Still Endangered! 4914 Spain St: The Camarata House, designed by Leon Francis Dufrechou

Today the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee denied the request to demolish the Camarata House at 4914 Spain. Sadly, we must report that the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority intends to appeal this decision to the City Council.

TAKE ACTION! Let the City Council know how your feel about the demolition of this house. Click HERE to email City Councilmembers.

We received a touching email from Kim Camarata, the granddaughter of Dominic Paul and Joyce Camarata, asking the NCDC to deny the demolision request. With Ms. Camarata’s permission, here is her email:

I am writing to oppose the pending demolition of the Camarata House located at 4914 Spain Street.

This is the house where my grandparents raised their three boys. They had the house built as a young couple, planning to raise their family there and live out their golden years. Even when faced with the threat of Hurricane Katrina, my grandparents did not want to leave their home. They stayed in the house until the water began rising inside. Then, they finally had to part with their beloved home.

This house fostered decades of life full of wonderful memories for my grandparents: children growing up, themselves growing older, and grandchildren starting the cycle again. My whole family converged for Sunday dinner there every week for as long as I can remember. My grandmother had an unrivaled zest for life and my grandfather was an avid gardener whose greenhouse still stands in the backyard today.

The structure and layout of the house itself represents a simpler time when postwar life was centered on family. This family-oriented focus is something this city desperately need right now. The Gentilly Terrace and Gardens Improvement Association agrees and they would also love to see the Camarata House brought back to life as a single family residence.

With new leadership, the GTG Assoc. is actively perusing options for rebuilding this house. I have just recently learned about the impending fate of my grandparents’ old home and I personally commit to helping the GTG Assoc. president seek out other alternatives. There are many better options for this house other than demolition.

I ask that the demolition of 4914 Spain Street be deferred to give some time for us to secure an alternative fate for the house.

Sincerely,

Kim Camarata

Please see the attached photos of my grandmother, Joyce Camarata, in the dining room of the Camarata House with her youngest son and the exterior of the house during the winter of 1973.

To recap our first post on the house HERE, 4914 Spain Street, located in Gentilly Terrace, also known as the Camarata House, is a post war, ranch style house. According to the Regional Modernism blog, the house was designed around 1950 by Leon Francis Dufrechou (1923-2001), who was the President of the Tulane Architectural Society in 1946 and 1947. Dufrechou also designed an office/residential building at1310 Esplanade Avenue, and three houses in Lake Vista in 1950: The Larry Gilbert House at 26 Swan Street, the Joseph Connoly House at 33 Swan Street, and his own personal residence at 6 Stilt Street.

The  Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation has determined that the Camarata House is individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Further, the Gentilly Terrace and Gardens Improvement Association is opposed to the demolition of this house.

TAKE ACTION! Let the City Council know how your feel about the demolition of this house. Click HERE to email City Councilmembers.

Learn more about Modernism + Recent Past HERE.