Regional Modernism :: The New Orleans Archives

On September 29, 1936 work began on Lake Vista, a $3 million residential development on New Orleans lakefront sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. The plan of Lake Vista was designed by Hampton Reynolds, consulting engineer for the Orleans Levee Board.

Reynold's radial plan was designed to provide safe passage for children to the community center, school and two churches at the end of Spanish Fort Boulevard in the core of the residential neighborhood. Mr. Reynolds explained, "The plan gives every child of these families a way to go to the community center of the residential park without crossing an automobile highway. We wish to set an example for the country at large to pattern after. This is the age of the automobile and there must be physical protection for children and the less agile. We have sanctuaries of safety for birds, why not for human beings? Another feature of the plan is that the lots are staggered, so that the house on any one lot does not face the house on the next lot, but rather looks through the open space of the first lot."

The first lots were sold on September 18, 1938, developing initially to the west of Spanish Fort Boulevard.

[F. Stock; photo: Works Progress Administration, Louisiana Division/City Archives, New Orleans Public Library]