William Surgi, architect. 918 N. Tonti Street. From Souvenir Sketchbook of the Fifth Ward, 1910.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Surgi family was associated with the New Orleans building trade. Eugene Surgi was an active architect from c. 1860 to c. 1906. He formed a partnership with Edmund Topp, practicing as Surgi and Topp, from 1892-1894. George Surgi advertised his private practice in New Orleans city directories in 1887, 1890, 1892-1893. William Surgi was featured in the Souvenir Sketch Book of the Fifth Ward 1910:
"William Surgi, the prominent architect and builder, has been a resident of the Second District all his life. During the five years that he has been established he has designed and erected many of the handsomest as well as substantial commercial structures in the Fifth Ward. In connection with his business he has a well-equipped factory for the turning out of doors, frames, windows and other building material. Mr. Surgi is a large property holder--he makes a specialty of the erection of modern, up-to-date homes, which are sold on the easy payment plan." (1)
Surgi designed, built, and operated his practice out of the shotgun double illustrated above. By 1914, this structure located at 918 N. Tonti was seized and sold at a sheriff's auction on 2 January. (2)
(1) Souvenir Sketch Book of the Fifth Ward (New Orleans: The Southern Manufacturer, 1910). Louisiana Research Collection, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.
(2) "By the Civil Sheriff" The Daily Picayune (19 December 1913): p. 10.
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