Lost New Orleans (23 December 1952)

In 1952, the New Orleans firm of Curtis & Davis was commissioned to design an L-shaped parking garage in the square bounded by Canal, Common, S. Rampart Streets & University Place. The architects hired professional photographer Frank Lotz Miller (1923-1993) to document the surrounding properties.

The Metro Hotel was located at 1021 Common Street, Yank's Cocktail Lounge was at 1017, and Gonzales Tailors was at 1015. Kay's Shoes was located at 136 S. Rampart Street. The Common Street structures remained standing through the 1960s & 1970s, but the Rampart Street store was razed sometime before 1978.

Eglin's Parking Garage was built in 1953, a six-deck steel-framed structure with an 800-car capacity.

Images above: Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Buildings on Common & Rampart. 23 December 1952. photographic negatives. © Curtis and Davis Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.