Still Standing

In the previous post, we mentioned the Coliseum Arena, located at 401 North Roman Street. Built in 1922, the structure is now home to Aluminum and Stainless, whose enormous sign is visible from the I-10.

In early 1921, John Dillon, Frankie Edwards and Al Buja fronted a boxing syndicate, Coliseum Incorporated, to develop a site located on the corner of North Roman and Conti Streets. They instructed the architects to eliminate interior posts in order to provide all fans with unobstructed ring views.(1) The Milwaukee Auditorium and Madison Square Garden were considered as models, since Edwards intended the space to serve multiple uses, including public lectures and musical performances.(2)

Construction was delayed by a labor shortage and tornado damage. Builder August Frank, known for his "Times-Picayune Homes" erected the four-story, steel-trussed white brick-sheathed building. Total costs exceeded $100,000. Featuring four entrances and a balcony, the entertainment venue could accommodate 8,500 people. The Times-Picayune reported that the acoustics were so good that a "moderate toned voice" could be heard from the balcony's rear.(3)

The Coliseum Arena (aka Coliseum Auditorium) opened 21 July 1922 when heavyweight Charley Weinert (1895-1969), "the Newark Adonis," sparred with New Orleans native Martin Burke. Joe Louis (1914-1981), "the Bronze Bomber," attracted a large audience in November 1936.


(1)"New Boxing Arena to be Erected by Local Syndicate." The Times-Picayune 30 January 1921.

(2)"New Coliseum Auditorium Soon Will be Completed." The Times Picayune 23 April 1922.

(3)"New Auditorium to be Ready Soon." The Times Picayune 16 July 1922.

Image above:  "The Coliseum." The Times Picayune 22 April 1922.

Exhibit Highlights Superdome

Tulane University’s Southeastern Architectural Archive has announced a new exhibition:

In celebration of Super Bowl XLVII and in anticipation of the 40th Anniversary of the Louisiana Superdome, this exhibition documents the structure’s early history.  Beginning with a 1966 public referendum to establish a Louisiana Exposition and Stadium District to build a domed stadium in New Orleans, the project rapidly progressed through an exhaustive site selection phase. Governor John McKeithen proclaimed it the best thing to happen to the state since the Louisiana Purchase.

Before the structure was even begun the vox popoli had established it as “the superdome.” By summer 1967, a design team led by Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. was developing conceptual models. He stressed the building’s legacy as a classical amphitheatre envisioned in modern terms, a challenge to both the past and the future. His team developed the space around the spectators, then subjected the designs to computer analysis in order to determine the appropriate structural system. Additional modifications were made due to the city’s high water table and the need for the building to withstand hurricane-force winds. Helicopters delivered final building materials to the dome when cranes could no longer reach.

The resultant stadium sits on a platform twenty-five feet above grade and features a five-thousand ton dome supported by a tension ring comprised of twenty-four prefabricated sections that were welded in place. After eight years of labor, employing over one thousand people, and costing over $163 million, the Louisiana Superdome required “the unrelenting efforts of people who were not afraid to make a dream come true.”


The Dome
17 January 2013  -- 1 November 2013

Image above:

Art Associates, Illustrators.  The Louisiana Stadium. Presentation rendering. Undated. Curtis & Davis Office Records, The Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

New Orleans "Sports Plant" 1968

In the spring of 1968, Maurice E. "Moon" Landrieu (top image above) was advocating a new stadium for metropolitan New Orleans, quoting then Governor John J. McKeithen's assertion that "the stadium is the greatest thing that's happened to the state since the Louisiana Purchase." Landrieu outlined the project's merits in an article for The New Orleans Realtor:

"A city and state, like any other big business, must continually invest in the future. New Orleans is deeply committed to tourism and recreation, and we are in active competition with other cities for new industries.
Construction of a multi-purpose domed stadium may be bold but not unrealistic. Such a facility is an investment that will mean additional income for everyone in the city and state, and new tax dollars will flow into state government coffers for the benefit of all. Economically, the impact of a huge sports plant such as the domed stadium--with its projected attendance of three to four million people a year--will be one of several new industries locating in Louisiana. After a careful and thorough study of existing facilities, the Gulf South Research Institute estimates that the total amount of benefit to the state will be in excess of $150 million in the first year."

After considering twenty-one sites across Orleans and Jefferson Parish, members of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District Commission selected a fifty-five acre site bordered by the Pontchartrain Expressway, Poydras Street, and Claiborne & Loyola Avenues. New Orleans architect Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. was named project director over a team of architects and engineers that included his firm, Curtis and Davis, as well as Sverdrup and Parcel; Nolan, Norman and Nolan; and Edward B. Silverstein and Associates.

An early design -- shown in the reproduction above -- was configured with a football-shaped massing meant to accommodate more sideline seats than in the Houston Astrodome.

To read more, see:  Maurice E. Landrieu. "The Domed Stadium--Its Impact On New Orleans." The New Orleans Realtor (March 1968): pp. 5-7. Images above from the article, available in the Southeastern Architectural Archive.

The Future of the Superdome

The New Orleans Bureau for Government Research (BGR) is sponsoring a Breakfast Briefing this coming Friday, 26 June 2009, devoted to the topic: "The Future of the Superdome Complex." The presentation will take place at 8:00 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, located at 921 Canal Street. Those interested in attending should RSVP today. Click here for more information.

Image above: Cover Illustration from New Orleans as Seen on Tour (Harvey Press, 1975), Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Original gouache painting is housed in the Curtis & Davis Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Where Was It? Girod Street Cemetery

The Girod Street Cemetery (1822-1957) was located between Freret and Liberty Streets, and between Cypress and Perilliat Streets in what is now New Orleans Central Business District (CBD). During the first half of the twentieth century, the cemetery fell into disrepair and an overgrowth of vegetation. In 1957, the cemetery was deconsecrated, bodies were exhumed and removed to other locations, and eventually new buildings were constructed on the site: notably, the Curtis and Davis Superdome (1970-1975) and also Dominion Tower (1989), which is currently being considered for redevelopment as New Orleans Centre.

In August 1948, former Zulu Mardi Gras King Joseph J. Smith was interred in a baby blue coffin in Girod Cemetery, following a half-mile-long second line. For more on the history of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, click here. Many benevolent aid societies maintained so-called "society" tombs in Girod Cemetery: the Sobriety Benevolent Aid Society, the Home Missionary Benevolent Society, Male and Female Lutheran Benevolent Society, and the New Lusitanos Benevolent Association. Society tombs frequently bore names bestowed upon them by their organizations. One of my favorites is "Wide Awake Benevolent Society."

The records for Girod Cemetery are maintained in the Special Collections Division of Tulane University Libraries, located in Jones Hall 200, 6801 Freret Street. Local historian Leonard Huber (1903-1984), who extensively researched the city's cemeteries for his book New Orleans Architecture: The Cemeteries (Gretna: Pelican, 1974), also donated his records to the Special Collections Division.

[Image above: E[lisha] Robinson and R[oger] H. Pidgeon. Robinson's Atlas of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana. New York: E. Robinson, 1883]. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries].