This unexpected and fanciful facade can be found on Lower Canal Street, in New Olreans - local residents can perhaps provide the street number and provenance. Never mind, it perfectly expresses the sensuous and whimsical spirit that is associated with The Big Easy, and I hope it survived the onslaught of Katrina. It's actually a second floor facade - the ground level being occupied by a less interesting retail front. From the looks of it, the second floor was untenanted when I took the photograph, in the late 1990's, and I wonder what sort of rents it would command were it situated in Soho, new York.

The arch has universal appeal for everyone - I haven't met anyone who wasn't moved to superlatives when in the presence of a well executed archway. The effect is amplified by the two baldachin that flank it, delightful reminders of Bernini's baroque exertions in Rome. The pilasters' style is more properly Mannerism, which is Baroque elevated to delerium (see Borromini), and this pairing certainly qualifies.

The exagerrated colorations put a different face on what is probably a neglected architectural feature - a quaint, but dilapidated, piece of local culture infrequently noted or described. I have a weakness for the anonymous, the eccentric and minor statements that too often go unnoticed as people hurry through their uptempo lives in the city. That's a shame, because a pause, now and then, can truly reveal undiscovered treasures.