Duncan Plaza update: State office and Supreme Court buildings demolished

NOLA.com ran a piece today about Duncan Plaza’s origins and the demolition completion.  In it, Bruce Eggler quotes a Times- Picayune editorial from 1957,  at the opening of the new City Hall:

“Orleanians of later generations will probably take for granted the five-structure Civic Center dominated by the gleaming 11-story City Hall. It is easy to imagine them thinking, ‘We’re a big, proud city. It’s only what we deserve.’ It will be human nature.”

The editorial concluded: “Now is the time to reflect on the vision and energy of the men who planned and built the new heart of the city.”

Wise words, unheeded.

The fate of these buildings is sealed, but the future of City Hall is still a matter of debate. Hopefully, this rare peice of modernist history will be salvaged, repaired, and restored to its original gleaming promise.

Our original Duncan Plaza story can be found here.

Learn more about preservation of the recent past on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s blog, Preservation Nation.