Known to New Orleanians as "the Poor Clares", this monastery occupies almost an entire block on Henry Clay Avenue. It was once a cloistered monastery and is now semi-cloistered. I am doing research on the origin of the altar - it may be Bavarian.
The small community of nuns stayed in the monastery during Hurricane Katrina and because the walls are so thick they said they hardly heard the storm at all. The monastery is located in uptown New Orleans not too far from the Mississippi River and is surrounded by a high brick wall topped with a heavy copper cap. Damage was limited to downed limbs and trees in their yard.
Shortly after Katrina's wind subsided and the flood waters from the broken Lake Pontchartrain canal levees began rolling in, the nuns realized that they were still safe because the water did not reach their location. However, a day later they feared for their lives from looters and evacuated to the Poor Clares Monastery in Brenham, Texas for six weeks. A local photographer lived in the monastery during the time they were gone and secured it from the looters. He later wrote a book about his days in the monastery; the eeriness of a deserted City left to the whims of evil; the solitude he felt with just his dog for companionship and the absolute holiness of the place which gave him comfort.