What it is like to live in Uptown.
Uptown follows the bend of the river from the edge of the Garden District up to Riverbend, which is why the street grid keeps turning. Live oaks cover most of it. The St. Charles streetcar runs down the middle. The housing stock moves from raised center-hall houses to double shotguns inside a single block, and the price moves with it.
The streets, and what the mornings are like.
The first thing to understand is that the grid bends. Uptown was laid out along the river, so the streets fan outward instead of running parallel, and Magazine, St. Charles and Tchoupitoulas all curve with them. It takes a few weeks before you stop checking a map and start navigating by which side of St. Charles you are on.
Mornings belong to the oaks. The canopy over State, Nashville and Audubon Place holds the light low until nine or so, which keeps early walks cool later into the year than they have any right to be. The streetcar comes through with a sound you stop hearing after about a month. Magazine Street wakes up in stages, coffee first, then the shops around ten.
It is really several neighborhoods wearing one name. The blocks near Audubon Park run to large raised houses on wide lots. Down toward Tchoupitoulas, the Irish Channel side is tighter and more shotgun. Riverbend at the far end works like its own small town, with Carrollton Avenue as the main street. Freret has turned into a short run of restaurants over the past decade. When someone says Uptown, ask which part.
What ties it together is that you can walk to things. Not everywhere, but to enough: coffee, a corner store, a park, a school, a bar that predates everyone in it. That is the part that is hard to reproduce anywhere else in the city, and it is usually why people who already live in New Orleans move here rather than out.
The housing stock.
Mostly late-1800s and early-1900s houses, with real variety from one block to the next.
House types
Shotgun singles and doubles, camelbacks, raised center-halls, and Queen Anne cottages, with larger Greek Revival and Italianate homes closer to St. Charles and Audubon Park. True new construction is rare, and condos are the exception rather than the rule.
Condition and era
Most of Uptown went up between the 1880s and the 1920s. That means plaster walls, heart pine floors, tall ceilings, and systems that may or may not have been updated. Condition runs from lovingly restored to untouched since the 1970s, sometimes on the same block.
What to watch for
Pier foundations and leveling, roofs, termite history, old wiring, and cast iron drain lines. Renovations done without permits come up more often than you would expect. Owning an Old House covers what to check.
What is around.
What your days look like once you live here.
Eating and drinking
Magazine Street carries most of it, from Casamento’s oysters to La Petite Grocery. Freret Street has its own run of restaurants and bars, Oak Street in Riverbend has Jacques-Imo’s, and Clancy’s is the neighborhood’s white-tablecloth standby.
Walking
Most people walk to Magazine Street, Audubon Park, or the St. Charles streetcar. From the middle of Uptown each is usually ten to fifteen minutes on foot, much of it under the oaks.
Green space
Audubon Park, with its shaded loop around the lagoon, and the Fly on the river behind it. The wide neutral grounds and small pocket parks fill in the rest.
Getting places
The St. Charles streetcar reaches the CBD in roughly 30 to 45 minutes. By car, downtown is usually 10 to 20 minutes and the airport about 30. Bikes work well on the flat streets, and Magazine Street has its own bus line.
Homes for sale in Uptown
Three questions about Uptown.
The ones people ask me most as a New Orleans real estate advisor.
Is Uptown a good place to live?
Yes, for most people who want a walkable, established neighborhood with character: oak-lined streets, Audubon Park, Magazine Street, and the streetcar. The trade-offs are older houses that need care, parade traffic during Carnival, and blocks that vary a lot, so the specific street matters as much as the neighborhood.
Which parts of Uptown flood?
The blocks closest to the river sit on the natural high ground, often called the sliver by the river, and they generally stayed dry in 2005. Blocks toward Claiborne and beyond sit lower and see more street flooding in heavy rain. Always check the specific address: its flood zone, elevation certificate, and history.
What does a house in Uptown cost?
It depends more on the block and the house than on the name. A double shotgun off Freret and a restored center-hall near Audubon Park can be several times apart in price. What Your Money Buys has current price bands, and I am happy to pull this month’s sales for the blocks you like.
Read next.
Honest price bands by neighborhood.
What to check before you make an offer.
What caring for an older house involves.
The grand houses off St. Charles.
More house for the money, and the Canal streetcar.
Luxury Real Estate Advisor License ID: 995701126
+1(504) 617-5184 | richard@richardhebertrealtor.com
The Uptown guide.