NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic Name: Touro-Shakspeare Home Other Names/Site Number: N/A Name of related multiple property listing: N/A 2. Location Street & Number: 2621 General Meyer Avenue City or town: New Orleans State: LA County: Orleans Not for Publication: Vicinity: 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: national state local Applicable National Register Criteria: A B C D _______________________________________________________________________________ Signature of certifying official/Title: Kristin Sanders, State Historic Preservation Officer Date Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title: State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Touro-Shakspeare Home Orleans Parish, LA Name of Property County and State 4. National Park Certification I hereby certify that the property is: ___ entered in the National Register ___ determined eligible for the National Register ___ determined not eligible for the National Register ___ removed from the National Register ___other, explain: ___________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private X Public – Local Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) X Building(s) District Site Structure object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Non-contributing 1 Buildings Sites 1 2 Structures 2 Objects 4 2 Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register: 0 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.): DOMESTIC (institutional housing); HEALTH CARE (sanitarium) Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.): VACANT / NOT IN USE 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Touro-Shakspeare Home Orleans Parish, LA Name of Property County and State 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.): Classical Revival (Neo- Classical Revival); Tudor Revival (Jacobean Revival) Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) foundation: Concrete walls: Brick; stucco; stone roof: Other (tile shingles) other: Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph The Touro-Shakspeare Home is located in New Orleans, LA on the West Bank of the Mississippi River in Algiers, a historic neighborhood within the city limits. Touro-Shakspeare Home was designed and constructed between 1927 and 1933 as an almshouse for people in need, with the ability to accommodate 175 residents. The Touro-Shakspeare Home was designed by a well-known local architect, William R. Burk, in Neo-Classical Revival and Jacobean Revival styles. Its building materials are brick, stucco, and stone, and it has a tile roof. Its most recognizable exterior feature is its diapering brickwork pattern, indicative of its Jacobean Revival style. The building footprint is square in shape, with two central cloister gardens that allow light to soak the interior spaces and reach all of the former residents' rooms. Inside the cloister gardens are two contributing objects in the form of cast stone fountains. The Touro-Shakspeare Home sits upon a large, long grassy plot of land that is extremely lush, albeit now overgrown. The building is set back from the busy thoroughfare of General Meyer Avenue. There is a contributing structure in the form of a shelter on General Meyer Avenue at a former bus shelter, which was part of the original architectural plans. There are also two non-contributing shed structures behind the main building that have fallen into disrepair and are in a ruined state. Although the Touro-Shakspeare Home has been abandoned for 15 years, it still retains its historic integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. _____________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description EXTERIOR According to architect William R. Burk's original plans from 1929, the Touro-Shakspeare Home’s footprint measures 194 ft by 204 ft. The building totals approximately 65,000 square feet. The Touro-Shakspeare Home is primarily two stories except for a small third level situated above front entrance. The grand entrance has a prominent protruding portico with four Temple of the Winds columns, hearkening back to its Classical architectural association. The north-facing main entrance used to have a walkway flanked with decorative lampposts, which were visible in historic photos as well as in photos prior to Hurricane Katrina, but these lampposts are no longer extant. However, the low brick walls on either side of the walkway remain underneath the overgrown shrubbery. 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Touro-Shakspeare Home Orleans Parish, LA Name of Property County and State The building is mostly symmetrical, has 25 bays on the front facade, and 19 on each side. There are taller roof heights in some areas, such as the front entrance and the chapel, which has a 20-foot barrel-vaulted ceiling. In the center of the eastern and western elevations are projections that span three bays, and rise two and a half stories. At the top of this projection is a decorative parapet. The building has a cement foundation, upon which are brick walls punctuated by cast stone detail elements. The front entrance façade, behind the columns, is stuccoed in the same place as its design plans, by the office of architect William R. Burk in 1929 from the Southeastern Architectural Archive showed. These plans also illustrated metal down spouts on the building's perimeter corners, but these are no longer extant. The exterior walls of the chapel and boiler room, which form the central core between the two cloister gardens, are stuccoed with brick quoining details between window openings and on wall edges. Cast stone and tile shingles make up the components of the gable roof. There are 56 window openings visible on the front façade, and 39 on the east and west elevations. Although the fenestral openings are all boarded up now to keep the interior secure and none of the original windows are extant, they were once primarily steel casement windows. According to the historical plans, windows were multi-lite casement with a three over three pane pattern, but some were two over two, and windows with smaller panes were eight over twelve, or eight over sixteen. Fenestral openings either have cast stone pointed lintels or brick arches. The original windows shown in the construction documents and in historic photos were replaced at a later date with aluminum framed windows, which were all stolen when the building was abandoned after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Touro-Shakspeare Home is built symmetrically around a central core, inside which is a grand nondenominational chapel, boiler room, and kitchen. On either side of this central core are two cloister courtyards that connect the interior to the exterior spaces. These gardens were placed strategically in central areas to allow light to soak the surrounding rooms, ensuring every area in the building – especially the dormitory rooms for the Home’s former residents – had equal access to natural sunlight. With multiple entry points to the courtyards from all sides as well as on both the first and second levels, these spaces were universally accessible and at the heart of the Home. On the ground level of the gardens