Landscape Information
Designed by Cashio, Cochran, Torre / Design Consortium in anticipation of the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, this sixteen-acre waterfront park follows the river bend from the Audubon Aquarium at the base of Canal Street to the Governor Nicholls Street Wharf, with pedestrian entries at each intersecting street. Developed on the site of former industrial warehouses and shipping docks, the park is an extension of the earlier Moon Walk promenade and is connected by a paved walkway to the Washington Artillery Park, which looks onto Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral. The Riverfront Streetcar runs along the river levee, shuttling visitors from the Convention Center to the French Market.
A red brick promenade wraps around the curve of the riverbank for the entire length of the park, offering sweeping views of Algiers Point across the river and of the Crescent City Connection bridge. At the intersection with St. Louis Street, the path widens to a recreation area with benches and covered pavilions, then opens to a central lawn that is shielded from the bustle of the Vieux Carré by clustered plantings of crepe myrtles, cypress, and magnolia trees. Several sculptures are sited prominently throughout the park, including one of New Orleans philanthropist Malcolm Woldenberg; a stainless steel sculpture titled Ocean Song, which expresses the movement of water; a white marble Monument to the Immigrant; a piece called Old Man River, which highlights the power of the adjacent waterway; and a Holocaust Memorial. In 2015 a 90-foot linear spray fountain was installed on the southern end of the park near the Aquarium of the Americas.
