Hibernia Bank Building, at 812 Gravier Street at the corner of Carondelet Street in the
Central Business District
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " cit ...
Hibernia National Bank
Hibernia National Bank was a bank headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. The bank was the primary subsidiary of Hibernia Corporation, a bank holding company. In November 2005, the bank was acquired by Capital One.
Hibernia is the classical ...
. At the time it was completed in 1921, it was the tallest building in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...
. In 1932, the state capitol took that title.Mowbray, Rebecca. ''Times-Picayune'' January 18, 2011. Accessed January 24, 201 /ref>
In 2006, Hibernia Bank began to vacate the building and move its offices to Place St. Charles. Only the retail bank in the lobby remained in service. 313 Carondelet, a joint venture of Historic Restoration Inc. and Woodward Interest LLC is converting the building into 176 mixed-income apartments and two floors of offices.
The white tower atop the building remains a familiar part of the skyline, and during holidays is lit up with colored lights—red and green for
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
and purple, green, and gold for
New Orleans Mardi Gras
The holiday of Mardi Gras is celebrated in all of Louisiana, including the city of New Orleans. Celebrations are concentrated for about two weeks before and through Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday (the start of lent in the Weste ...
. It once served as a navigational beacon for ships on the Mississippi River.
See also
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List of tallest buildings in New Orleans
The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, is the site of 106 completed high-rises, 45 of which stand taller than . The tallest building in the city is Hancock Whitney Center, which rises in the New Orleans Central Business District an ...
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List of tallest buildings in Louisiana
This lists ranks Louisiana skyscrapers that stand at least 250 feet (76 m) tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. An equal sign (=) following a rank indicates t ...
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Hibernia Bank Building (San Francisco)
The Hibernia Bank, headquartered in San Francisco, California, was founded in April 1859 as the Hibernia Savings and Loan Society. In 1892, the company built a Beaux-Arts headquarters at 1 Jones Street at the corner of McAllister and Market Stre ...
, built in 1892 as headquarters for the unrelated Hibernia Savings and Loan Society, later the Hibernia Bank