Phillis Wheatley Elementary Section 106 Process Resumes

Efforts to preserve and reuse Phillis Wheatley Elementary constitute what is arguably one of the most pressing preservation issues facing New Orleans today. Designed in 1954 by Charles Colbert, FAIA, it is a groundbreaking work of modern engineering and design. Though its cantilevered classroom wing avoided the ravages of flooding after Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD) is pushing for FEMA funds to demolish the National Register-eligible building.

According to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, any such use of federal dollars to demolish or otherwise alter a building must first be subject to the Section 106 review process to determine how such actions can be mitigated through discussion with concerned parties. FEMA began Wheatley’s Section 106 review last fall and the issue erupted into a contentious fight between those for and against preservation. The RSD halted the process to commission the Hammond, LA-based firm of Holly + Smith to perform a feasibility study for the site. Its findings were made public at an RSD-hosted community meeting on July 21st, while the official consultation process resumed July 29^th.

Holly + Smith considered two options for the site, total demolition and replacement with a new school building versus restoration of and addition to the historic building. The firm was not charged with formally designing either scenario, only with assessing current conditions and proposing hypothetical schematics. It found that both options were comparable in most respects, though estimated that the renovation scenario would cost an additional $900,000. The architects refrained from calculating how demolition costs would help to close that gap, but in either case, the project would cost between $20 million and $21 million. RSD officials have asserted that either scenario would be completed by 2013.

Additional arguments against preservation come from those attributing a host of educational and social ills to the building itself. Wheatley was poorly maintained for decades, and prior to Hurricane Katrina it, like most of New Orleans’ public schools, was failing. Overall mismanagement was what spurred state takeover of the city’s school system by the RSD in the first place, and these problems were endemic citywide rather than unique products of Wheatley’s design. Others claim that the building, completed the same year as the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, painfully encapsulates the era of segregation in New Orleans and therefore should be demolished to start anew. Yet the vast majority of the city’s historic school buildings, including those the RSD plans to renovate, were completed during this era. Wheatley is likely singled out because its modern design is less easily-digestible than the predominately Classical Revival style designs of its older  counterparts. In either case, these arguments reveal a fair amount of selective memory on the part of those seeking demolition most ardently.

Holly + Smith’s feasibility study, which states that Phillis Wheatley Elementary is a viable resource, should be seen as a positive starting off point for creative solutions to satisfy all. New school buildings do not guarantee academic excellence, and the importance of this nationally, and perhaps internationally, significant building should not be left out of the equation. Those arguing for preservation – including the PRC, DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana, National Trust for Historic Preservation, World Monuments Fund, and citizens throughout New Orleans – believe that this historic building can indeed be incorporated into a 21^st century school to benefit children for years to come.

To learn more, check out our previous post on New Orleans modernism here, and join voices with others on the  Save the Phillis Wheatley School page on Facebook.

A version of this post also appears on the DOCOMOMO/US Louisiana website and in the DOCOMOMO/US e-newsletter.