Archive for Education
Henry “Red” Allen Jr.
Posted by: | CommentsAs you may be aware, PRC’s Ethnic Heritage Preservation program works to identify and preserve the homes of New Orleans’ jazz musicians. We research the lives of the musicians, work to restore the properties where needed, and mark the home’s history with a plaque to inform visitors about the men who lived there.
One such home is Henry “Red” Allen’s birthplace, at 414 Newton Street in Algiers Riverside.
Born in 1908, Red Allen’s father led the popular Allen Brass Band, and taught him about Jazz from an early age. He took up the trumpet and as a teenager he sat in with his father’s band and several others around town before leaving to play his music on a Mississippi riverboat. He’d already had quite a local following, but now gained a wider audience as tourists rode the river between St. Louis and Cincinnati.
His popularity gained him work in New York City, where he cut many albums with his own band as well as playing with the likes of Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Jelly Roll Morton, and, of course, Louis Armstrong. It’s Armstrong Allen is most often compared to, and it’s said that he was the first musician good enough to take what Armstrong had done and improve upon it, taking it one step further.
A little taste of Red Allen in action:
Red Allen worked up until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1966. His childhood home in had fallen into terrible disrepair, and PRC’s Operation Comeback was thrilled to have the opportunity to restore the building and return it to commerce.
The house is now happily occupied, beautifully cared for, and will be there to tell people about Algier’s musical heritage for years to come!
Two-Bay Creole Cottages
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A beautifully renovated two-bay Creole cottage in the Marigny Triangle
Two-bay Creole cottages are a relatively rare architectural type found only in New Orleans oldest residential neighborhoods. At first glance, these homes may look like a typical two-bay single shotgun house, but there are distinct differences between the two.
Creole cottages pre-date shotguns by roughly half a century, appearing during the late 18th to early 19th centuries, while shotguns appeared around 1840. Creole cottages are more shallow than shotguns, but the easiest way to tell them apart is by the roof line. The roof line of a shotgun runs perpendicular to the street, while a Creole cottage roof line runs parallel to the street.
Additionally, Creole cottages generally have a steep gabled roof 
that contain a half-story on the second floor, while shotguns usually have hipped roofs and do not contain a second floor (with the exception of camelback shotguns ). Finally, Creole cottages have an overhang or abat-vent and are built right up to the sidewalk, while shotguns generally have galleries and are set further back on the property.
Most Creole cottages have four bays (usually two doors and two windows in front). The four-bay cottages are two rooms wide and two rooms deep. There are no interior hallways (which improved circulation before modern air conditioners) and each room opens into the next. Kitchens were initially built in a separate outbuilding in the back of the property, but after 1840 they were built as attachments to the back of the cottage.
The two-bay Creole cottage is small by today’s standards, being half the size of the four-bay with two openings in front, one room wide, and two rooms deep. The earliest examples contained two doors that opened onto the sidewalk, but after 1830 one door and one window became standard. Most of them were weatherboarded , but some were brick-between-post construction or plastered brick.
Although four-bay cottages are still prevalent in New Orleans, the two-bays are fairly rare. They appear in neighborhoods like Treme, Marigny, and New Marigny with greater frequency simply because those areas were being developed during a time when the type was very popular, and before the time when shotguns became more widely used. In an effort to document the remaining two-bay Creole cottages and advocate for their continued preservation, we will be locating and photographing them in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on the PRC’s Flickr page for new photographs of this wonderful, early type of New Orleans architecture!
Allison “Tootie” Montana- New Orleans craftsman
Posted by: | CommentsTootie’s best known for being the prettiest Mardi Gras Indian of all time, of course- the “Chief of Chiefs” who had a fatal heart attack in the middle of a City Council meeting, while trying to bring the police and community together around the unique issues of culture and heritage in New Orleans.
What he’s less well known for is being a master craftsman - a lather, in fact. Tootie explains:
Well, the thing about [master lath work] is you have to work your skills together, which is something that’s kinda hard. Because a lot of times when you put accuracy and speed together, if you have speed, you lose accuracy. . . . When you can use your accuracy, when your speed and accuracy work together, you’re good. You’re a good mechanic. You do plenty good work. Whenever you mention you’re a lather-L-A-T-H-E-R-people always say, “Well, what that is?” You have to explain ‘em. See, we the ones prepare the job for the plasterers. The plasterers put their plaster
Tootie worked on hundreds of buildings around the city, known for the quality his workmanship and never missing a day on the job. Unfortunately, due to the nature of lathe work, his frames are hidden beneath plaster , making it hard to know at a glance which houses are “his,” but one notable example of his large-scale work is on the front of Le Pavillion, on Poydras Street:
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The medallion is set upon a metal frame of Tootie’s design. It needed to be strong enough to keep the adornment from collapsing under its own weight while still being lightweight enough to be applied to the outside of the building. He worked on the interior of the Hotel as well, and is known to have worked on several other large-scale commercial projects, including the detail work in the Hotel Monteleone’s ornate lobby ceiling.
Tootie often said that without the knowledge and experience he’d earned on the job he wouldn’t have been able to construct such intricate suits:
I can see things and do it the way I see it. My trade helped me with my Indian suit [made to wear as Big Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas]. Measuring and centers. That’s how I work. In fact, my Indian suit, everything I done on that suit come from what I learned from building. I have a center line that I work. Every building has a center line that’s put in there that’s a jump start. Everything is worked off of that line. My crown, that’s my center line. My apron, everything center line. . . . Well, tell you the truth, my way of making the suit and getting the points, just designing the suit as a whole, my trade helps me, you see. The only thing is I’m working with cardboard and with my trade I’m working with iron, light iron and wire, metal lath. It’s no different. That’s why I can make a design, break it down, get it square to inches, but I can do the same thing with my trade. See, my trade helped me with making the suits, mending a suit.*
He worked on those suits with his wife in his New Marigny shotgun house , which he’d also spent years working on and customizing:
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We’ll be keeping our eyes open for other projects Tootie was involved in around the city.
If you’d like to learn more about Mr. Montana, his life, his work, and his death, the documentary “Tootie’s New Suit” is an excellent place to start:
*these quotes were used in “More than a Craftsman,” researched and put together by Louisiana Folklife. It’s fascinating information and well worth a visit.
NCDC Agenda July 6: Hoffman Elementary Threatened
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UPDATE: The Neighborhood Conservation District Committee denied the request to demolish this school. The Recovery School District can appeal the committee’s decision to City Council.
Hoffman Elementary at 2622 S. Prieur St in the Hoffman Triangle neighborhood is one of the schools proposed for demolition and redevelopment by the Recovery School District. It is appearing on the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee (NCDC ) Agenda for July 6, 2009. Hoffman was built in 1951 by New Orleans based architect Charles Colbert (1921-2007). Colbert designed several notable buildings in our region and received the Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA ) in 2007. He was known for blending modern architecture with vernacular responses appropriate for southern Louisiana’s hot and humid climate. For example, Colbert’s Wheatley Elementary in Treme was raised above a central yard in order to create play space for students, but it also had the effect of cooling the classrooms. This is similar to the French Colonial style of early colonists which has been recognized to be a highly efficient means of cooling interiors in our climate. Colbert took a similar approach with Hoffman Elementary, and he specifically designed the roof and windows to mitigate the effects of direct sunlight and increase ventilation inside the building. The result is a premier example of mid-century Modern architecture built with the special needs of the New Orleans climate in mind. Additionally, Colbert’s work was featured prominently in “Regional Modernism,” a 2007 exhibition at the Ogden museum curated by Melissa Urcan, the Executive Director of AIA New Orleans. Colbert was an important architect for the New Orleans area.
The Hoffman Triangle actually received its name from Hoffman Elementary because of the school’s central location in the neighborhood and its active parent and alumni associations. The area and the school itself suffers from years of pre- and post-Katrina blight and neglect, but Hoffman Elementary had all of the essential ingredients to become an anchor for the neighborhood prior to the storm. The missing element was investment. The Recovery School District is planning to replace Hoffman with a new building; however, the distinct style of Hoffman Elementary has been a fixture in the neighborhood and part of its architectural fabric for almost 60 years. Although the building received approximately 3 feet of flooding, this steel and concrete two-story building was not damaged beyond repair. A restored Hoffman Elementary would not only serve new students, it could also be a source of pride for alumni and neighborhood residents. A newly built, generically designed school would not foster these intangible elements, which can be so crucial to neighborhood pride and reinvestment. In a neighborhood that has already lost large chunks of its building stock since the storm, the answer is not to continue to demolish all that is familiar to the neighborhood, but to restore and invest in what is still there. This is particularly true for buildings like Hoffman Elementary, which exhibit a distinct architectural style and contribute to a unique sense of place.
The public is welcome to attend NCDC meetings and submit their comments to the Committee. The time for this meeting is Monday July 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm. 1300 Perdido St, New Orleans.
Visit the PRC Advocacy Department’s Flickr site to view photographs of Hoffman Elementary .
Join the call to KILL BILL 75! Uphold the master plan charter change.
Posted by: | CommentsDear PRC supporters:
On Monday, the Louisiana House of Representatives will vote on SB 75 - a bill so controversial that many organizations and residents have come forward to publicly oppose it rather than allow the bill to undermine the master planning process in our state. The Business Council, the Bureau of Governmental Research, the Homebuilders Association, the Downtown Development District, Citizens for One, the City Council, Mayor Nagin, City Attorney Penya Moses Fields, most neighborhood associations and many others are opposed to SB 75 because it would require a citywide vote on the master plan , even though the City Council and City Planning Commission (with open citizen participation) have full authority over the master plan .
Without full consideration of the implications, the bill might not seem so terrible- after all, citizens came together to craft the master plan , so wouldn’t a vote just affirm their findings? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t so simple- our citizens did indeed come together, working together in diverse groups from every neighborhood in the city to craft a long range vision. The plan they worked long and hard for was not born of a political process, but as a labor of love. Placing the plan on the ballot could reverse everything, allowing powerful special interest groups to lobby for self-serving changes. Local citizens groups cannot hope to match the budgets of these larger organizations, and their voices would no longer be heard.
To quote Bill Borah, esteemed President of Smart Growth for Louisiana , By requiring a municipal vote on the completed Master Plan before it can become law to direct the future development of the city, Senator Murray is supporting and engaging in what is known as ballot box planning. This is a procedure that is frowned on by respected land use attorneys and urban planners and places the average citizen in the position of passing judgment on a complex, city-wide document that reflects land use compromises reached through arduous negotiations in neighborhood after neighborhood across the municipality.
New Orleans City Business has joined the coalition opposed to SB 75.
We know that you care aboutour city and state, and we thank you for your support of PRC. It is critical that New Orleans seek excellence in planning to remain the authentic cultural treasure it is, anchoring the tourism industry in Louisianaand maintaining its appeal to residents and future business investment.
Please take time to contact your representative in the House IMMEDIATELY and urge them to vote against SB 75. If you would like to confirm your representative, visit www.legis.state.la.us . If you would like to email all legislators, copy and past the email addresses at the bottom of this post into the “to” field of your email.
Thank you for your time and your continued support of PRC!
SAMPLE LETTER: (Personalized letters are more effective than form letters, so please use this letter as a starting point and make it your own!)
Representatives, I am writing to urge you to vote AGAINST SB 75. SB 75 violates the spirit and intent of the City’s Home Rule Charter and reverses the historic turnout vote of the people taken in a citywide election last November. In that highly public campaign the people approved a process to produce a master plan with the force of law. Citizens demanded a real, transparent process for planning.
SB 75 requires an expensive, unworkable and unproven process that substitutes the judgment of the legislature for that of the people, and risks significant delay to development in New Orleans (including priorities in the city streets, public transportation, etc.). Its intent is to gut the planning process. Reverting back to the old system would disenfranchise the citizens who can now freely participate in this process.
NO OTHER CITY in LA requires a vote of the people after their elected city leadership has approved the plan. SB 75 would revert New Orleans back to the old-school, dysfunctional planning process that has been in practice for decades Please DEFEAT this bill now!
Thank you for your support.
Copy and paste these email addresses into your “to” field:
abramson@legis.state.la.us; larep021@legis.state.la.us; armesj@legis.state.la.us; larep102@legis.state.la.us; auberte@legis.state.la.us; badonb@legis.state.la.us; larep100@legis.state.la.us; larep053@legis.state.la.us; barrast@legis.state.la.us; larep029@legis.state.la.us; billotr@legis.state.la.us; brossettj@legis.state.la.us; bufordr@legis.state.la.us; burnsh@legis.state.la.us; larep089@legis.state.la.us; larep002@legis.state.la.us; carmodyt@legis.state.la.us; carters@legis.state.la.us; champags@legis.state.la.us; larep022@legis.state.la.us; chaneyb@legis.state.la.us; connickp@legis.state.la.us; cortezp@legis.state.la.us; cromerg@legis.state.la.us; danahaym@legis.state.la.us; dixonh@legis.state.la.us; larep010@legis.state.la.us; larep052@legis.state.la.us; larep012@legis.state.la.us; edwardsj@legis.state.la.us; ellingtn@legis.state.la.us; larep094@legis.state.la.us; larep013@legis.state.la.us; foilf@legis.state.la.us; franklina@legis.state.la.us; larep011@legis.state.la.us; larep035@legis.state.la.us; gisclait@legis.state.la.us; larep066@legis.state.la.us; larep040@legis.state.la.us; larep041@legis.state.la.us; guinnj@legis.state.la.us; hardyr@legis.state.la.us; harrisoj@legis.state.la.us; hazelc@legis.state.la.us; hendersr@legis.state.la.us; henryc@legis.state.la.us; hilld@legis.state.la.us; hinesw@legis.state.la.us; hoffmanf@legis.state.la.us; ahoney@legis.state.la.us; howardf@legis.state.la.us; larep104@legis.state.la.us; jacksong@legis.state.la.us; larep061@legis.state.la.us; johnsoro@legis.state.la.us; jonesr@legis.state.la.us; joness@legis.state.la.us; larep016@legis.state.la.us; larep036@legis.state.la.us; larep081@legis.state.la.us; larep096@legis.state.la.us; larep059@legis.state.la.us; landryn@legis.state.la.us; lebasb@legis.state.la.us; legerw@legis.state.la.us; ligit@legis.state.la.us; littles@legis.state.la.us; lopintoj@legis.state.la.us; larep062@legis.state.la.us; larep046@legis.state.la.us; monican@legis.state.la.us; montoucej@legis.state.la.us; larep001@legis.state.la.us; nortonb@legis.state.la.us; nowlinr@legis.state.la.us; pearsonk@legis.state.la.us; perryj@legis.state.la.us; larep093@legis.state.la.us; pointe@legis.state.la.us; poper@legis.state.la.us; pughs@legis.state.la.us; richardj@legis.state.la.us; richardc@legis.state.la.us; larep101@legis.state.la.us; larep075@legis.state.la.us; larep045@legis.state.la.us; royc@legis.state.la.us; schrodj@legis.state.la.us; simons@legis.state.la.us; larep088@legis.state.la.us; larep56@legis.state.la.us; larep008@legis.state.la.us; smithp@legis.state.la.us; larep060@legis.state.la.us; larep099@legis.state.la.us; talbotk@legis.state.la.us; templetr@legis.state.la.us; thibautm@legis.state.la.us; larep086@legis.state.la.us; larep005@legis.state.la.us; larep064@legis.state.la.us; larep004@legis.state.la.us; willmott@legis.state.la.us; larep105@legis.state.la.us
The Real Cost of Contractor Fraud
Posted by: | CommentsAn excellent writeup from the folks at Rebuilding Together, detailing the toll contractor fraud has taken on our recovery.
(If you are having a hard time reading the print, just click on the image, then select ‘all sizes’ to view a larger version.)
The PRC Celebrates Shotgun Houses!
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May is Shotgun House Month at the PRC!
Popular folklore says that these homes got their names because if you fired a shotgun through the front door it would exit through the back without hitting any walls. The style is characterized by houses that are one to two rooms wide, and three to four rooms deep with no interior hallways- each room opens directly onto the next. However, the doorways of each room are not always aligned, so you’d better check before you decide to put that folklore to the test!
The architectural style was imported from tropical Haiti, where the cost-effective and unique structure drew in the air to circulate through each room. The homes were typically raised a foot or two off the ground, which also allowed air to pass beneath, further cooling it and keeping water away from the main structure. With New Orleans’ Gulf and river breezes, the benefits of using the shotgun style were apparent, and it soon became the most popular housing style in the South from the end of the Civil War (1861-65) through the early 1920s.
There are many varieties of shotguns, including the single, double, and camelback shotgun. It remains the most popular housing style in New Orleans.
The PRC is celebrating Shotgun House month by hosting several events. We hope to see you there!
May 12th, 2009: Homebuyers Workshop: New Orleans Shotguns
Presentations from 6:00 – 7:30pm at the PRC (923 Tchoupitoulas St.)
Free admission“Colorful Shotguns” Designer/Colorist Louis Aubert will lead us on a visual tour of shotguns across the city with a discussion of the how and why of both color selection and placement. The talk includes both period correct color and placement as well as a more contemporary approach to color selection.
“The New Orleans Shotgun” presented by David Dillard, AIA
“Restoring an Old New Orleans House” Ray Cannata presents preservation and renovation tips learned over the 3 years spent restoring his 1902 Uptown Shotgun double.
May 21st, 2009: Shotgun Reception
5:30 – 7:30pm at 1316 Seventh St.
Tickets: $20 PRC members, $25 non-members.
Join the PRC in the Garden District for a wine and cheese reception to toast the classic beauty of the New Orleans shotgun. The home of Carol and Howard Soper is one of several shotgun houses in a row. This bracketed shotgun has 13 ft ceilings and was the first home of the Archie Mannings when they moved to New Orleans. Entertainment will be provided by PRC’s own Jon Skvarka on the piano.
May 28th, 2009: Renovators Happy Hour
5:30 to 7:00pm at 821 Napoleon Ave.
Tickets: $5 PRC members, $7 non-members.Be inspired by the transformation of this charming shotgun “mother-in-law” renovation by Whitney and Brett Babineaux. It was previously abandoned but will soon be a restored shotgun jewel.
The PRC has an extensive photo collection of shotguns on Flickr.
For more information about the events listed above please visit the PRC website.
Greening Up Historic Preservation
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“The greenest building is the one that is already built.”
This phrase was coined by architect Carl Elefante nearly a decade ago, and it has become a mantra among energy conscious preservationists. Green building advocacy in historic preservation is gaining ground because many preservationists realize that saving an older home and restoring it with energy efficient techniques saves resources and is more sustainable in the long run. Every home that is restored means fewer materials used and less energy consumed than if the home were built from scratch.
There has been a common misconception that building a new house could be better, overall, for the environment. These new homes, the thinking goes, could utilize the latest technologies to be more eco-friendly. The problem is that this defines “better for the environment” much too narrowly. There are many factors not taken into consideration, such as the amount of materials and waste that goes into a new construction. According to the EIA, in the United States new buildings represent 72% of our consumption, use 40% of raw materials globally, and create 136 tons of construction waste per year. In contrast, preservation maximizes the use of existing materials, reduces waste, and uses fewer natural resources.
Older homes were often built with a much better quality of materials than what is found in new construction today, and developed energy conservation techniques can be added to the home to make it more energy efficient. For example, historic windows are often surprisingly energy efficient because they were built with older wood, which is denser and lasts longer than the wood typically used for windows today. Wooden windows also do not release toxins into the air like the new PVC and vinyl replacement windows. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it could take up to 100 years for a replacement window to pay for itself in energy savings. With proper insulation and sealing, historic windows can be just as energy efficient as new replacement windows while having the added benefit of being toxin-free and of much better quality. And you don’t have to go out and purchase new windows!
The National Trust for Historic Preservation , as well as those of us at the PRC, recognize the many benefits of reusing our existing building stock and “greening up” historic homes. For more information about sustainability and how it applies to historic preservation, as well as tips on how make your home more energy efficient, please visit the National Trust for Historic Preservation ’s website .
The Story of the Higgins Homes and their Unique Role in New Orleans History
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Many believe that the house at 846 Pontalba St. has special historic significance. While it is not remarkable architecturally, this Mediterranean-style double is culturally significant as it is believed to be one of the homes built for employees of Higgins Industries.
A New Orleans entrepreneur and boat enthusiast, Andrew Jackson Higgins developed Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel boats (LCVPs), widely known as “Higgins boats.” Initially, Higgins had a difficult time selling his boats, but he eventually won a military contract and built more than 20,000 of them. The boats were used in every major amphibian operation in Europe and the Pacific during World War II, including the D-Day invasion. President Eisenhower ultimately credited Higgins boats with “winning the war for the United States.”
Higgins had seven production plants in New Orleans by late 1943. The facility on City Park Avenue was, according to Higgins, the world’s largest boat-building facility under one roof. His combined plants employed more than 25,000 workers, and housing became such an issue that the company built homes for some its employees. The exact number of Higgins homes remaining in New Orleans is unknown at this time, but there are several more suspected in the Navarre neighborhood.
In addition to his contribution to the war effort, Higgins Industries was the first company in New Orleans to be racially integrated. His workforce included whites, blacks, women, seniors, and people with disabilities.
A.J. Higgins and the city of New Orleans played a unique role in the United States victory in World War II, and his attention to equal opportunity employment and civil rights was ahead of the times. This makes the Higgins homes an important piece of New Orleans history.
This home may soon be made available for sale through the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority . To see this home please visit the PRC’s Flickr website . For more information about A.J. Higgins please visit his memorial website . A replica of a Higgins boat is on display at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
PRC’s New Orleans Revitalization Tour
Posted by: | CommentsPRC Members’ Tour
“New Orleans Revitalization”
April 5, 2009- Sunday from 2:00pm-5:00pm. Join us for a narrated bus tour of significant and positive rebuilding efforts in St Roch, Holy Cross and the Ninth Ward. Projects will include the PRC’s HOME AGAIN!, Operation Comeback and Rebuilding Together. See the Global Green project house, Brad Pitt’s Make it Right and the incredible historic restoration at Jackson Barracks. (It will bring you back to Antebellum times!) Some surprise guests will join us for a private escorted tour segment. Presented by the PRC’s Membership Education Committee. Refreshments are included at a special stop. Tour will originate at the PRC and is $25.00.
For reservations or more information call 504.636.3399 or e-mail sblaum@prcno.org
