New Orleans Nine Most Endangered Sites
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Vol. 46, No. 5, 2009 Susan Kierr and David Stefferud, Co-Editors LOUISIANA LANDMARKS SOCIETY ANNOUNCES NEW ORLEANS NINE MOST ENDANGERED SITES The Louisiana Landmarks Society Originally established in 2005, the Louisiana Landmarks Society’s announces the unveiling of this year’s New Orleans Nine Most Endangered Sites program was modeled after New Orleans Nine Most Endangered Sites the National Trust’s “Eleven Most Endangered” list. The National for the City of New Orleans. Based on Trust’s list has been a tremendously successful tool in highlighting the National Trust for Historic Preserva- threatened historic places. Recent listings have generated widespread tion’s “Eleven Most Endangered” list, interest and awareness of the fragility of historic places, and have Landmarks’ local list seeks to educate often resulted in actions to protect the places in question. Several the public about the merits of our unique built environment. New local sites have made it onto the National Trust’s list: the Vieux Orleans’ Nine is dedicated to drawing attention to significant and Carré in 1988 and 1989; River Road in 1992; Downtown New threatened sites in our city. The purpose of the program is to build Orleans in 1993; Historic Neighborhoods of New Orleans in 2006; awareness of historically significant places in New Orleans that are and most recently, Charity Hospital and the Adjacent Neighborhood most in danger of being lost. in 2008. Previous New Orleans Nine listings include: New Orleans Street Name Tiles; the Pan American Life Building; the Passebon Nominations were solicited from the public in January and Cottage (currently under renovation); the Phil Zito Boyhood Home February. The nominations were reviewed by a committee that (demolished by 2005 storms); Downtown Theaters; Lafitte Housing encompasses a broad range of New Orleanians. The Selection Development (demolished by HANO); Dixie Brewery; and the Bohn Committee was comprised of Sara Orton, chair, Elliott Perkins, Ford Motor Company building, among many others. Walter Gallas, Lary Hesdorffer, Robert Rivers, Michelle Kimble, Keli Rylance, Ric Fifield, Jonah Dowling, Chastian Taurman, Robert The Louisiana Landmarks Society was founded in 1950 in re- Brown, Charles Montgomery, Lori Durio, Geoffrey Lutz, and Betsy sponse to an escalation in demolitions of historic structures. Some Stout. From the 21 nominations received, the committee selected of its earliest efforts resulted in the protection of Gallier Hall and nine sites in Orleans Parish for the 2009 New Orleans’ Nine list. Carrollton Courthouse (now Lusher School). In 1964, Landmarks facilitated the rescue and restoration of the 1799 Pitot House on “New Orleans is the envy of other cities across the United States Bayou St. John, which now operates as a museum and houses the for our unparalleled inventory of historic buildings, even after all organization’s office. the losses from Katrina,“ says Orton. “We hope that our Most Endangered list will serve as a reminder of the importance of our historic resources, and refresh New Orleanians’ pride in our city.” Continued on page 3 The Louisiana Landmarks Society promotes historic preservation through education, advocacy and operation of the Pitot House. 2 LOUISIANA LANDMARKS SOCIETY LOUISIANA LANDMARKS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE SOCIETY, INC. By Anne Morse, President Construction is already underway at Pitot House: Eugene Darwin Cizek was our speaker, and we thank OFFICERS: three grants have enabled us to begin repairing the upstairs him for his excellent presentation. We also wish to PRESIDENT loggia and balconies. The receipt of these important thank the staff at the HNOC for facilitating this event Anne Morse grant awards is the big news of the past few months. at their beautiful location on Royal Street. 1st VICE PRESIDENT Susan Kierr The Ella West Freeman Foundation awarded the All this contributes to a very busy spring and sum- 2nd VICE PRESIDENT LLS $76,000, specifically for the repairs. Koch and mer, with more excitement ahead. In this issue we are Betsy Stout Wilson, longtime architects for the Pitot House and happy to present the 2009 Nine Most Endangered List. TREASURER Edie Wilson Bywater Woodworks will work together to complete Our thanks are extended to Sara Orton, chair, and a this project. The Almar Foundation has awarded the very dedicated committee for the selection process. ASST. TREASURER Susan Couvillon LLS $7,500 to be used toward improvements to the Pitot House or its gardens. The third award was from As always, we count on the support and generos- RECORDING SECRETARY David Stefferud The National Trust for Historic Preservation for $5,000 ity of our membership throughout the year and we’re as a matching grant towards the architectural fees for looking forward to initiating a corporate membership CORRESPONDING SEC. Mercedes Whitecloud the above upstairs repairs. campaign in the fall which should further enhance our PUB. COMMITTEE CHAIR outreach to the business community. Diana Smith We greatly appreciate the consideration given to TRUSTEES: our organization by these groups for these necessary Louis Aubert improvements to the Pitot House. I would like to rec- LOUISIANA LANDMARKS SOCIETY Jonah Dowling ognize the diligent tenacity and expert ability of Susan Karen Gadbois WELCOMES OUR NEW MEMBERS! Betty Guillaud McClamroch who wrote the grants. She continues J. Keith Hardie to seek and apply for additional grants to fund our Grover Mouton Welcome aboard! Thomas M. Ryan operation and fulfill the LLS’s mission: “To promote The Louisiana Landmarks Society is overjoyed to have the John Schackai III Jon Smith historic preservation through education, advocacy, and following members join us this quarter in our quest to save John Wade II operation of the Pitot House”. Thomas P. Westervelt what’s best in the Louisiana built environment, especially Phillip Woolam our precious Pitot House, and to add to our strong voice in Very successful “Vino on the Bayou” wine tastings advocacy for preservation: ex officio were held in May and June with widespread community Lyn Tomlinson Mr. Dave Bastian participation. Special thanks to the generosity of our Ms. Joyce Birch-Francois STAFF: new Board member, Jon Smith, and his business, Cork and Bottle, for the donation of superb wines for tasting Mr. and Mrs. Hervin Guidry PITOT HOUSE Ms. Susan Klein DIRECTOR and for sale. Cork and Bottle also provided live music Ms. Joan Lipscomb Susan Lloyd McClamroch at each of these events which added another dimension to the enjoyment. Ms. Genevieve B. Monie Ms. Jolyne Biagas Morris PITOT HOUSE The annual meeting was held on Sunday, April 19th Mr. Robert Pace 1440 Moss Street Mrs. Lisa Pitot (504) 482-0312 (phone) at the Pitot House. Bill Borah received the Harnett T. (504) 482-0363 (fax) Kane Preservation Award and Mercedes Whitecloud Mr. S. Stephen Rosenfeld [email protected] received the Louisiana Landmarks Service Award. The Mr Thomas Ryan www.louisianalandmarks.org new board members and officers were introduced. We Mr. Lyndon Saia This newsletter is published quarterly welcome the new board members, many of whom are Mr. Cat Stevens by the Louisiana Landmarks Society, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, profiled in this issue, and look forward to having their Mr. Dennis Stump for informational purposes. Com- ments++ and letters to the editor valuable participation in Landmarks. The Society is glad to have you with us: your talent and are solicited. All rights reserved. enthusiasm are our most important resource and we look On May, 11th, the 28th Martha Robinson Lecture forward to seeing you in our many activities and in the pages was held at the Historic New Orleans Collection. Dr. of La Préservation if you care to make a written contribution. LOUISIANA LANDMARKS SOCIETY 3 Continued from Page 1 to the Northshore. If this happens, it is unclear what would be- come of the NOAH property and all the historic buildings on it, including the significant Overseer’s House. Steps need to be taken now to ensure that this important early architectural treasure doesn’t get lost in the budget cut shuffle of state politics, or left to rot through continued neglect. This is prime property in the Uptown Historic District that could be easily adapted to private SITE NAME: Overseer’s House – New Orleans residential units, academic facilities, senior housing, or other suit- Adolescent Hospital able uses that would respect the site and its historic architecture. LOCATION: 210 State Street ____________________________________ CONSTRUCTION DATE: 1831-34 SITE NAME: Charity Hospital NEIGHBORHOOD: Uptown LOCATION: 1532 Tulane Avenue THREAT: Neglect CONSTRUCTION DATE: 1939 NEIGHBORHOOD: Central Business District BUILDING HISTORY: THREAT: Neglect, abandonment, potential demolition The present site of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH) was purchased by the United States Marine Hospital Service in 1883. BUILDING HISTORY: At that time, at least two buildings were already on the property A premier example of Art Deco architecture in New Orleans, this and were retained. One of those buildings is the oldest structure on massive, 20-story struc- the site, known informally as the Overseer’s House, or formally as ture opened its doors to Quarters Building #9. This is a creole cottage with attached side wings patients in 1939. One of and front gallery. The original cottage is believed to date from the the three most important early 1830s, while the wings and gallery appear to have been added structures built by the in the late 1850s to early 1860s. According to research performed local architectural firm by Sally Reeves in 1981 for the United States Public Health Service Weiss, Dreyfous, and (USPHS), the Overseer’s House is significant for both its history and Seiferth, Charity Hospital its architecture. It is likely the only building on the property remain- is a major part of our ar- ing from the 1830s plantation era. No sugar plantations remained chitectural heritage. The on the east bank of New Orleans by 1844, and surviving examples hospital, once one of the of plantation-related buildings are extremely rare.