SAVE PHILLIS WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN NEW ORLEANS! SAY "NO!" TO DEMOLITION(AUGUST 2011)

If you have already signed and shared the petition with your friends, I extend my heartfelt gratitude.  Please consider joining DOCOMOMO US to help support the documentation and conservation of the buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the modern movement.

In 1966 Louisiana architect Raymond Boudreaux (b. 1922) designed a significant renovation and modernization of a center hall cottage for himself and his wife Hilda Mary (Boss) Boudreaux at 1218 Moss on Bayou St. John. Boudreaux drew a complete set of drawings of the extant structure at the start. The monumental cypress shutters were salvaged from Three Oaks Plantation formerly on the site of the American Sugar Refinery in Chalmette.

Boudreaux was born in Marrero, but raised in the French Quarter and attended McDonogh 15 Elementary and Samuel J. Peters High School. After graduating from Tulane School of Architecture in 1949 he went to work for Freret and Wolf. In 1951 he left for a six-month European tour, traveling from Denmark to Southern Italy. Upon his return, he went to visit former professor Charles Colbert, now head of the new Office of Planning and Construction for Orleans Parish Schools. Colbert offered Boudreaux a job writing programs for new schools. In 1954 Boudreaux joined the firm Colbert, Lowrey, Hess and Boudreaux. When Colbert left New Orleans to become Dean of Columbia University, the partnership became Lowrey, Hess and Boudreaux, and practiced as such until December 1990.

[Francine Stock, Regional Modernism; photo: Francine Stock, New Orleans Virtual Archive, Tulane School of Architecture]

in 1960 architect Charles R. Colbert designed a new residence for Victor F. Kirschman at 12 Swan Street in Lake Vista. The house was designed to maximize views of Lake Pontchartrain over the levee and beyond the park. Kirschman was the president of Kirschman Furniture founded by his father Morris Kirschman in 1914.

[Francine Stock, Regional Modernism; photo: New Orleans Virtual Archive, Tulane School of Architecture]

The first International Trade Mart building on the downtown riverside of Camp and Common was designed in 1947 by Rathbone DeBuys, AIA (1874-1960). It opened in 1948 as a testament to the progressive nature of the new New Orleans.

"The International Trade Mart, the first world-trade market place, is as modern as the Middle South spirit which inspired its construction. Five streamlined stories of windowless concrete and glass brick, it houses the export-import displays and sales offices of hundreds of manufacturers, some 50 leading international traders and several nations." [i]

The first ITM was actually an adaptive reuse and modernization of a late 19th century structure (A. Baldwin Wood & Co., Thomas Sully, 1889). After the second ITM building (Edward Durell Stone) at 2 Canal was completed in 1967, the first ITM was renamed the Gateway Building. It was demolished in 1978 along with several other buildings for the Sheraton Hotel.

[Francine Stock, Regional Modernism; photo: Dorothy Violet Gulledge Photograph Collection, Louisiana Division/City Archives, New Orleans Public Library]

[i] Times-Picayune July 5, 1948

The 12-story art deco F. Edward Hebert Federal Building on Lafayette Square was designed by architects Louis Simon and Howard L. Cheney in 1939.

Lafayette Square, the second oldest urban park in New Orleans is also surrounded by Gallier Hall (formerly City Hall, James Gallier, Sr., 1845), the Federal Reserve Bank (Goldstein, Parham, Labouisse, 1963), the Hale Boggs Federal Building and U.S. Court House (Freret & Wolf, August Perez & Associates, Mathes Bergman & Associates) and the John Minor Wisdom U.S. Court of Appeals (Hale and Rogers, 1908).

Since the city's inception, New Orleans has organized public buildings around public parks, initially with the location of the Cabildo on the Place d'Armes (now Jackson Square) and more recently with the development of the Civic Center (1958) around Duncan Plaza.

[photo: Anthony DelRosario]

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]

In July of 1960 Thurston B. Martin, president of the First National Life Insurance Company (est. 1914, New Orleans) announced the construction of a new twelve-story glass office building.

The Times-Picayune reported, ''Designed by Mathes Bergman & Associates, the structure will have a porte cochere entry from a circular drive, will be air-conditioned and encased in glass with limestone and granite trim. Three elevators will service the structure which is to be finished with a marble and wood lobby and with stone floors."

The irregular site on Howard, S. Rampart and Dryades was conveniently located near the new Union Passenger Terminal (completed 1955). The building currently houses the offices of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

[photo: M. Saxer, TSA NOVA]

In Idea: the Shaping Force (1987), architect Charles Colbert described the two main ideas which led to the design of the Diaz-Simon Pediatric Clinic on Antonine near Touro Hospital.

'Children's vivid imaginations and their shallow thresholds of pain can make the doctor's office appear to be a dark torture chamber. The design objective of the Antonine Clinic (1958) was to lessen this instinctive fear and create an environment of bright and cheerful playfulness. The Antonine Pediatric Clinic was located upon an undersized lot that had only one real advantage, a large live oak tree. The tree became the most singular element in the overall design. The children's waiting room was located to seem to rest among its branches and was calculated to evoke the thrill of a real tree playhouse.'

Colbert received an Honor Award from the AIA in 1959 for the design. The clinic has been razed, but the tree remains.

[F. Stock; photo: Biographical Files, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Tulane University Libraries]

In 1960 Curtis and Davis designed the Medical Plaza at Foucher and Prytania near Touro Hospital.

The building includes a 200 car sub-surface parking garage with elevators leading to the plaza level. Office suites are arranged around central courtyards. The pre-cast concrete building is faced with re-claimed brick from buildings which were razed for its construction. Originally cypress shutters were installed between the brick panels; these have been removed. A raised concrete slab lightened with a waffle pattern shelters the main pedestrian entrance on Prytania.

[F. Stock; photo: S. Day, TSA NOVA]

The New Orleans Public Library, the crowning achievement of the Civic Center as planned by Mayor 'Chep' Morrison, opened to the public on December 15, 1958.

Curtis and Davis designed a special anodized aluminum sun screen to filter light in an essentially open plan glass box. The building's harmony is best perceived by its interior spaces, especially from the mezzanine which looks over the central atrium and Japanese courtyard garden.

Goldstein, Parham and Labouisse, and Favrot, Reed, Mathes and Bergman, associate architects. R. P. Farnsworth & Co., contractor. HONORS: Design Award for Public Buildings, Progressive Architecture, 1956. Award of Merit, National Library Awards Program, AIA and ALA, 1963.

[F. Stock; photo: Frank Lotz, Miller, AIA Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Tulane University Libraries]

This 'House for Tomorrow' on Henry Clay was designed by Nathaniel Cortlandt Curtis (1881-1953), principle draftsman for Moise H. Goldstein, architects.

Curtis served as head of Architecture at Tulane from 1912-1917 and wrote several books: Elements of Graphics (1909), Architectural Composition (1923, 1935), and New Orleans, its Old Houses Shops and Public Buildings (1933). At the time of his death in 1953, he was working on a manuscript entitled, Elements of Modern Architecture.

Curtis influenced generations of New Orleans architects, especially his son, Nathaniel C. 'Buster' Curtis, jr. (1917-1997), who shared his father's love of painting, belief in Modernism, and a respect for historic and regional architecture.

The Feibleman Department Store (1931) was designed by Samuel Wilson, Jr. for Moise H. Goldstein architects. The building is best known by New Orleanians as the Sears-Roebuck Store (1936-1991) but was later adapted as the Baronne Plaza Hotel (1998-2009). The hotel was renovated in 2010 and recently re-opened as the Wyndham Garden Baronne Plaza.

A slightly earlier example of Art Deco architecture by Goldstein Architects in the CBD is the National American Bank Building (1929) at 200 Carondelet Street.

Big--Beautiful--Expensive: Owner may consider trade for smaller home or commercial property. Spacious architect designed California style contemporary. Enter through huge solid walnut double doors into a 63' entry hall, sunken living room with fireplace, 25' informal dining room, 40' den, gym, 5 or 6 bedrooms and 6 baths, ultra modern kitchen, maid's room and bath. Beautifully landscaped patio and 40' heated pool. Grounds 200x235.

This windowless courtyard house at 1321 Frankfort in Lake Terrace was designed by Bill Calongne of Lawrence, Saunders, Calongne for Dr. Ben Freedman. It was awarded Excellence for House Design by Architectural Record in 1958. The house was recently renovated by Philip Langley of Ray Langley Interiors.

[F. Stock; photo: James Lamantia Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Tulane University Libraries]

In 1957 Italo William Ricciuti (1906-1987) designed this house for himself and his family at 7341 Beryl Street in the Lakeshore neighborhood. The modernist architect also authored two books, New Orleans and Its Environs: The Domestic Architecture 1727-1870 (1937) and Forms & Functions of 20th Century Architecture (1952). With associate architect Herbert A. Benson, Ricciuti designed the (1953, razed 2009) at 2401 Humanity in Gentilly Terrace. In addition he lectured on Italian language and architecture at Tulane University.

[photo: Frank Lotz Miller, AIA Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Tulane University Libraries]

Gordon Bunschaft's design of the concrete exoskeleton distinguishes the John Hancock Building (now known as K&B Plaza) as the finest of four buildings by corporate architects Skidmore, Owings & Merill in New Orleans. Nolan, Norman & Nolan served as associate architects. Fountain by Isamu Noguchi. AIA Merit Award, 1963.

[F. Stock; photo: TSA NOVA]

The institution known as Charity Hospital (founded 1736) is almost as old as the city itself (established 1718).

The sixth Charity Hospital building was constructed in 1939 at 1532 Tulane by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, later known as the Public Works Administration. Architects Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth designed the 20-story building, the tallest hospital in New Orleans. It is adorned with bas reliefs by sculptor Enrique Alferez.

Charity has been closed since flooding after Hurricane Katrina. In 2008 the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Charity Hospital among its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places. The future of this historic building and the 275 year old institution remains uncertain.

[F. Stock; photo: M. Styborski]

The elevated section of I-10 designated as the Pontchartrain Expressway begins as the interstate crosses the Orleans Parish line at the 17th Street Canal and leads to the Crescent City Connection (1958).

The footprint of the expressway largely follows that of the New Basin Canal, constructed in 1831-38 to facilitate transportation of goods between Lake Pontchartrain and downtown. The canal's significance to New Orleans' shipping declined after the opening of the Industrial Canal in 1923. Most of the New Basin Canal was filled between 1937 - 1950, making way for the Pontchartrain Expressway, Pontchartrain Boulevard and West End.

[photo: TSA NOVA]

In 1935 Stein's, the New York based men's clothing store, opened their first store in New Orleans on the downtown corner of Canal and Carondelet. In 1947 they moved into a new store designed by August Perez on the uptown corner of Canal and Carondelet.

The 3-story modernistic building was wrapped in cellophane and red ribbons prior to the grand opening ceremony conducted by Mayor DeLesseps S. Morrison on May 15, 1947. The opening of the air conditioned store heralded a 'new era in New Orleans post war merchandising.'

Today the building houses Lady Foot Locker.

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

In 1959 architects Roessle and Von Osthoff designed a new ten-story 186-room dormitory for the Young Men's Christian Association on Lee Circle.

The Times Picayune reported that the facade of the new YMCA "building will be circular in structure to fit the association's concave frontage. It will be encircled by a solar screen of cast stone, an architectural pattern to provide for privacy and protect from sunlight."

This new construction fronting the avenue would also incorporate parts of existing structures on site originally designed by Favrot and Livaudais in 1931 with additions and alterations by Jones and Roessle in 1950.

The YMCA building was renovated and reopened in 2001 as Le Cirque Hotel.

[photo: TSA NOVA]

Real estate agent and contractor Robert E. Smith donated funds to construct the the 12th branch of the New Orleans Public Library on city-owned land at Canal Boulevard and Harrison Avenue in Lakeview.

Designed by architects Albert J. Saputo and Albert C. Ledner in 1954, the Robert E. Smith branch opened in April 1956. The 2400 SF octagonal building featured a pleated 8-gable roof with clerestory beneath.  Ledner also used the folded-plate roof design for the  National Maritime Union hall on Tchoupitoulas and Washington.

The branch was razed and replaced with a larger structure in 1979. The replacement library building was razed in 2009. Construction of a new library branch is in progress.

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

From 1910-1984 St. Mary's Dominican College offered Catholic liberal arts education to young women. In 1967 architect J. Buchanan Blitch designed a modern residential hall for the campus at St. Charles Avenue and Broadway.

Blitch designed the five-story galleried dormitory to complement the historic architecture of Greenville Hall (Wm. Fitzner, 1882). The 220 bed residence hall opened in the fall of 1968.

Dominican College closed in 1984 and sold its campus buildings to Loyola University.

Exhibition details:
The Glass Menagerie
March 12 - May 30, 2011

Exhibition Opening:
March 12, 6-10pm
Trouser House
4105 St. Claude Ave
New Orleans, LA 70117

Architect Bernard J. Aronson designed the Cabana Club Apartments in 1958 on St. Charles Avenue and Conery - the site of the former Madame Desire A. Chaffraix mansion. The 'ultra-modern' 35 unit apartment building was developed by the architect's brother, Norman Aronson, and opened for occupancy October 1, 1959. Amenities included air conditioning, ample closets, wall-to-wall carpeting, and sliding doors opening to the landscaped courtyard and 40' x 16' swimming pool.

[F. Stock; photo: TSA NOVA]

In 1955 Dr. Walter Gropius juried Progressive Architecture's second annual Design Awards Program.

The Times-Picayune reported, "The designs, which gave New Orleans and Louisiana more awards than any other city or state were done by Curtis and Davis, Charles R. Colbert, John W. Lawrence, George A. Saunders, Buford L. Pickens and John Ekin Dinwiddie. The designs were of six proposed Louisiana buildings."

One of these was a residence for Dr. Lyman K. Richardson designed by Curtis and Davis architects. It stood at 7 Glenwood Avenue in Harahan, but was recently razed for new development.

[photo: Curtis and Davis photos, SEAA]

In 1950 Dr. Howard Mahorner commissioned Curtis and Davis, architects to design a medical clinic to be built on the riverside of St. Charles Avenue near Josephine Street. Curtis and Davis had recently completed an office building for physicians on Louisiana Avenue near Touro Hospital.

The L-shaped building was designed to conform to the lot and to accommodate parking for 25 cars. The exterior of the two-story steel-frame building was finished in brick and stucco. The building was recently renovated for Best Koeppel.

[photo: TSA NOVA]

In 1950 Curtis and Davis designed a medical office building near Touro Hospital at 1520 Louisiana between Prytania and St. Charles. The building contained ten physicians' offices of various sizes on the two main floors with a penthouse office suite and rooftop terrace above.  Construction costs were estimated at $150,000. The building has since been razed and is now a surface parking lot.

[photo: 1974. New Orleans Virtual Archive, Tulane School of Architecture]

The Union Savings and Loan Association (established 1866) embarked on a significant expansion and renovation of their main office in 1958.

The five-story Union Savings and Loan building at Carondelet and Perdido streets was enlarged and completely re-modeled by Harry Banker Smith of August Perez and Associates. For the exterior Smith composed bands of vertical black porcelain enamel panels, turquoise mosaic tile, Italian marble and aluminum-framed glass in a minimalist fashion.

The Times-Picayune reported on the , "The main feature of the lobby is the large curved marble and formica counter which is capable of serving several lines of persons at a time. Walnut paneling, glass partitions, custom-built furnishings and terrazzo floors, with floral arrangements and hand-painted art on the walls are included."

The custom cabinetry, designed and built by Riecke Cabinet Works, remains largely intact. Riecke (established 1905) also built custom furnishings for the National American Bank branch at Lee Circle (razed 2007) and the main court room of the Supreme Court Building in the Civic Center (razed 2008).

[F. Stock; photo: E. Ardoin]

Moise H. Goldstein Associates designed the 23- story limestone and steel National American Bank Building at 200 Carondelet in the Upper Central Business District. This Modernistic skyscraper is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Jens B. Jensen, Consulting engineer; George T. Glover, contractor.

[photo: Southeastern Architectural Archive, Tulane University Libraries]

In April 1970 piles were driven 210 feet deep for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill's 51-story office tower for Shell Oil Company in the square bound by Poydras, Carondelet, St. Charles and Perdido streets.

The 212.45 m (697.0 ft) skyscraper, 700 car garage and landscaped plaza were completed in 1972 and recognized as the 'Most Outstanding Structure' in 1974 by the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. Associate architects were August Perez and Associates. It is the tallest building in New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.

Other local buildings designed by SOM include the Pan American Life Company (2400 Canal), John Hancock Building (1055 St. Charles), and Bank of New Orleans Building (1010 Common).

[F. Stock, photo:New Orleans Virtual Archive Tulane School of Architecture  ]

In 1912 Abraham Burglass purchased the site at Canal and S. Liberty streets for his furniture store. The store was completely rebuilt in 1945-1947 by architect Rathbone E. DeBuys (c. 1874 -1960) and contractors Perrilliat-Rickey Construction Company in an art moderne style. The building was razed in January 2008.

[photo: F. Stock, TSA NOVA]

Above: 'A Project to Humanize Canal Street' a class study created for guest critic Louis I. Kahn 1954-55, drawing by Luther E. Frink (TSA 1955).    Below: Luther Frink as Caesar from streetcar,  TSA Beaux Arts Ball, 1954, photo: MG Scheuermann, Jr.  photos: New Orleans Virtual Archive, Tulane School of Architecture

[Francine Stock :: Material Language :: slideshow]

presents:
Francine Stock
Material Language
Monday February 28 - Friday March 25, 2011
On view in the Favrot Lobby
Richardson Memorial Hall
8 am - 5 pm daily

GALLERY TALK
Monday March 21, noon

CLOSING RECEPTION
Monday, March 21, 5 pm - 6 pm