Paving Paradise

In the summer of 1926, Coffeyville, Kansas was supplying massive quantities of its vitrified brick to Florida cities. Getting the pavers to Tampa was no easy feat due to a railroad embargo:

"Coffeyville bricks were shipped by the train-loads to Florida, to be used in paving the streets that are enjoying a rapid growth. The bricks, 3,250 tons, or 811,500, were manufactured in the plant of the Coffeyville Vitrified Brick and Tile Company here, [and] left Coffeyville by two trains, bound for Texas City, Texas, where the material was transferred to a boat leased by the Company, and was transported by water to Tampa, Florida. The first train contained twenty-nine cars; and were routed over the Missouri Pacific."(1)

Vitrified bricks were touted by their manufacturers as being impervious to freeze-thaw cycles, heat and humidity, excessive weight and tire chains. Beginning in 1927, the National Paving Brick Manufacturers' Association in Chicago advertised heavily in regional newspapers (below) and published The A.B.C.s of Good Paving in order to promote the product's assets. Frugal municipalities envisioned the cost savings.

Hattiesburg and Wiggins, Mississippi implemented vitrified brick pavers on their streets. Brownwood, Texas paved some 42 miles with it in 1928.(2)

The Florida Land Boom brought large quantities of the product into the state. In 1924, Kansas State Agricultural College landscape gardening professor William S. Wiedorn relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida. The street where he lived is still paved in vitrified brick.

(1)"From the Sunflower State." Anita Record 1 July 1926.

(2)"Hitting a New Peak." Brownwood Bulletin 5 October 1928.

Images above:  Ebay; Advertisement. New Castle News 16 November 1927; Advertisement The Charleston Gazette 11 April 1928.

Frank Herbert's Windmill (1977)

In March 1977, the Associated Press reported that Dune author Frank Herbert (1920-1986) had chosen to live a self-reliant life of "techno-peasantry." From his six-acre homestead on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, Herbert occupied a solar-paneled residence with his family. They grew their own vegetables in a lean-to greenhouse that supplied radiant heat to their adjacent home. They raised chickens and gathered droppings to fertilize their garden.

Herbert also collaborated with Taliesin-trained architect John Underhill Ottenheimer to design a panemone windmill. The duo patented their turbine and sought to market it for Sears or Wards company catalog sales.

Drawings and research notes pertaining to their windmill are housed with the author's manuscripts at California State University, Fullerton University Archives and Special Collections.

Like Albert Ledner, John Ottenheimer continues to practice architecture. He is assisting with the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright's Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

Read more:  "Writers sees self-reliance as key to survival." The Manhattan Mercury 25 March 1977.

Message in a Building (2016)

A mason replacing damaged limestone on Kansas State University's East Memorial Stadium (1922-28) recently discovered a note written by his predecessors in 1928. Lamenting the plight of the working man, five laborers signed the document:

"Dear Folks, Will place a not[e] in wall as it may some day be found and perhaps the men that Built it will be dead and forgotten. We are having nice weather was 18 above zero this morning. Hope when this is opened things will be better for the working man than [now?]. Mason got $10 per day and labor $3.20 there will have to be a change soon or the labor will be out of luck. Please print this if found signed CK Bell, Geo H Bell, W. Sowell, Jim Kelley, Ray [Disney?] Good luck."

For more on the story, see the Associated Press.

Spooky NOLA

We hear a lot of ghost stories in the Southeastern Architectural Archive -- from building managers, homeowners, genealogists, electricians, facilities staff, general contractors and shorers. In past years, I presented a Halloween lecture to former Tulane University faculty member Milton Scheuermann, Jr.'s "Architecture and Mysticism" class. Since he retired in June, I decided to post the presentation online.

View the images here.



& if you want to know my favorite SEAA Ghost Story:

Two electricians came into the archive one day to suss out some issues pertaining to a building they were hired to rewire. They needed to examine the SEAA's blueprints.

As they were consulting the drawings, they conveyed that about twenty-five years ago they were working on a CBD skyscraper building (they didn't want to say which one) because the manager was reporting frequent electrical problems.

They ultimately examined a ceiling crawl space.  As they shimmied across the floor, they started to discover artifacts. A shoe.... another shoe.... some pants.... a hat ... the BONES.

Startled, they backed out immediately and called authorities.  They said they never heard a convincing outcome.

The only report that they could find in the local paper described two workmen coming across horse bones in a building.

One electrician remarked, "Horses don't wear pants!"

Conversational Spaces

The Southeastern Architectural Archive retains a large and growing collection of building trade catalogs. We add new titles monthly, and so it is always a good idea to check with us to see if we might have the one(s) you are seeking. 

Many of these were digitized last year through our contacts with the Association for Preservation Technology International, with generous financial support from the Heritage Preservation Education Foundation. Digitized catalogs may be located in the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library. Please note that although many are available online, there is a larger number that are not digitized and must be consulted in the archive.

The Morgan Woodworking Organization produced a very ambitious catalog in 1923. Titled Building with Assurance, the catalog primarily illustrated mill work that the Morgan Company produced in its Oshkosh, Wisconsin factory. With sawmill operations in Arkansas, Michigan and Washington, Morgan could supply its products nationwide. It also sold art glass windows and residential building plans.

Breakfast Nooks became prominent in 1920's mill work catalogs. Morgan copywriters attributed their popularity to "servantless" and informal domesticity. Rose Angell, the former department editor of Woman's World touted their benefits:

In the morning, a few steps from the range take

you into the delightful little alcove--just wide 

enough to hold a long, narrow table and two seats.

What a saving of time and labor not to have to set

the dining room table for the quick breakfast or

cup of tea when the cheery neighbor steps in around

four o'clock.(1)

Nooks could accommodate early and late risers, and sheltered intimate conversations. The Morgan Company's copywriters stressed that tablecloths were optional: the only thing required was a sunny spot!



(1)Rose Angell. "A Woman's Thoughts About A Home." Building with Assurance. Chicago: The Morgan Woodworking Organization, 1923, p. 16. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Images above:  Building with Assurance. Chicago: The Morgan Woodworking Organization, 1923. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Global Celotex

By 1928, the New Orleans-founded Celotex Company had expanded its international operations to include much of the European continent. As a sugar cane industry, Celotex boasted a $12 million production out of New Orleans.(1) The bagasse building material shipped directly from its Mississippi River plant to these foreign markets.

Dependence on European exports began to detrimentally  impact the company in 1938, when apprehensions regarding political stability caused stock market fluctuations. Celotex posted quarterly losses and began to reconfigure its business for domestic and wartime production.


(1)"Sugar Cane Industries." The Times-Picayune 4 February 1931.

Image above:  From Verwendung von Celotex in Gebäuden. Chicago: The Celotex Company, 1928. This copy bears the stamp of the Hungarian Celotex representative, Magyar Celotex-Árusito Vállalat, which was located in Budapest on Harmincad Street. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Steel Cells

In 1891, the E.T. Barnum Iron & Wire Works Company of Detroit, Michigan published its new general catalogue. Barnum specialized in fire escapes, jail cages, canopies, and elevator enclosures. Its headquarters was capped by an enormous railing and weather vane (above).

Over the company's long history, Eugene Barnum steered his enterprise from a small ornamental iron works to become one of the world's largest operations. His steel lattice jail cages were especially popular. One is still extant, on display in East Central Cowley County (Kansas). Another was enigmatically repurposed in Middletown, New York.

These were available in many different configurations, stacked or single-tiered. The cells were generally 4.5-5 feet wide, 6.5 feet deep, and 6.5 feet high. Each had its own iron corner commode, usually located below a retractable bunk.

Barnum utilized direct mail catalogs and magazine advertisements as promotional tools. By 1924, his company could boast jail shipments to 45 states. His cages were especially popular in Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. For a complete listing of municipal clients by state, click here. Do you have one in your neighborhood?



Images above:

Top: Detroit in History and Commerce. Detroit, MI: Rogers & Thorpe, 1891. This image was also utilized in the company's 1891 trade catalog, now available via the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

Remaining:  E.T. Barnum Iron and Wire Works. Catalogue No. 650: General Catalogue. Detroit, MI: The Company, 1924. Courtesy Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. A digitized copy is available via the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

Holly Springs Iron

In 1860, Holly Springs, Mississippi (1858 map detail shown above) began to garner attention in the Gulf South as a source for ornate iron facades. Wallace Scott McElwain (1832-1883) had established a foundry partnership with Wiley Jones and E.G. Barney just one year earlier. The completion of the Mississippi Central Rail Road to New Orleans made direct shipments of iron castings to the Gulf possible.

In March 1860, The Mississippian announced that Jones, McElwain & Company had received a contract "with some citizens of New Orleans" to deliver $65,000 work of iron for a large hotel project.(1) That same month, D.I. Ricardo notarized a $100,000 building contract between Wm. McElvain [sic] and John G. Barelli for William A. Freret's Moresque building.(2) One year later, the company received two contracts for iron store facades located in Square 171 of the First Municipal District.(3) The first, for Hugh W. Montgomery, featured abundant Gothic Revival ornamentation on its Camp and Common Street facades (Camp Street detail shown below).(4)

The second, for Thomas C. Herndon, was based on plans by William A. Freret. This structure was later replaced by Thomas Sully's New Orleans National Bank.

In February 1862, the Confederate States of America acquired the Jones-McElwain foundry. An 1861 War Department map -- digitized by the Library of Congress (detail above) -- is annotated to indicate the strategic locations of Holly Springs and Oxford along the Central Rail Road line.  In November 1862, the Union Army took over the complex and briefly used it for munitions storage until Confederate General Earl Van Dorn's action raid on Holly Springs resulted in its destruction.


(1)"A Large Contract." Mississippian 23 March 1860.

(2)"Building Contract." D.I. Ricardo. 1860, March 5. MOB 77, f. 246 and 46?, as cited in Building Contracts, Samuel Wilson, Jr. Papers & Drawings, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

(3)"Building Contract." T. Guyol. 1861, 14 March. Vol. 49, No. 148 and "Building Contract." T. Guyol.1861, April 10. Vol. 49, No. 214, as cited in Building Contracts, Samuel Wilson, Jr. Papers & Drawings, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

(4) It was demolished in the 1950s, when the L-shaped property sold to the Whitney Bank for us as a drive-through.

Images above:

G.W. Colton and Richard Swainson Fisher. Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. Inset: Vicinity of New Orleans. New York: 1858. Detail. David Rumsey Map Collection. URL: http://www.davidrumsey.com/

Unidentified photographer. 207 Camp Street. Circa 1955. Detail. Visual Materials Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

United States War Department. Map of the Alluvial Region of the Mississippi. 1861. Detail. Civil War Maps, Library of Congress. URL:  http://www.loc.gov/collection/civil-war-maps/about-this-collection/

Terra Cotta

Architectural terracotta was very popular with New Orleans architects. After the Civil War, notices for the material proliferated in local publications. Earliest mentions largely related to roofing materials. In July 1873, B.J. West and Thomas S. Elder placed an advertisement for their Patent Roofing Tile Company in The Daily Picayune (shown above).

Frederic Codman Ford (1856-1922) became a local agent for the Chicago-based Northwestern Terra Cotta Company. His clients included Allison Owen, Collins C. Diboll, Thomas Sully, Emile Weil, Moise Goldstein, Rathbone DeBuys, Favrot & Livaudais, Andry & Bendernagel and Toledano & Wogan.  Architects requesting the company's red, brown and buff terracotta received shipments via the Illinois Central Railroad.

In the early twentieth century, terracotta designs by architects proliferated in the pages of The Brickbuilder, a trade journal founded in Boston.

Notable published designs by New Orleans architects are included below. See if you can find them on buildings in the Crescent City and Opelousas.

Records of the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company are located at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. 

In 1906, the Ludowici Roofing Tile Company (also based in Chicago) established an office and warehouse in New Orleans due to the large amount of material that it was shipping to Panama. Ludowici's traveling sales representative J.D. Duffy was reassigned to the permanent position.(1) The bunglow community at Derby Place (Third Municipal District) utilized the company's tiles. Architect-clients included Walter Cook Keenan (1881-1970), who specified the tiles for the Jones Residence at 20 Neron Place (1923) and his apartment building at Carrollton Avenue and Green Street. Ludowici roofing was adopted for the Hugh L. White residence in Columbia, Mississippi and the Charles Ledet residence in Houma, Louisiana.(2)

The Southeastern Architectural Archive maintains a number of Ludowici catalogs, now digitized via the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library. 

Other architectural terracotta suppliers who maintained a New Orleans presence include the following:

St. Louis Terra Cotta Co. (St. Louis), Frank Bethune, agent. 808 Perdido Street (1919).

Federal Terra Cotta Co. (New York), J.T. Mann & Company, agents. 909 Union Street (1919).

Atlantic Terra Cotta Co. (New York), Ole K. Olsen, agent. 822 Perdido Street (1920).

[See Building Review (1913-1922) for listings of local agents for various architectural trade concerns].

New Orleans structures with notable terracotta include:

Pere Marquette (817 Common Street)  -- American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Company 

Maison Blanche (901 Canal Street)  -- Atlantic Terra Cotta Company

American Bank & Trust Company (200 Carondelet Street) -- Federal Terra Cotta Company

Louisiana Supreme Court building (400 Royal Street) -- Atlantic Terra Cotta Company

Lyons building (224 Camp Street) -- Northwestern Terra Cotta Company

Morris building (600 Canal Street) -- Northwestern Terra Cotta Company

Tulane building (211 Camp Street) -- Northwestern Terra Cotta Company

Grunewald Caterers (926-28 Canal Street) -- Northwestern Terra Cotta Company

(1)"Another Northern Firm Establishing Offices." The Times-Picayune 1 January 1906. 

(2)"New Orleans Greatest Tile Center: Roofs May Rival Old World Cities." The Times-Picayune 23 May 1926.

Images above:

Top four:  Advertisements, The Daily Picayune. 23 July 1872; 30 March 1887; 19 September 1888; The Times-Picayune 1 September 1903.

Bottom seven:  All from The Brickbuilder (1901-1910). Architects, from top to bottom:  Andry & Bendernagel; Diboll, Owen & Goldstein; Favrot & Livaudais; Favrot & Livaudais; Toledano & Wogan; Toledano & Wogan; Toledano & Wogan.

UDOs [Unidentified Drawn Objects]

Often times, architects did not include municipal addresses or client names on their renderings. Similarly, kit home catalogs sometimes did not reference geographic location or the name of the designing architect.

For the SEAA's recent "Bungalows" exhibit, we incorporated a number of drawings that bore scant identifying information. My colleague, Kevin Williams, was able to identify the locales for the New Orleans residences. Recently, Jeff Rosenberg provided us with more information regarding the bungalows constructed in Mississippi.

Images from top to bottom:

Number 1

R.B. Williamson, architect. Habitation for a Hot Climate, with a "Plein Air" Sleeping Porch. Plate 16, [AKA "Aeroplane Bungalow."] From Georges Benoît-Lévy's Maisons de Campagne sans étage et bungalows. Paris: Massin, c. 1920. Garden Library of the New Orleans Town Gardeners, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Williamson's bungalow was constructed at 1084 Lafayette Avenue, Biloxi, Mississippi.

Number 2

Edward Sporl, architect. Raised Basement Shingle and Cobblestone Bungalow. Undated. Edward F. Sporl Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.Southern Pine Association.

Sporl's bungalow was constructed for the Edwards family in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Its address is 119 Washington Street.

Number 3

Nolan & Torre, architects. Bungalow for Fernwood Lumber Company. Fernwood, MS. Undated. William T. Nolan Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.Southern Pine Association.

The bungalow is located at 1023 Dogwood Drive.

Number 4

Morgan D.E. Hite and Harry Moses. Residence. Corner Broadway and Green Street. New Orleans, LA. 1926. Harry Moses Office Records.

We knew from decorator Harry Moses' blueprint that this residence was built in two places: New Orleans and Ocean Springs. Kevin identified the residence at 1703 Broadway, but we didn't know the location of the Ocean Springs residence for Mrs. F.E. Lee, referred to in an annotation on the sheet.

Jeff identified the Mississippi residence as "Casa Flores," which was located at 4010 Government Street.

Thank you, Jeff!

Plantation Prefab

After the Civil War, labor shortages on plantation properties drove one New Orleans lumberman, Walter W. Carré, to begin selling manufactured portable cabins (top image). The steam-cut lumber was framed, marked and shipped to clients in Arkansas, Honduras, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Carré claimed that his cabins were so easy to use, they didn't even require a carpenter's skills.(1) In April 1869, his company received the "Best Portable Cabin" prize at the Third Grand State Fair and two years later The Daily Picayune touted his cabins  "marvels of ingenuity."(2)

Other New Orleans lumber concerns also offered pre-cut plantation cabins. The Lhote Lumber Company's 1883 catalog featured its double cabin (center image), as did the Louisiana Steam, Sash and Door Company's 1891 catalog (bottom). In their advertisements, each company placed cabin doors and windows in a different arrangement.

For those interested in early portable structures shipped out of New Orleans, see the following articles:

Charles E. Peterson. ”Early American Prefabrication.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts XXXIII (January 1948): pp. 37-46.

Samuel Wilson Jr. “New Orleans Prefab, 1867.” The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 22:1 (March 1963): pp. 38-39.


(1)"Portable Plantation Cabins." The Times-Picayune 12 November 1870.

(2)"Wonderful Mechanism." The Daily Picayune 27 April 1871.

Images above: "Plantation Cabins." The Daily Picayune 9 September 1882.

"Plantation Cabins." Lhote Lumber  Company Catalog. n.p.,1883. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

"Plantation Cabins." Roberts & Company's Illustrated Catalogue of Mouldings, Architectural and Ornamental Wood Work, Door and Window Frames, Sash, Doors and Blinds, Brackets and Cornices, Porch Columns, Balustrades, Fences, Counters, Shelving and Store Fittings, designed and compiled by William Bell, superintendent, Louisiana Steam Sash, Blind and Door Factory. New Orleans, 1891.Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Now digitized via the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

NOLA Catalog Homes

I was recently invited to write a short piece for the Sears Homes of Chicagoland Blog. The entry focuses on catalog homes in New Orleans.

If any of the above houses look familiar, the post may be of interest.

Images above, top to bottom:

Harris Homes. Model 1512. A Plan Book of Harris Homes.  1915. Courtesy Building Technology Heritage Library.

Harris Homes. Model 61/AKA Model 1514. A Plan Book of Harris Homes. 1915. Courtesy Building Technology Heritage Library.

Sears Roebuck Company. Avondale Model. Honor Bilt Modern Homes. Chicago-Philadelphia: Sears, Roebuck & Co. 1921. Courtesy Building Technology Heritage Library.

Aladdin Homes. Pomona Model. Aladdin Homes “Sold by the Golden Rule.” Catalog No. 33. 1921. Courtesy Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive.

Aladdin Homes. Lamberton Model. Aladdin Homes “Built in a Day.” Catalog No. 32. 1920. Courtesy Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive.

For additional information, see the Southeastern Architectural Archive's guide, "Catalog Homes."

New Orleans Business Archive: Lhote Lumber (1847-1910)

In 1904, the Lhote Lumber Company significantly expanded its operations and built a new $500,000 plant in the Second Municipal District along the Old Basin [Carondelet] Canal. Lhote employed over 150 workers at this new site. As a transition, the company briefly maintained its former operations in the Storyville neighborhood (1300 Toulouse Street) as a branch facility.(1)

Relocating the lumber plant afforded Lhote more direct access to schooners and railroad cars from which to distribute its products.(2) Its old location had required a treacherous hairpin turn at the Old Basin Canal (1873 atlas shown above).

First established in 1847, the company was known for its mill work and "manufacturing cabins and dwellings framed for shipment."(3) By 1904, its manufactured dwellings were being referred to as "Ready-Made Houses."(4)  Lhote maintained an international business, shipping its products through the Gulf of Mexico. From Mexico, Lhote was hired to manufacture the 1900 Orizaba exposition buildings and the Vera Cruz quarantine station.(3)

Hard times quickly fell on the operation. In July 1910, New Orleans auctioneer W.A. Kernaghan offered the plant for $200,000.(5) When it failed to realize this price, the National Realty Company acquired it for $188,000.(6) National Realty promptly flipped the mill, selling to the National Sash and Door Company for $200,000.(7) George V. Lhote eventually became the operation's general manager.

National Sash and Door Company experienced an economic upswing after World War I, becoming the recipient of numerous commissions for residential and commercial projects. In 1918, the Southern Pine Association hired the company to construct a model children's bungalow that was displayed in Lafayette Square.(8)  National Sash & Door also supplied mill work for the Lafayette model school on Carrollton Avenue, the Bohn Motor Company Garage, and for new branches of the Whitney-Central Bank. It exported its products to clients in Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas, as well as to those in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and South America.(9)

Records from a number of different Southeastern Architectural Archive collections document the Lhote Lumber Company and the National Sash & Door Company.

Architect James Freret produced drawings for the company's 1883 millwork catalog, housed in the SEAA's Architectural Trade Catalogs.

Architect C. Milo Williams photographed Lhote's Storyville lumber operation in the last decade of the nineteenth century. His image is housed in the SEAA's Williams Family Records.

Architect Martin Shepard, who frequently worked for construction and real estate concerns, kept various mill work company ephemera, including an advertising notebook from the National Sash and Door Company. Shepard's records are housed in the Southeastern Architectural Archive as Collection 109.


(1)"To Our Customers and the Public." The Times-Picayune  24 July 1904.

(2)"New Lhote Plant the Largest Lumbering Mill in the South." The Times-Picayune 19 July 1904.

(3)Henry Rightor. Standard History of New Orleans, 1900.  p. 531.

(4)Advertisement.  The Times-Picayune 1 September 1904.

(5)"Lhote Mill May Reorganize." The Daily Picayune 29 July 1910.

(6)"Lhote Lumber Plant Bought." The Daily Picayune 9 September 1910.

(7)"National Sash and Door Company Files Its Charter." The Daily Picayune 22 October 1910.

(8)"Model Bungalow of Southern Pine." Lumber World Review 25 June 1918: p. 58.

(9)"Lhote Sees Big Future for Millwork Industry." The Times-Picayune 24 May 1925.

Images above:  Lhote Lumber Company, Second Municipal District. Sanborn Atlas. 1908-1909.

Lhote Lumber Company Properties, Squares 132, 152, 153. Auguste B. Langermann. Plan book containing the improved part of the city of New Orleans. Second district. Compiled for fire insurance companies.  New Orleans, 1873.  Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Advertisement.  The Times-Picayune 1 September 1904.

Brackets

The subject of New Orleans brackets is frequently a hot topic for researchers. Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Preservation Education Foundation, many of the Southeastern Architectural Archive's and the Canadian Centre for Architecture's historic building trade catalogs have been digitized and are available through the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

Notable catalogs published by New Orleans building concerns include the following:

Roberts & Company's Illustrated Catalogue of Mouldings, Architectural and Ornamental Wood Work, Door and Window Frames, Sash, Doors and Blinds, Brackets and Cornices, Porch Columns, Balustrades, Fences, Counters, Shelving and Store Fittings, designed and compiled by William Bell, superintendent, Louisiana Steam Sash, Blind and Door Factory. New Orleans, 1891.

The Southeastern Architectural Archive's current Bungalows exhibit features catalogs with Queen Anne and bungalow brackets.

The Louisiana Research Collection, another of Tulane University's Special Collections units, houses other important postbellum catalogs that include brackets:

Roberts & Company. Illustrated Catalogue of Mouldings, Architectural & Ornamental Wood Work Designed and Compiled by William Bell. New Orleans, 1880. TH1155.R62 1880

Orleans Manufacturing and Lumber Company. Combined Book of Orleans Mfg. & Lumber Co., Limited. New Orleans, Louisiana: manufacturers of cypress sash, doors, blinds, mouldings, stair work, mantels, and all kinds of interior and exterior finish ; glass lists, latest styles, elevations, designs, etc., of embossed, ground, and cut glass ; brackets, scroll and turned work, wood drapery, store fronts, corner blocks and beads, plinth blocks, sawed and turned balustrades, door and window frames, pulpits, pew ends, etc. ; also revised edition New universal moulding book giving full size of mouldings, and their exact measurement in inches on each moulding. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1893. NA2850.O75 1893

The Williams Research Center at the Historic New Orleans Collection houses another early catalog with New Orleans connections:

W.B. Judson. The Standard Moulding Book: a catalogue of mouldings, brackets, architraves, balusters, newel posts, pew ends, stail railing, etc., with new and improved designs for doors, door frames, windows, store fronts, elevations, etc., etc. Chicago: Lumberman Publishing, 1882.

The University of California Santa Barbara's Lawrence B. Romaine Trade Catalog Collection includes publications by the Lhote Lumber Company (Old Basin Canal) and the Louisiana Red Cypress Company.

& the City of New Orleans' Historic District Landmarks Commission maintains helpful guidelines that include photographs and stylistic descriptions of brackets.

For Sears Catalog brackets, click here.

Images above:  Bracket. Ripley Residence. 1420 Harmony Street, New Orleans, LA. Project Number 1052. Circa 1963-64. William T. Nolan Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

"Bungalow Brackets" from Lafayette Sash and Door Factory. Standard Miniature Millwork Design Book. Lafayette, Louisiana, 1928. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

WTC: Concrete's Poster Child

As Edward D. Stone's International Trade Center and Curtis & Davis' Exhibition Center (Rivergate) neared completion, the Portland Cement Association featured the structures in its Fortune magazine advertisements. Utilizing an illustration by poster artist Bob Peak (1927-92), Portland's copywriters stressed that concrete made good "business sense."

"Concrete gives a world trade center built-in sales appeal. The buildings of New Orleans' new International Trade Center are designed to serve the buyers and sellers of merchandise from every corner of the world. Here, through the imaginative use of concrete, is expressed the very spirit and pace of modern-day trade. In the Convention-Exhibition building, the New Orleans architects used a concrete barrel shell roof to create striking beauty, as well as an interior clear span of 225 feet, sufficient to seat 17,600 people. Textured exterior concrete walls provide tasteful concrete throughout. The highly compressible qualities of New Orleans' soils were mastered by prestressed concrete piles, providing firm foundations for the light but strong reinforced concrete frame and floors designed by advanced new structural criteria. Gleaming exterior curtain wall panels of precast concrete assure visual interest."

Image above: Bob Peak, illustrator for Portland Cement Association. "Concrete Gives a World Trade..." Promotional flyer. [Published in Fortune July 1965].  Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Ben Shahn in the SEAA

In 1949, United States Gypsum Company art director Ione Shriver hired social-realist artist Ben Shahn (1898-1969) to illustrate its promotional journal, Popular Home. The late spring issue was dedicated to "small homes" and to suggest that theme, Shahn painted two carpenters putting up framing. The painting became the basis for the cover image shown above. The son of a carpenter, Shahn began to work as a commercial artist after the Second World War.

U.S. Gypsum distributed its journal to various regional dealers, including the E.A. Enochs Lumber Company in Natchez, Mississippi. The Southeastern Architectural Archive's copy was printed for Enochs and mailed to the Monteigne Plantation.

After the Second World War, the U.S. Gypsum Company leased 15 acres from the Dock Board along the Industrial Canal. In 1956, it built a $40 million plant on the site. Utilizing calcium hydrous sulphate imported from Jamaica, the New Orleans operation produced sheet rock wallboard, Rocklath plaster base and gypsum sheathing.

Images above: Front and back cover. Popular Home: Small Homes Review Issue  6:3 (Late Spring 1949). Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Water Fight

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) and the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI) recently completed a mass digitization project. Thanks to financial support from the APTI, nearly 700 of the SEAA's architectural trade catalogs have now been included in the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

The illustration above was used as the cover for the Kuhn Paint Company's promotional manual regarding waterproofing. Harry J. Kuhn managed the Kuhn Paint & Varnish Works, which was based in Houston, Texas. He was a prominent member of the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association's Varnish Manufacturers' Committee. As early as 1921, he sought to enhance his marketing by hiring New Yorker Allen B. Henry as his advertising and sales promotion manager.

After World War II, Kuhn distributed an important pamphlet written by Lonore Kent (1907-1993), who also penned Paint Power and How to Sell It and From the World's Four Corners for the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association. Kent's How to Win Your War Against Water itemized the need to establish good household ventilation and "vapor barriers."

You may wonder about representing moisture and paint in a bellicose relationship.

For more about the relevant history of building science, see Dr. Allison Bailes III's "Why Did Painters Refuse to Paint Insulated Houses in the 1930s?" Energy Vanguard Blog. 18 November 2013.

Image above: Lonore Kent. How to Win Your War Against Water. National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association, undated. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

New Orleans Business Archive: Sciambra & Masino

In  August 1924, plumbing, heating and ventilation contractors Sciambra and Masino opened a new plant located at 636-642 North Broad Street. Designed by New Orleans architect Emile Weil (1878-1945) and constructed by builder J.A. Petty & Sons, Inc., the Spanish Mission style structure boasted 8,000 ft.2 with a receiving area, model shops, an equipment room and a  mezzanine gallery. The first floor served as showroom and office space, and the mezzanine was divided into drafting rooms and a ladies' resting lounge.

Proprietors A.J. Sciambra and P. Masino, Jr. established their partnership in 1917, first operating out of Sciambra's residence at 2500 St. Peter Street, and then moving to 915 North Broad Street prior to acquiring the plant site.  When the new building opened, the partners described the rationale for choosing this location:

"'We were offered sites in other parts of the city, and received the usual advice to locate in the heart of the commercial district, but we adhered to North Broad. It best suits our purpose now, and in the years to come will be one of the main thoroughfares. Since the opening of the bridge at the New Basin the automobiles have multiplied to an amazing extent. During the racing season and at other special times Broad already rivalled Canal street. When both sides of the wide boulevard are paved, as they soon will be, Broad street will be as populous as any highway. There also was the consideration of the cheapest property before the great improvement in conditions and confidence, and the business, and we get all the benefits of the saving. Above all, there was the sentimental view. Most of our career has been spent here."

Image above:  Emile Weil, architect. Illustrations of Selected Work. New Orleans, Louisiana. 1926. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. NA737.W4 A45

Quoted matter:  "Plucky Plumbers Build Big Plant on Broad Street." The Times-Picayune 10 August 1924.

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.

NEW! SEAA Digitization Project

Over the next six months, the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI) will be digitizing a substantial portion of the Southeastern Architectural Archive's building trade catalogs for inclusion in the Internet Archive's Building Technology Heritage Library.

The nucleus of the SEAA's trade catalog collection came directly from architects practicing in the New Orleans metropolitan area who received them in the course of doing business. Many of the catalogs bear the office stamps of these architectural offices; some include architects' conceptual sketches in the marginalia. The collection has steadily grown over the last thirty years, and the SEAA continues to acquire trade catalogs from a variety of sources. These ephemeral publications document myriad aspects of the building trades, from drawing materials and tools to construction materials and methods, finishes, fittings, furnishings, paving, plumbing and heating equipment, mechanical and electrical systems.

Although the vast majority of the SEAA's catalogs represent the American building trades, the collection includes catalogs of Spanish azulejos, British mantels, French ironwork and Italian terrazzo. It is especially strong with respect to the Southern Pine Association, the largest timber trade organization in the South, which printed and distributed catalogs from its New Orleans headquarters.

Above:  Catalog cover. Albert Weiblen Granite and Marble. Office 824 Baronne Street, New Orleans, LA. Circa 1900. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. View the full brochure here.