Colori e disegni

 We recently acquired a large number of color-related publications for the Southeastern Architectural Archive's Architectural Trade Catalogs collection. Many of these were printed in the early twentieth century, and pertain to exterior and interior paint, flooring and millwork. For those interested in matching historic palettes, these brochures and catalogs may provide  selection criteria. For example, the Aladdin Company's 1916 catalog offered the color choices indicated above.

We have noticed a number of Aladdin designs in greater New Orleans. The Lamberton model, shown above, can be found on both Audubon Boulevard and Pritchard Place.

Images above:  Aladdin Company. Aladdin Homes. Catalog No. 28. Bay City, MI: The Company, 1916. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

International Archives Day!

Happy International Archives Day!!

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Happy Home (1923)

Architect-builder Edwin L. Markel (1888-1956) completed a new residence for his family in 1923 and invited the public to visit his "Happy Home." Located at 4416 South Galvez Street, the house featured Celotex insulating lumber as an interior plaster base and as a sheathing under the exterior stucco and brick. Markel selected Celotex after visiting J.W. Thompson's Building Material exhibit (shown below) in the Weis Building (830 Common Street).

In November 1922, realtor Meyer Eiseman announced that Louisiana would soon boast the only town in the world to be built of bagasse. Located on the former Ames Farms tract, the celotex houses were intended to lodge plant workers after the company invested $1,000,000 in the West Bank riverfront property.(1)

The Celotex Corporation recognized the model home as an effective marketing device. It hired New York architects Henry Otis Chapman, Jr. (1898-1967) and Harold W. Beder (1876-1967) to design its demonstration house (shown below) for the 1939 New York World's Fair's "Town of Tomorrow".

Claiming Celotex products to be completely termite- and dry rot-resistant, the company published brochures and souvenir books for fair-goers. Savings and Loan Day was held on September 30, and the Celotex House hosted hundreds of association delegates who came to view the structure and its grounds.

After the Second World War, Celotex heavily promoted its ominous-sounding product, "Cemesto."(2) Precision-Cut Homes was a local builder that established a fireproof concrete block industrial plant mobilized for Cemesto prefabricated construction. It launched its model homes first in Jefferson Parish, at Cross and Second Streets.(3) The company could supply homes to qualified veterans for a mere $5,500 and offered dealer franchises to those located within a 300-mile radius. Precision-Cut was a short-lived venture: its 2500 Calliope Street plant was advertised for sale in August 1947.


(1)"Builders to Use Cane Pulp Board." The Times-Picayune 7 November 1922. Cambridge landscape architect John Nolen planned the Celotex "Farm City" of Clewiston, Florida for the company (1923-24).

(2)Celotex had launched Cemesto-Board in 1931.For more on Cemesto, see Jack Breihan, "Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company." DOCOMOMO_US Newsletter (Summer 2008): p. 7. URL: http://www.docomomo-us.org/files/DOCONewsSummer08.pdf

(3)"New Plant for Pre-Fab Houses." The Times-Picayune 19 May 1946.

Images above:  Top:  "Celotex Insulating Lumber." Advertisement. The Times-Picayune 4 February 1923.

Center and Bottom:  The Celotex Corporation. "Thanks for Dropping in to see the Celotex House." Brochure. Chicago: The Company, 1930. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

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/

Mean Streets

With all the public works projects underway in New Orleans, it seemed like an appropriate time to introduce this undated photograph, labelled "Laying Sewer Pipes on Camp Street."

In the summer of 1906, The Times-Picayune reported on public complaints regarding Camp Street infrastructure projects:

"General Superintendent Earl, of the Sewerage and Water Board, has addressed a communication to Mayor Behrman, giving a full explanation of the condition of Camp Street, near Philip. Superintendent Earl told the Mayor that the condition of the street at that point, concerning which there has been much complaint, is due to the work of the New Orleans Railway Company and not to any work done by the Sewerage Board. The entire explanation of the trouble seems to be that the Railway Company used the gravel on the side of the street where the sewer was built, thus rendering conditions very bad. Mr. Earl says that the Railway Company should have compelled their contractor to furnish the necessary gravel, and that they have failed to do this. He adds, however, that the Railway Company has been most considerate in every way during the construction of the sewer at that point and that therefore he did not desire to be too harsh in his criticism of the manner in which the work had been handled.

"On receipt of the letter of Mr. Earl, Mayor Behrman forwarded copies of all the correspondence to President Foster, of the Railway Company, asking him to take action to remedy the evil at the earliest possible moment."(1)

(1)"Camp Street Complaints." The Times-Picayune 16 August 1906.


Image above:  Unidentified photographer. Laying Sewer Pipes on Camp Street. [The residence shown on the immediate right is located at 3435 Camp, corner Delachaise. ] Undated. "Camp Street." Visual Materials Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

House of Tomorrow (1957)

Fifty-eight years ago, the New Orleans Home Show focused on the theme  "Operation Home Improvement" (OHI). Staged in the Municipal Auditorium, OHI included a model home designed by Curtis & Davis  (shown above).

Walter J. Rooney, Jr. represented the firm in a related article for The Times-Picayune:

"The display house is erected in a landscaped patio enclosed in a woven bamboo fence and providing the ultimate in outdoor living facilities. To one side of the kitchen is a barbecue terrace, on the other side the children's play terrace, both connected to the kitchen by sliding glass walls, between the dining and living room likes the living terrace. All terraces have flagstone floors and are set in a bower of tropical plants.

"The main entrance to the display is by way of a ramp which rises from the auditorium floor on the exterior of the landscaped court. As one climbs the ramp the various elements come into view: The living room unit hovers lightly a few feet above the garden terrace on slim metal supports which rise through the floor slab to a brightly colored plastic roof above--a tremendous skylight."


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"A backward glance at the building makes the structure and construction readily apparent. Light steel columns and beams frame the building and support the flat planes of floor and roof. The steel panels which form the floor and roof are corrugated to achieve maximum strength with a minimum of material and provide an exciting ceiling finish in all the rooms."(1)

(1)"Architect Describes 'Trip' Through Show's House of Tomorrow." The Times-Picayune 18 May 1957.

Images above: Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Curtis and Davis, architects. House of Tomorrow, Operation Home Improvement, Home Show, Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, LA. May 1957. Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Steel Vogue House (1954)

New Orleans. 21 March 1954.

A NEW APPROACH IN HOME BUILDING, the "Steel Vogue House" at 325 Sena in Metairie will be open for inspection Sunday, M.C. Baker Jr., builder, describes the home as having all structural steel wall studding, floor and ceiling joists, roof rafters and decking. Designed to be reproduced on an owner's lot for $35,000 it also claims to be all-time termite proof. Steel windows and steel doors, a glass sliding wall for full view are among its features. The three bedrooms have built-in beds, chests, vanities, etc. The two bathrooms have built-in dressing tables. The dining room has a photographic mural wall. In addition there is an extra family room. The kitchen has a skylight, automatic dishwasher and garbage disposal. A patio and carport are included.

The Times-Picayune

Color image above:  Google Street View. May 2014.