Whitney National Bank building is still standing and used by Whitney Bank. It's 14 stories tall and Emporis says construction was completed in 1909, dating the photo to 1908 or 1909. Whitney has several buildings in the CBD, but this one is the one that has fronts on St. Charles, Common, and Gravier streets.

Anyone know what the big building is under construction?

Is that Gretna, across the river? I have memories of taking a ferry boat across the river when we visited New Orleans. My father's folks lived in Belle Chase, just outside of Gretna.

The impressive 4-story building near the left hand edge of the picture (just across Canal Street from the "Peoples Bank") is the US Custom House, begun in 1848 to the designs of Alexander Thompson Wood. The authorship of the design was contested at the time, and a whole succession of architects worked on the building until it was finally finished in 1881. According to Wikipedia, the building is now home to the Audubon Insectarium. Lo, how the mighty have fallen.

This is a really interesting view of the downtown. The original caption misspells the name of the hotel as "Gundewall"; it was the Grunewald, which is now the Roosevelt.

Mayer Israel & Co. was a major retail clothier and general department store in New Orleans for almost seventy years. City directories first list the company in 1892 at 28-30 (now 100 block) St. Charles Street. Directories for 1902 through 1909 list the company at 705 Canal Street, and from 1910 until its dissolution in the late 1950s at 714-716 Canal Street.

The Leon Godchaux Clothing Co. was at 826-828 Canal Street.

Other landmarks include the CJ Michel Clothing Co at 130 St. Charles Street and Adams Hatter (now Meyer the Hatter) at 120 St. Charles Ave.