Quarter for Your Thoughts?

“Time will tell,” said Daniel Hammer, more than once, when asked  about The Historic New Orleans Collection’s new exhibition center at 520 Royal Street. Hammer, HNOC deputy director, knows well that a building can’t be called a resounding success until it proves useful. So to what end has HNOC done the nearly impossible—carved out new, modern space in the heart of the venerable French Quarter?

“The basic purpose of the [$38 million] expansion is to increase our capacity to welcome larger audiences,” said Hammer. An additional 35,000 square feet, comprising the restored Seigneur-Brulatour Building and courtyard as well as a brand-new building at the rear of the courtyard, doubles HNOC’s publicly available spaces and makes possible occasions like the May 18 grand opening block party, which welcomed 1,500 registered visitors and many more besides that. “Absolutely we’re meeting our expectations,” said Hammer. “Since we opened on April 6, we’ve had between twice and three times the normal visitation every day.”

When HNOC’s tricentennial exhibition, New Orleans, the Founding Era, opened last spring, the entirety of its original building, 533 Royal Street, was given over to the show. “It was the single most visited exhibition we’ve ever done,” said Hammer. An average of 233 visitors crowded the gallery space each day. “There are 15 million people walking by our door,” said Hammer. “That number [233] is not the impact we’d like to have on the overall French Quarter experience.”

The French Quarter’s popularity is a testament to the success of twentieth-century preservation and a point of worry for the field’s current focus: overuse through tourism. HNOC aims to have more influence over the droves of tourists wandering the area, imparting a passion and consideration for the storied grounds on which they tread. “We’re working toward the limitless preservation of the Quarter as a historic space,” said Hammer.

If held today at 520 Royal, which balances contemporary amenities, such as a dynamic lighting system, with “historic ambience,” the tricentennial exhibition which maxed out 533 Royal would take up just one of three large exhibit halls, said Hammer. Currently the new space holds Art of the City: Post-Modern to Post-Katrina as well as an exhibition on the history of the French Quarter. Future programming will “speak to pace and trends of visitors at any given time,” said Hammer. 

And while HNOC hopes to keep corralling tourists, they’ve got a special message for native New Orleanians, too. “Visiting a local history museum is critical part of engaging with oneself,” said Hammer. “You need to understand the place you come home to and who you are as a citizen of a place.” hnoc.org.