Parkview, a quiet and pristine pocket of town nestled between Bayou St. John and City Park, is like a verdant, tropical maze with streets that intersect at odd angles and hidden courts among old oaks. Home to a mix of families, older residents and young renters, it is filled with early 20th-century bungalows, shotguns and raised-basement homes, with some grander Spanish Revival-style houses as well.
When the Carondelet Canal was dug in 1792 to connect the city to coastal shipping, the area now known as Parkview was a cypress swamp. Drainage improvement projects in the early 20th century made the area habitable, and it was first occupied by several dairy farms, including the Allard Plantation. Most of the homes were developed in the first three decades of the 20th century, but earlier development occurred along the the Bayou St. John waterway.