Mound Bayou, Mississippi

Yesterday The Bolivar Commercial reported that the Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi will undergo renovation beginning this week. With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jackson architects Canizaro, Cawthon & Davis plan to adapt the structure for use as the Taborian Urgent Care Center.(1)  The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996.

After World War II, New Orleans architect William R. Burk (1887-1961), who maintained an office is Clarksdale, worked on several projects for Mound Bayou. In 1948, he designed a consolidated high school structure on Fisher Avenue. That same year, he collaborated with St. Louis architects Jamieson and Spearl to develop plans for a new Veteran's Administration hospital that had been championed by doctor and civil rights leader T.R.M. Howard (1908-1976).(2)

Tulane University's Southeastern Architectural Archive retains William R. Burk's architectural records.

(1) Rory Doyle. "Work on Historic Hospital Begins."  The Bolivar Commercial  (25 July 2013). As viewed 26 July 2013 at http://tinyurl.com/n2dhhx8

(2) "BIDS FOR CONSTRUCTION." The Times-Picayune (28 July 1948): p. 12. The article includes a presentation drawing of a very Charity-like hospital building. Howard's papers are at the Chicago Public Library.

Image above:  Taborian Hospital, Mound Bayou, MS. As viewed 26 July 2013 via google maps.

Graphic Design 1962

Every so often, we post business stationery / letterheads that include representations of buildings or were designed by various architects. Today, we came across a few 1962 building trade examples that made use of vibrant orange or red elements. The bottom two both employed the same substrate, American-made Strathmore Bond Fluorescent 25% Cotton Fiber wove finish paper that yielded a very bright white surface. If you are interested in American watermarks, check out Paper Watermarks online.

Images above:  Project Files (Project 1030; Project 1031). William T. Nolan Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Please Return to Mr. Goldstein

New Orleans architect Moise H. Goldstein (1882-1972), like many of his contemporaries, traveled to Europe in his early adulthood. Along the way, he acquired an extensive collection of studio photographs of architecture, sculpture and furnishings. The black and white photographs were typically captioned and mounted to canvas by such studios as Alinari, Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG) and Brogi.

Goldstein wrote instructions along the margins of Romualdo Moscioni's (1849-1925) image of one of the classical tripods in the Vatican Museums (top). Sometimes his drawings bear the same instructions, "Please return to M.H. Goldstein."

The bottom image proves enigmatic -- some of the caricatures are clearly architects. Did Goldstein pen them or someone else?

Images above: Moise Goldstein Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Architectural Salvage Then: Part III

A few years ago, we featured some information (post I and post II) about the American trade in European architectural salvage. Arthur Todhunter, a British immigrant, established a New York showroom to sell salvaged architectural materials. He also created his own line of reproductions based on the salvaged pieces. His first showroom was at 414 Madison Avenue and his second was at 119 East 57th Street. Clients for his pieces included New Orleans architect Moise Goldstein (1882-1972).

Todhunter offered the mantel shown in the top photograph for $1800. Made of Sienna marble and featuring a central Venus with Cupid, the mantel was a massive 83" tall and 74" wide.

The mantel in the second photograph was extracted from John Loughborough Pearson's (1817-1897) William Waldorf Astor Residence, No. 19 Carlton House Terrace, London and offered for $950. It was of English marble with an inlay of Sienna marble.

The transatlantic trade for such architectural salvage bottomed out with the 29 October 1929 Wall Street Crash.

Images above: Arthur Todhunter, 119 East 57th Street, New York. Advertisements photographs. Undated. Moise Goldstein Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

More Lost Marbles

We recently came across mention of two sculptures that were once situated on the grounds of Gallier & Esterbrook's Luling Mansion on Esplanade Avenue (1864-1865; top image above). Imported from Italy and representing Flora (bottom image) and Ceres, the marbles originally adorned the Luling family's private gardens.

In 1871, Luling sold his residence to the Louisiana Jockey Club for use as a clubhouse and "the statues came into more of public life." By 1906, the property was once more in private hands, with cotton merchant Frank A. Longshore using it as his residence. Architects Keenan & Weiss altered the structure and in 1912 Longshore sold the expansive lot to a syndicate for the development of Arcadia Court. At the same time, he sold Flora and Ceres to barman Jules Groetsch, who installed them in his 137 St. Charles Street saloon. When stories circulated of public opposition to the statues, Groetsch responded:

'Now that they are there and riveted in the cement of the building. . . I think there should be some expression of general sentiment asking [for their removal]. To me they are expressions of artistic beauty, conceived by the master hands which wrought them nearly a century ago.'(1)

(1)"Era Used as a Club Without Its Consent." The Daily Picayune (16 July 1912): p. 9.

Images above:

Top: From Souvenir of New Orleans, LA. Columbus, Ohio: Ward Bros., 1897. Louisiana Research Collection, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Bottom: Detail, 1438 Leda Street. Undated photograph. Frank H. Boatner Collection of Louisiana Architecture Photographs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

New Orleans Groggery

In the early twentieth century, bankers and businessmen working in New Orleans' Central Business District shared a dining and drinking establishment, the Old 27, located on the first floor at 215 Carondelet Street (building with circular signage in photo above). The Sportsmen's Conservation Club gathered there for its annual banquet in 1912 and the next year the Jones Island Pleasure Club did the same. The latter showed motion pictures of Jones Island (Manchac) and Professor Peter Schaff's orchestra performed "while an army of waiters attended to their wants."(1)

Named for its pre-1895 street number, the Old 27 was a well-known groggery that had changed hands a number of times by 1913, when it was run by Frenchman Francois Sartre (1856-1921). Born in Bordeaux, Sartre moved to Louisiana around 1886, first working as a chef for the Godchaux in Reserve, Louisiana before his reputation prompted the Aliciatore family to hire him in New Orleans. Once he had accumulated sufficient capital, he opened his first restaurant in Biloxi and later his second in the Old 27.

Prohibition doomed the 40-year-old watering hole. The Times-Picayune quoted Sartre:

'Prohibition! Quelle pensee, terrible! Avez un coeur! When you take wine from a Frenchman you might as well kill him. My friends, they say they shall go back to France if this country becomes dry. Me, I have already turned most of my place into a restaurant because I knew it was coming. It is hard. Why, I drink less than a half a gallon of water in a year; what shall I do when they take my wine? And what about my friends? They must suffer also. In France we put out absinthe and kept our wine when the war came on. In the United States they should put out whiskey and keep the wine and beer.'(2)

One year later, Sartre leased and renovated the former Ramos Gin Fizz Saloon at 712-714 Gravier Street and opened a new Francois. There, one could have the Daily Table D'Hote Dinner consisting of American turtle soup, filet of beef pique richelieu, and a lettuce and alligator pear salad for $1.25.(3)

(1)"Jones' Islanders." The Times-Picayune (16 February 1913): p. 15. In 1902, architect William Fitzner maintained offices upstairs.

(2)"Publicans Hit by 'Bone Dry' Edict Still Optimistic."  The Times-Picayune (19 January 1919): p. 27.

(3)"Francois Restaurant." The Times-Picayune (17 October 1920): p. 7.

Image above: "Cotton Exchange /Sun. July 27-1913." Miscellaneous Photographs Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Lost Marbles

For those who have wondered whatever happened to the figurative sculptures from the old New Orleans Cotton Exchange Building, Albert Weiblen's Marble & Granite Works office records provide the answers.

Louisville, Kentucky architect Henry W. Wolters (flourished 1870s-1890s) designed the ornate structure in 1881 after winning a public competition (first image). Wolters referred to the style as 'French Renaissance,' claiming it to be the 'most popular and appropriate style of street architecture in Paris.'(1) The Carondelet Street facade was especially elaborate, with broken pediments and abundant sculptural embellishment. Caryatids framed the doorway and personifications of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry surmounted the segmental pediment crowning the entrance bay.

In 1918, the sculptures were removed from the building in preparation for the new Cotton Exchange Building.(2) Exchange secretary Colonel H.G. Hester intimated that the new structure would be a replica of the old, and that the sculptures -- either replaced or restored -- would remain.(3)  However, as the building project developed, his assurances were never realized. The Park Commission agreed to place the salvaged marbles in City Park despite criticism from the architectural community.(4)

When the Works Progress Administration began altering City Park, the marbles were moved to the Weiblen Marble and Granite Works. Architect Albert W. Drennan incorporated the caryatids into the Weiblen Showroom building located at 116 City Park Avenue (second image), but the pediment figures proved more difficult to reassign. According to Weiblen architect Ralph G. Phillippi, the 11'10" figure of Commerce (sometimes referred to as Peace; fourth image) -- along with part of the frieze -- was sent to the quarry "to be sawed for slabs and vase stock." Albert Weiblen stored the 7'5" sculptures of Agriculture (third image) and Industry(fifth image)  in the Metairie Cemetery Annex, but both works were vandalized by boys "shooting at them with twenty twos from the railroad track." Weiblen subsequently broke the marbles for use as fill under Bell Avenue/Fairway Drive on the western side of Metairie Cemetery.(5)

This blog has previously addressed Tulane's lost owl sculptures that New Orleans architects Moise Goldstein & Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. buried somewhere in Audubon Park.

(1)"The New Cotton Exchange." The Daily Picayune (23 March 1881): p.4. Located on the corner of Carondelet and Gravier Streets, the building was constructed for approximately $370,000. James Freret served as supervising architect for the foundation, and Charles A. Marble of Chicago was supervising architect under Wolters. See: "An Imposing Structure: The New Cotton Exchange in New Orleans." Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (24 March 1883): p. 76 and "A Palace of Commerce." The Daily Picayune (9 May 1883): p.4. According to the latter article, the sculptures were the work of a stone carver A. Goddard, who also executed works for the Chicago parks.

(2)"'Just What We Deserve' Say Three Granite Sisters." The Times-Picayune (17  November 1918): p.41. S.S. Labouisse was named architect for the project, but passed away in 1918. Favrot & Livaudais ultimately designed the new structure in 1920.

(3)"It Will Be a Gem." The Times-Picayune (12  January 1919): p.31.

(4)'"Stone Ladies' Regarded as 'Grotesque,' Inartistic." The Times-Picayune (9  February 1920): p.7.

(5)Ralph G. Phillippi, notes on undated photographs. Albert Weiblen Marble & Granite Works Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive.

Images above: First: H.W. Wolters, architect. Cotton Exchange, Carondelet & Gravier Streets. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (30 April 1881), Miscellaneous Photographs Collection; Second: Albert W. Drennan, architect. Weiblen Showroom, 116 City Park Avenue. Undated, Albert Weiblen Marble & Granite Works Office Records; Third-Fifth: Undated photographs, Albert Weiblen Marble & Granite Works Office Records. All Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.