The Building
The Exchange had its 1871 opening in a series of rented rooms in an existing building at Gravier and Carondelet. Although they moved several times, the Exchange would not leave this intersection until its closing in 1964. After constructing and then outgrowing a small building nearby on Gravier, the Exchange built a palatial Second Empire building in 1883 at the northern corner of Gravier and Carondelet, designed by architect S.S. Labouisse. Noted for its lavish interiors, the building soon became a landmark in New Orleans.
However, in 1916, the building was deemed unsafe and planning began for a replacement. World War I and several other factors conspired to delay the construction of the replacement until 1921, and the original plans for an equally-lavish replacement building were scaled back.
The resulting structure was much more modest, modeled after a Renaissance palazzo. The Cotton Exchange occupied this building until its 1964 closure, selling the building in 1962 and merely renting space for the last two years of operation.
Today, the building is a hotel in the New Orleans Central Business District. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and has been named a National Historic Landmark.
Read more about this topic: New Orleans Cotton Exchange
Famous quotes containing the word building:
“Whoever places his trust into a system will soon be without a home. While you are building your third story, the two lower ones have already been dismantled.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“Our civilization is characterized by the word “progress.” Progress is its form rather than making progress being one of its features. Typically it constructs. It is occupied with building an ever more complicated structure. And even clarity is sought only as a means to this end, not as an end in itself. For me on the contrary clarity, perspicuity are valuable in themselves.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)