Fodor's Expert Review Luling Mansion

Also called the "Jockey's Mansion," this massive, three-story Italianate mansion is a neighborhood landmark (and now a popular setting for Hollywood film crews). Designed by the prominent New Orleans architect James Gallier Jr., it was built in 1865 for Florence A. Luling, whose family had made a fortune selling turpentine to Union soldiers when they occupied New Orleans during the Civil War. When the Louisiana Jockey Club took over the Creole Race Course (now the Fair Grounds) in 1871, they purchased the mansion and used it as a clubhouse for the next 20-odd years. It is not open to the public.