The Neighborhood Conservation Districts Committee will hold its next meeting on
Monday, February 6th, 2012.

TIME: 2:00 PM
WHERE: City Council Chamber - 1300 Perdido Street, 1st Floor

The demolition proposals are listed by neighborhood. Are there any proposed in your area? How do you feel about the demolition?

Click here to view the agenda and photos.

If you have an opinion on any of these demolitions, the NCDC committee would like to hear from you. CLICK HERE to email the committee and share your opinion.

How can you help? CLICK HERE to learn about the citizen’s role in the demolition review process.

The Neighborhood Conservation Districts Committee (NCDC) considered 46 properties for demolition on Jan. 17, 2012. Click here to see how they voted!

The following demolitions are on the City Council agenda for Jan. 19, 2012. Click on the address below to view photos of the houses.

If you have an opinion about this demolition proposal or any other items on the agenda, you can email City Councilmembers here.

4517-19 S. Saratoga, Uptown – View the demolition application documentation HERE. – deferred until 2/2/12
8639 Colapissa - Hollygrove - - deferred until 2/2/12
1912-14 St Roch - New Marigny/St. Roch/7th Ward - deferred until 2/2/12
1700 St Anthony - Central City - deferred until 2/2/12
1707 Congress - Upper Bywater - deferred until 2/2/12
4218-20 S Carrollton - Mid City – approved
5205-07 N Rampart - Lower 9th - deferred until 2/2/12
2419-21 Allen - New Marigny/St. Roch/7th Ward - deferred until 2/2/12
2625-27 Peace Ct.  - New Marigny/St. Roch/7th Ward - deferred until 2/2/12

If you have an opinion about this demolition proposal or any other items on the agenda, you can email City Councilmembers here.

The complete City Council agenda is available online HERE.

Check out our “Citizen’s Guide to Participating in the Demolition Review Process” HERE. The guide deals with the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee but is also relevant to City Council matters.

The owners of this historic 1780′s home in Nine Mile Point, near Westwego plan to remove the house from the site and sell the property for new construction. The owners have given a local contractor a window of opportunity to try to save this house. This house is 40+ feet deep and 50+ feet wide. It can be moved, or it can be dissambled for reconstruction. The catch is that one of the options must be completed in the next 90 days.

On Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 an open house will be held 9 am till noon. Please go by and see all the marvelous details and feel the ambiance of this simple and humble home. We’ve seen the house and it is truly a gem!

All components of the original building are cypress and hand hewn! Renovations over the years have added some beaded ceiling and pine flooring over the original in place cypress floor. Some bussilage “stuffing” is evident where some weatherboards are missing. The exterior wall framing shows no evidence of replacement of weatherboards. The visible additions are the kitchen, bath, and probable closing in of the front porch to make sort of a den. The current “front porch” is a slab on grade change. With this change the front became the back and the back became the “front”. Most of the millwork is period and probably original. The French style timberframe trusses in the attic are magnificent. Joinery is all mortise and tenon and peg. Cross sectional measurements of lumber and beams are typical of  French colonial construction. See photos of some of the details HERE.

If you could use this home or know someone who could or would like to contribute in any way to saving this house please email PRC staff HERE or send this information on to others.

The house is located at 1029 Hidden Lane, Nine Mile Point. It is about 1/2 mile downstream from the H P Long bridge on the West Bank of the river. Look for Wiegand St. off of the river road go back to the 1st intersecting street to the right (Pavo), turn right, stop at the next corner. Hidden Lane is so hidden that it doesn’t appear on maps, so HERE is a MAP of Wiegand  Street (Pavo maps as Toro, which you can see if you zoom in close).

If you have trouble finding the house, email PRC staff HERE and we’ll put you in touch with the folks that will be on the site.  We will be checking emails and we might even be willing to take a ride to see the house again — it is just THAT GREAT! Here is a peak at some of the old timber framing. Don’t mistake the  bussilage “stuffing” between the wood beams for termite damage!

Woodlawn High School, located at 7163 LA Highway 39, Braithwaite, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana (map) is being reviewed for demolition. The Art Deco school has a rich history, as illustrated in the National Register of Historic Places Determination of Eligibility below. If you would like to participate in the review process for the proposed demolition of this property, email PRC staff HERE and we will put you in contact with the appropriate authorities.

National Register of Historic Places Determination of Eligibility (Courtesy of FEMA)

Constructed in 1950, the Woodlawn High School is a two-story, brick masonry building with a flat roof and a concrete slab foundation.  It is ten bays wide with a three-bay section that projects roughly in the center of the west façade.  The projecting section is accentuated with a centrally-located Art Deco-style concrete facing that extends above the roofline and is inscribed with two quotes in relief which surround a similarly-treated allegorical figure.  On the first floor, the concrete facing surrounds the three entry portals which lead into a recessed entry vestibule.   A flat awning wraps the three sides of the projecting bays and shelters a set of concrete steps and a ramp (which appears to be a recent addition) which lead up from grade to the entrance.  Strips of six-pane vertical casement windows dominate the first and second stories of the west façade. The building is roughly rectangular in plan, with the long side oriented along LA Highway 39, supplemented on the north and east elevations by a series of sections varying in size and height but with similar materials, fenestration and style to the main block. It is roughly bounded by a circular driveway which encompasses the school site and provides two entry access points from LA Highway 39.

The property has played a significant role in the local governmental and educational history of the community. Until a 1966 court order from U.S. District Judge Herbert W. Christenberry to desegregate public schools, Plaquemines Parish was known to have “Rainbow Schools” – separate school for blacks, whites and mulattos. Woodlawn High School was originally constructed as an all-white public high school which eventually became a 12-grade consolidated school. As a result of the 1966 court order, Woodlawn High School became the site of a boycott, and the epitome of integration strife in Plaquemines Parish, on Wednesday, August 31, 1966 when five black students with their parents arrived to enroll. Not a single enrolled white pupil out of 250 showed up to school and approximately 20 parents held up white picket signs with the single word “Don’t” in big red letters. Taking judicial note of the boycott, Judge Christenberry threatened Plaquemines officials, including Judge Leander Perez, with an FBI investigation if pressure was brought to have white parents remove their children from public schools. The district attorney, Leander Perez Jr., announced he would not enforce the state compulsory attendance law because the children would have the opportunity to attend private schools under construction. All of the 250 white pupils and staff, with exception of the principal, subsequently moved over to a newly opened private school established in a hastily converted mansion, Promised Land, owned by Judge Leander Perez’s daughter. The black students were then withdrawn and under court order returned to their former all-black schools and the court permitted closing of Woodlawn High School by December of 1966. Since that time, the building has served as an office building for the Parish government until it was closed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

FEMA has determined that the Woodlawn High School is eligible for inclusion in the NRHP under Criteria A and C at the local level with a period of significance from 1950 to 1966. The building is eligible under Criterion A as a physical embodiment of the community’s educational system during the 1950s and 1960s amidst controversial political desegregation efforts. The building is also eligible under Criterion C as an excellent local and rare example of Art Deco architecture typical of the early to mid-20th century. The structure possesses significant architectural integrity despite its damaged state, and possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.

Again, if you would like to participate in the review process for the proposed demolition of this property, email PRC staff HERE and we will put you in contact with the appropriate authorities.

View PRC & FEMA photos of the school HERE.

View photos from New Orleans Lady on Flickr HERE.

The Neighborhood Conservation Districts Committee will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012.

TIME: 2:00 PM
WHERE: Homeland Security Conference Room - 1300 Perdido Street, Room 8E10

The demolition proposals are listed by neighborhood. Are there any proposed in your area? How do you feel about the demolition?

Click here to view the agenda and photos.

Click here to view the map of properties on the agenda.

If you have an opinion on any of these demolitions, the NCDC committee would like to hear from you. CLICK HERE to email the committee and share your opinion.

How can you help? CLICK HERE to learn about the citizen’s role in the demolition review process.

Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 9:30 am
City Council Chamber
City Hall, 1300 Perdido St.

4237 Marais St. in Bywater

Do you have an opinion about any of these proposed demolitions or any other item on the HDLC agenda? CLICK HERE to share your opinion with the Commission.

Bywater

4237 Marais Street: Mariclaire Moser, owner; City of New Orleans, Applicant. Proposal to Demolish. - City Initiated Demolitions (new business)

Irish Channel

718 Toledano Street: Joan E. Shall, owner; New Orleans Demolition Services, applicant. Proposal to demolish. - Owner/ Applicant Initiated Demolitions for Redevelopment (old business)

Treme & Esplanade Ridge

922 N. Rocheblave Street: Victor Benoit, owner; City of New Orleans, applicant. Proposal to Demolish. - City Initiated Demolitions (old business)

925 N. Rocheblave Street: Adrienne Markham, owner; City of New Orleans, applicant. Proposal to Demolish. - City Initiated Demolitions (old business)

2226 St. Philip Street: Delia B. Woods, owner; City of New Orleans, applicant. Proposal to Demolish. - City Initiated Demolitions (old business)

827-29 N. Rocheblave Street: New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, owner/applicant. Proposal to demolish. - City Initiated Demolitions (old business)

1725-27 Kerlerec Street. Adrianne Mitchell, owner; Demo Diva, applicant. Proposal to demolish. - Owner/ Applicant Initiated Demolitions (new business)

1620 Columbus Street: George Aiavolasti, owner; City of New Orleans, applicant. Proposal to demolish. - City Initiated Demolitions (new business)

2011 Orleans Avenue: Wilmer Christian, owner; City of New Orleans, applicant. Proposal to demolish. - City Initiated Demolitions (new business)

View the complete HDLC agenda online HERE.

The Neighborhood Conservation Districts Committee (NCDC) considered 20 properties for demolition on Jan. 3, 2012. Click here to see how they voted!

If you have an opinion about this demolition proposal or any other items on the agenda, you can email City Councilmembers here.

4517-19 S. Saratoga, Uptown – View the demolition application documentation HERE.
8639 Colapissa - Hollygrove
2501-03 S Johnson - Hoffman Triangle
1912-14 St Roch - New Marigny/St. Roch/7th Ward
1700 St Anthony - Central City
1707 Congress - Upper Bywater
4218-20 S Carrollton - Mid City
5205-07 N Rampart - Lower 9th
2419-21 Allen - New Marigny/St. Roch/7th Ward

The hearing date for the proposed demolition of 2625-27 Peace Ct. will likely be scheduled for 1/19/12. If you have an opinion about this demolition proposal or any other items on the agenda, you can email City Councilmembers here.

The complete City Council agenda is available online HERE.

Check out our “Citizen’s Guide to Participating in the Demolition Review Process” HERE. The guide deals with the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee but is also relevant to City Council matters.