I had an incredible amount of stuff to get done today and was feeling stretched thin. But then I remembered that some of those errands could be run by bike, slowly, along side streets. That always, always makes me feel better. Bikes are like that–a guaranteed fix for most stresses. I pedaled around the Garden District on my from the drugstore to the bank, taking pictures of the mansions, wondering which one belongs to Sandra Bullock now. Garden District houses have tall fences, some iron, others actual walls. Some places are almost completely hidden by foliage and ironwork and cement. People go to great lengths to make their private spaces completely private from the public. But the house that really caught my attention was this one, on the corner of Camp and Conery. It looks so out of place with the rest of the neighborhood, but does make sense with another house on the one-block Conery. I like the pathway, with its odd-sized circular stepping-stones and gently sloping hill. The brick house itself looks like the Brady’s might live there. It’s houses like this that remind me how distinct New Orleans architecture is, and how glad I am that some structures just don’t fit in.
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 
I like that house a lot! And the circular stepping stones in their varying sizes nicely accent the otherwise linear and orderly facade.
I saw this set of photos from the BBC site and thought the third one in the series–the Phillis Wheatley Elementary School–might interest you. Here’s the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8295341.stm
Thanks for the link, Bob! Yes–I was just riding around Phyllis Wheatly a few weeks ago. I don’t want it to go. The other things on that list are so interesting. Cheers.
Love your blog! That block of Conery (it continues on the other side of the cemetery and on across St. Charles) used to be occupied by a huge mansion that was torn down in the 1950s – that’s why the houses there all are mid-20th century contemporary style, and why there are big oak trees along the perimeter of that two-block area, but not down that block of Conery itself. There’s a picture of that old mansion in “New Orleans Then and Now”, I believe. And according to this source, the house Sandra Bullock and her husband bought is over on Coliseum:
http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2009/08/sandra-bullock-buys-in-big-easy.html