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.