wooden a-frame homes and the such sure, but much of it is brick, stone, etc, and will hopefull come out of this like they did any previous hurricane. some stuff torn down, some stays... little to none of what was there when the french first settled is either there now (fire and past hurricanes) before and definitely not now), what is called the "french quarter" was actually built during the era of spanish control...
concrete and brick structures though, as I said, are quite resilient and will probably be repairable...
I agree with the idea to preserve the historical parts of NO but at least consider alternatives to the rest. I have read of the reason for your attachment to NO and you have my sympathy.