New Orleans=Number One

Last  year we posted information about New Orleans architect Thomas Sully's suggestion for filling Lake Pontchartrain.

We recently came across a 1966 proposal for reducing the Mississippi River from the Garden District to the Industrial Canal. Engineer Simeon O. Coxe, Jr. of B.M. Dornblatt & Associates developed the ambitious plan as a means of "eliminating all the physical barriers preventing the progress of New Orleans towards the goal of becoming NEW ORLEANS = NUMBER ONE."

Coxe's land reclamation bid centered on the Mississippi River rather than Lake Pontchartrain, in the interest of creating 2,000 acres of real estate development sites. He felt that dredging a new Mississippi River channel from the River Bend towards the Gulf of Mexico would obviate the need for levees, railroads and warehouse buildings from Napoleon Avenue to the Ninth Ward. The area could then be utilized for modern hotels, apartment buildings, office buildings and parkways.

Coxe supported the restoration of the New Orleans riverfront circa 1790.  By blocking much of the Mississippi, he felt that the river could be brought to sea level along Jackson Square, and that a proposed Riverfront Expressway could be built along the Algiers side.

To read more, see:  "Directions." Vieux Carre Courier 3:26 (11 November 1966), pp. 4-5. Louisiana Research Collection, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

NEW! F. Monroe Labouisse Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the F. Monroe Labouisse Office Records. Labouisse joined the American Institute of Architects in 1946, and the following year he became a named partner with Moise H. Goldstein and Frederick D. Parham (1893-1971), practicing as Goldstein, Parham and Labouisse from 1947-1962. The firm was most noted for its participation in designing the modernist New Orleans Civic Center, the Moisant [New Orleans International Airport] and its extensive participation in campus planning for Dillard and Tulane Universities. The firm’s Petrolane Gas Company building garnered local praise for its “striking appearance on the highway by day and night.” Additionally, the partners produced a wide range of residential projects that emulated historic structures and the region’s distinctive ironwork and fenestration.

Image above:  Goldstein, Parham, & Labouisse, architects. Proposed Storefront for Southern Blue Print Company. New Orleans, LA. Undated. Pencil and colored pencil on tracing paper. F. Monroe Labouisse Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

NEW! Flintkote Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the Flintkote New Orleans Plant Office Records.  For researchers interested in the history of twentieth-century building products, this collection will be especially noteworthy, for it provides a comprehensive perspective of technological advances in the manufacturing of roofing/flooring materials over a fifty-year period. On a more general level, drawings reflect construction and engineering trends, office management developments, increased safety regulations, infrastructure upgrades, and the transformation of the Industrial Canal area from a residential to a building materials manufacturing corridor.

Read more here.

For more information about Flintkote Company history, click here.

For late nineteenth-century roofing materials, consult Ehret-Warren Manufacturing Company's 1888 trade catalog, available via the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

Image above:  Flintkote Company, New Orleans, LA. Aerial Perspective of Industrial Canal Plant. 4500 Galvez Street. Circa 1939. Flintkote New Orleans Plant Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

The Raymond Arch

In 1941, New Orleans civil engineer Harold E. Raymond patented an efficient means of constructing a steel-framed arch that had been adopted by architects Diboll-Boettner & Kessels (DBK) on their 1520 Canal Street bus terminal (1936-37).(1)  Raymond claimed that his parabolic arch minimized stress and increased wind resistance. Louisiana and Mississippi builders were attracted to its use for gymnasiums, auditoriums, garages and livestock pens.

Raymond published his arch and its uses in a trade brochure.  DBK's Teche-Greyhound Bus Terminal -- adjoining the Jung Hotel -- featured prominently as one of hundreds of buildings that had employed the method.  Built for $250,000, the depot opened in January 1937. Teche-Greyhound utilized the structure as a regional hub that served municipalities to the East, North and West. The company estimated that some 1,500 people entered the city via the bus line daily, with an annual $1 million impact on the city. As the 1950s waned, Greyhound planned a grander terminal that rendered the Canal Street location obsolete. It ceased operations in 1961 and the Jung Hotel demolished it the following year as part of its own modernization.

Read more about the building's features and dedication in The Times-Picayune, Thursday, 28 January 1937.

The Southeastern Architectural Archive retains original drawings, as well as Harold Raymond's promotional work, Raymond Arch Construction.  The latter was recently digitized by the Association for Preservation Technology International as part of a summer digitization project.  Read it and other New Orleans building trade catalogs via the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

(1)In April 1938, Pencil Points claimed that DBK designed the structure in association with New York industrial designer Raymond Loewy.

Images above:

Top:  Teche-Greyhound Bus Terminal.  Harold Raymond. Raymond Arch Construction. New Orleans, c. 1937. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive.

Second and Third:  Diboll-Boettner & Kessels, architects. Bus Terminal for Greyhound Lines. July 1936. Pencil on tracing paper.  Details.  Southeastern Architectural Archive.

Bottom:  Greyhound Lines. "Presenting the Finest Bus Terminal in America." The Times-Picayune, Thursday, 28 January 1937.   Advertising image.

Our Town Hutments

In 1944, New Orleans architects Allison Owen and Moise Goldstein collaborated to design simple residential dwellings on Highway U.S. 90 near the Industrial Canal for the purposes of housing wartime workers, many of whom were employed by Andrew Higgins. The 386 doubles and 214 singles were arranged in a subdivision named "Our Town," located at 4320 Piety Street and the intersection of Gentilly Highway. The individual plywood structures, called "hutments," were available in a variety of types that generally cost $500 per unit. They were prefabricated and could be disassembled when no longer required. When the war ended, the surplus hutments were sold at fixed prices to veterans of World War I, World War II and the Korean conflict. Some ended up being utilized as motorists' tourist courts.

Thanks to Tulane University School of Architecture faculty member Milton Scheuermann, Jr. for the introduction to "hutments"!

Images above:  Moise H Goldstein and Associates; Allison Owen, architects.  “Hutments.” War Housing, Highway 90, Gentilly Woods, New Orleans, LA.  1944. Plot Plan and Front Elevation for Two-Bed Room House Type "B." Moise Goldstein Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

NEW! Shell Oil Company Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the Shell Oil Company Collection of Louisiana Plantation Photographs.

The collection consists of professional photographs commissioned by the Shell Oil Company in the late 1960s. They correlate to plantation structures located along the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana, which are identified on corresponding maps (earliest map reproduced above).

Read more here.

Image above: Shell Oil Company. Louisiana Plantations Map. Circa 1969. Shell Oil Company/Louisiana Plantation Photographs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

NEW! Spangenberg Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the Leonard Reese Spangenberg, Jr. Office Records.

Leonard Reese Spangenberg, Jr. (1925-2007) was a New Orleans native who served in the U.S. Navy (1943-46) prior to obtaining his professional education. After the war, Spangenberg apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright as a fellow at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin (1946-47). This led to his appointment as the supervising apprentice on the construction of Wright’s Welbie L. Fuller residence in Pass Christian, Mississippi in 1951 (destroyed, Hurricane Camille). During this period, the young architect pursued a bachelor’s degree at Tulane University (B.Arch. 1952).


Image above: Leonard R. Spangenberg, Jr. & Associates, Architects. The Plaza Tower. Circa 1964. Promotional Brochure.Biographical Files, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Thermo-Con Cellular Concrete

We have mentioned in previous posts the role of Andrew Higgins in developing post-War building products geared towards affordable housing. This summer, the Association for Preservation Technology International is digitizing a sizable portion of the Southeastern Architectural Archive's trade catalogs, which include Higgins promotional materials.

Image above:  Cover.  Thermo-Con Division. Building with Thermo-Con Cellular Concrete. New Orleans: Higgins Inc. Circa 1948. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. View the full brochure via the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

Frank Lotz Miller

We have mentioned the Crescent City's leading mid-century architectural photographer Frank Lotz Miller (1923-1993) in earlier posts, yet we always come across more of his wonderful images. As part of a series recording extant structures associated with a Central Business District parking garage complex designed by Curtis & Davis, Miller captured activities -- his own and the proprietor's -- at Frederick Tailors (158 South Rampart Street) on 23 December 1952.

Image above: Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Frederick Tailors. 23 December 1952. Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

NEW! Louisiana Landmarks Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the Louisiana Landmarks Society Records and Collection. The Louisiana Landmarks Society (LLS) is the oldest preservation organization in the state, dating to 1949. Founding members included Martha G. Robinson, Samuel Wilson, Jr., Buford Pickens, Angela Gregory and Bernard Lemann.

LLS established its articles of incorporation April 21, 1953. The non-profit organization thereby formalized its primary aims, the first of which was to focus attention on Louisiana’s historic buildings. Secondary aims included the acquisition and preservation of historic landmarks and documents; the dissemination of information about the state’s architectural traditions; and cooperation with other persons and organizations with similar objectives.

Read more here.

Image above: 200 Baronne Street. [Feiblemen's Store AKA Sears, Roebuck and Company; Moise Goldstein, architect].  Circa November 1931.  Louisiana Landmarks Society Records and Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

NEW! Samuel Wilson Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the Samuel Wilson, Jr. Papers and Drawings. Architect and preservationist Samuel Wilson, Jr. (1911-1993) was an early donor to the SEAA and was a member of the American Institute of Architects' Committee on Architectural Archives. He championed the preservation of architectural records and encouraged others to financially support archival repositories. His extensive publication record was informed by research conducted in American and Europeans archives.

The collection includes correspondence, transcriptions and translations of primary documents, typescripts of his publications, receipts associated with various reprographic requests, scrapbooks, photographs  and sketches. Records date from 1930-1975.  Read more here.

Image above: Samuel Wilson, Jr. Circa 1943. Samuel Wilson, Jr. Papers and Drawings, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Lucille Ball & Douglass Freret

What did Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz have in common with New Orleans architect Douglass V. Freret (1903-1973)? Check out the plantation shutters catalog Freret once kept in his Gravier Street architectural office. It is one of some 1,000 building trade catalogs being digitized this summer by the Association for Preservation Technology International.

Image above:  Devereux Products Company. Plantation Shutters Selected by Lucy and Desi for Their Desert Dream House. Santa Monica, CA: The Company, postmarked 1955.