[1] The area was originally developed between 1832 and 1900 and is considered one of the best-preserved collections of historic mansions in the Southern United States.

The 19th-century origins of the Garden District illustrate wealthy newcomers building opulent structures based upon the prosperity of New Orleans in that era.

Originally the area was developed with only a couple of houses per block, each surrounded by a large garden, giving the district its name.

This has produced a pattern for much of the neighborhood: of any given block having a couple of early 19th-century mansions surrounded by "gingerbread"-decorated late Victorian period houses.

[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the district has a total area of 0.21 square miles (0.5 km2), all of which is land.

(National Trust, 2006) Part of the area nearest St. Charles Avenue was surveyed to be only four feet above mean sea level, compared to a Mississippi River height of 14 feet (4.3 m) above sea level; (Hogan, 1990) nevertheless, the Garden District suffered little from Katrina flooding.

[citation needed] After 1923, Soule Business College, a private professional school, was located in the Garden District.