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Esplanade Ridge acknowledges in its name the higher strip of land which marks the old Indian portage connecting Bayou St. John with the river. In 1807, the area's development was made possible by an act of the U.S. Congress giving the city title to a band of land downriver from today's Barracks Street between rue Levee (N. Peters) and rue Rampart. It was referred to in early real estate advertisements as "the Esplanade of the Fort St. Charles," the old fort which stood at near the site of the Old U.S. Mint. In 1822 Joseph Pilié suveyed the length of the ridge for a roadway and named the street the Esplanade Prolongment.
Esplanade Avenue with its great width and landscaped neutral ground is the spine of this district and contains the district's largest houses. By the 1850s, numerous fine homes had been built, including the center hall villas at 2023 and 2033 Esplanade Avenue. The great double galleried houses so common along the avenue reached their peak with the colossal house at 1707 Esplanade Avenue, built in 1859. Away from the avenue, other antebellum housing can be found. Among these buildings is a fine row of circa 1850 shotgun cottages at 1722-1726 Laharpe Street, perhaps the earliest row of this house type in New Orleans.
In the years after the Civil War, the Italianate style became popular, with the fine trio of homes at 1318, 1322 and 1328 Esplanade Avenue being splendid examples from the 1870s. The further out the avenue one goes the larger the lots tend to be, with more picturesque houses such as the villa at 2522 Esplanade Avenue, built after 1875. In the area above Broad Street, there is a strong concentration of early 20th century houses, including some classically detailed residences that reflect the renewed interest in architectural classicism at that time.
Like the Treme Historic District, Esplanade Ridge has been negatively impacted in the 20th century by the construction in the 1960s of the elevated expressway along Claiborne Avenue. That street as well as Broad serve as the commercial strips within the district, and both have seen the loss of former residential buildings for more modern uses.
The section of the district along the full length of Esplanade Avenue, is subject to the full control of the Commission. The areas flanking either side of the avenue are subject only to control of demolition and demolition by neglect.