulate from 1938 to 1941.

Thirty years ago, engineers in Paris discovered hairline fractures in the Eiffel Tower supports. To lighten the load, they removed the restaurant on the second platform. New Orleans auto dealer McDonald Stephens bought that restaurant, which was disassembled into 11,062 pieces for shipping. Stephens hired New Orleans architect Steven Bingler to build a "jewel box" out of the pieces for his four beloved daughters. Bingler's vision, assembled on St. Charles Avenue in 1986, incorporated scattered pieces from the original restaurant into a structure meant to resemble the Eiffel Tower. The building has gone through many incarnations; today it is a lounge and event space.

This restored Creole cottage was a modest prototype for much of the far more elaborate architecture of the surrounding Garden District. The scale, derived from the climate-conscious design prevalent in the West Indies, made this style easily adaptable to the higher pretensions of the Greek Revival look, as well as the slightly more reserved Colonial Revival. Built in 1837, the house has had one famous occupant: Henry Morton Stanley, renowned explorer of Africa and founder of the Congo Free States who most famously uttered the phrase "Dr. Livingstone, I presume" upon encountering the long-lost Scottish missionary.

This sumptuous mansion was built in 1868 as a wedding gift from Colonel William Lewis Wynn to his daughter. The side building, on the Uptown side of the main building, is an auditorium added in the 1950s. The house is closed to the public, but serves as headquarters to a ladies' social club and hosts many debutante teas and wedding receptions.

Dating from 1799, this Spanish colonial building is named for the Spanish council—or cabildo—that met here. The transfer of Louisiana to the United States was finalized in 1803 in the front room on the second floor overlooking the square. The Cabildo later served as city hall and then state supreme court. Three floors of multicultural exhibits recount 300 years of Louisiana history—particularly from the colonial period through Reconstruction—with countless artifacts, including the death mask of Napoléon Bonaparte. In 1988 the building suffered terrible damage from a four-alarm fire. Most of the historic pieces inside were saved, but the top floor (which had been added in the 1840s), the roof, and the cupola had to be replaced. The Cabildo is almost a twin to the Presbytère on the other side of the cathedral.

Both sites—as well as the Old U.S. Mint and the 1850 House—are part of the Louisiana State Museum system. Buy tickets to two or more state museums and receive a 20% discount.