The Battle For New Orleans Architecture

"After the storm, the first thing people asked was, 'How's your house?' recalled Tulane University architecture professor John P. Klingman of those nail-biting days almost two years ago, when storm and flood seemed to have destroyed or scarred every structure in New Orleans.

'My house was OK,' he said. 'But I realized "How's your house?" was the wrong question. The question was about my city.'

Two years later, the question, 'How's your city?' is still tough to answer. Architecturally speaking, New Orleans is in flux. The past is not quite over, the present is contentious and the future has not quite begun. As the Neville Brothers might have sung it -- if the Neville Brothers still sang in these parts -- New Orleans architecture is sitting here in limbo, waiting for the tide to turn."