Louisiana Landmark Society names New Orleans' 9 most endangered historical site

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Louisiana Landmark Society names New Orleans' 9 most endangered historical sites
August 24, 2009
by Bruce Eggler
The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com

Charity Hospital, the Orpheum Theater, an Algiers library and the former home of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts are among the sites on the Louisiana Landmarks Society's 2009 list of New Orleans' Nine Most Endangered Sites.

Also on the list are a collection of buildings in the 400 block of South Rampart Street that were important in the early history of jazz and a collection of "downtown riverfront neighborhoods" said to be endangered by plans for a frozen-chicken warehouse at the foot of Esplanade Avenue.

The Landmarks Society, a preservation group founded in 1950, released its first "New Orleans Nine" list in 2005. It skipped compiling the list in 2006 because of Hurricane Katrina but resumed it in 2007.

The society's list, like the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual list of the 11 most endangered sites nationwide, is intended to make the public aware of threats to historic places, with the goal of spurring action to protect them from demolition, damage or deterioration.

"New Orleans is the envy of other cities across the United States for our unparalleled inventory of historic buildings, even after all the losses from Katrina, " said Sara Orton, chairwoman of the committee that chose the nine sites. "We hope that our list will serve as a reminder of the importance of our historic resources and refresh New Orleanians' pride in our city."

The 2008 edition of the list included the Dixie Brewery, St. Francis de Sales Church, Deutsches Haus, several mid-20th century public schools, the former Bohn Ford building and custodians' cottages at public schools citywide.

The annual list often features humble structures or offbeat but distinctive design features. The 2005 list, for example, included the blue-and-white street name tiles once common in sidewalks throughout older sections of the city, as well as the 200-700 blocks of Bourbon Street, best known for strip clubs and T-shirt shops.

The 2007 list included the Lafitte public housing complex, most of which has since been demolished. The fate of the Iberville housing complex, which was on the 2005 list, remains uncertain.

Nominations for the 2009 list were solicited from the public in January and February. A committee of 15 preservation leaders chose the final nine.

The sites on the 2009 list are:

• The 400 block of South Rampart Street: Jazz historians say that few sites in New Orleans have more connections with the early history of jazz than this block, home of the former Eagle Saloon, Odd Fellows Ballroom, Iroquois Theater and a tailor shop run by the Karnofsky family, friends of the young Louis Armstrong. Various proposals have been made in recent years to restore the buildings, which date from around 1885 to 1910, but little has come of them and the structures remain in danger from "demolition by neglect."

• LaSalle Elementary School, 6048 Perrier St.: This Italianate-style school, built around 1900, is better known as the former home of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Musical stars such as Wynton and Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. studied and practiced there as teens. The building has been vacant since NOCCA moved out in early 2000 and is deteriorating rapidly, with broken windows and weeds growing from the roof.

• Downtown riverfront neighborhoods: The Landmarks Society says this label refers to the French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny and Treme, which it fears are threatened by the Port of New Orleans' plan to relocate New Orleans Cold Storage's frozen-poultry warehouse to the Gov. Nicholls Street and Esplanade Avenue wharves. "This plant should be constructed in an industrial area separate from historic residential neighborhoods and significant historic assets, " the society says. Port officials said recently they are exploring the idea of putting the facility at another site.

• Myrtle Banks Elementary School, 1307 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.: This three-story school was built in 1910 and occupies an entire block. It has been closed since 2002 and was damaged by fire in 2008. It is slated for demolition, but it remains structurally sound, despite exposure to the elements, and "offers tremendous redevelopment potential and is critical to the revitalization" of O.C. Haley Boulevard and the Central City neighborhood, the society says.

• Orpheum Theater, 129 University Place: This 1921 beaux-arts-style vaudeville house and later movie theater was home to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra but has been vacant since it was flooded in Katrina. "Little to no progress has been made on repairing or restoring this significant building, " the society says, and "continued neglect endangers the future of this important piece of the cultural and architectural fabric of New Orleans' downtown."

• Overseer's house at the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, 210 State St.: This Creole cottage is believed to date from the early 1830s; the side wings and front gallery were added about 1860. It is among very few buildings in New Orleans remaining from the 1830s heyday of local sugar plantations. However, it is no longer in use and has deteriorated. With the state closing the entire hospital, the building's future is very much in doubt.

• Charity Hospital, 1532 Tulane Ave.: The fate of this massive 1939 art-deco-style hospital has been much in the news lately, as debate continues over plans for a new state teaching hospital a few blocks away. "The loss of Charity as a functioning medical hub would leave a score of empty buildings on the periphery of the Central Business District, making it more difficult to attain the density required for an active street life, " the society says.

• Hubbell Library, 725 Pelican Ave.: This "Carnegie library" opened in 1907 and for many decades was the only public library in Algiers. The library, known since 1975 as the Algiers Point Branch, reopened after Katrina but was closed in 2008 because of serious damage to its roof. Repairs have yet to be made, and it is unclear when the library will reopen.

• New Orleans Center for the Education of Adults, 1815 St. Claude Ave.: Built in 1908 and formerly known as McDonogh No. 16, this three-story school was still in use at the time of Katrina. Though it sustained little or no damage, it did not reopen and has been scheduled for demolition by school officials. "This building is located on a crucial corner lot in a neighborhood that can ill afford the loss of another substantial building on a primary corner, " the society says.