New Orleans' Nine 2008

The custodial cottages are small residential structures dating from the late 19th and early 20th century that were constructed on school grounds to house the custodian/caretaker. The custodian lived on-site as resident groundskeepers. Many New Orleans schools had these quaint residences, but over the years, the School Board phased out this program, and now most have been demolished, and the remaining few are in extreme danger of demolition. The majority of the remaining cottages are in a state of neglect and disrepair.

Located in the Mid-City National Register Historic District, this long-time cultural institution housed in an old telephone exchange building is in the footprint for the proposed new LSU Medical Center. Incorporated in 1928, the Deutsches Haus was formed as a benevolent and social organization which evolved from the Deutsche Gesellschaft von New Orleans and several other groups. The Deutsche Gesellschaft, whose origins date back to 1848, provided support for the numerous German immigrants in the New Orleans area, providing them meals and housing, helping them find employment, and assisting them in reaching their ultimate destination in the United States.

Dixie Beer first opened its brewery in 1907 when New Orleans had a competitive field of local brewers. The company made it through Prohibition by making nonalcoholic beverages until beer was made legal again in 1933. Its last local contemporary, Falstaff, shut down its nearby brewery in 1978. Unfortunately, this venerable old building suffered flooding, wind damage, and rampant looting after Hurricane Katrina, and remains vacant and in deplorable condition. Although after Katrina, the owners talked of rehabbing and reopening it, there are no signs of that happening, nearly three years after the storm. The building is located in the Mid-City National Register Historic District, and has been nominated as a local landmark by the HDLC.

Constructed in 1879 as an elementary school, this Italianate style school building is under renovation by the Recovery School District. However, it falls within the footprint for the proposed new LSU Medical Center. This substantial, masonry building is one of the finest architectural examples remaining in the neighborhood. Funds have already been expended to restore the school building, and a school serving health career education is ideal to co-exist with the new LSU Medical Center. The Medical Center footprint could be amended to spare the destruction of this historic school, and instead could join forces with the school to forge a unique educational partnership while sparing an important piece of local architecture.

One of the last remaining, intact historic auto dealership buildings in the city, this once attractive building has suffered from a severe fire and hurricane-related damage. The other two known historic auto dealership buildings that remain have both been altered, one of them so much changed that it is no longer recognizable. The building was purchased by the venerable Rhodes Funeral home around the corner, but it remains unsecured and in a severely deteriorated condition. Since Hurricane Katrina, the Broadmoor neighborhood has worked hard to return and re-establish itself, and renovation of this building could help tremendously in that effort.

This City of New Orleans landmark is rated “Blue” by the HDLC for major architectural importance. It was constructed in 1889 in as a private home for Charles Orleans, a cemetery-memorial builder. It remained in the Orleans family until 1934. It remained a residence until it was sold to the Orleans Parish Medical Society in 1978, which remodeled it into offices. It embodies a “complete and well-preserved form of the distinguishing characteristics of the Queen Anne style modified by Eastlake style ornament, and (is valued) as one of the most complete nineteenth-century buildings surviving along Canal Street between Claiborne and Carrollton Avenues,” according to the HDLC Landmark report.

This collection of buildings, dating from circa 1920, was built as the physicians’ or officers’ quarters for the U.S. Quarantine Station for the port, replacing earlier Quarantine Stations further downriver. In 1973, the property was donated by the U.S. Public Health Service to the Orleans Parish School Board for educational purposes. In February 2003, any restrictions on the property, including the ability of the U.S. government to reclaim the property, expired. Before Katrina, the property was on the OPSB recommended surplus property list. However, the disposition of all OPSB property is now being re-visited under the master plan redevelopment. The buildings are located on a large piece of property adjacent to the river levy.

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, George Washington Carver Junior-Senior High School, McDonogh No. 39/ Avery Alexander Elementary School, Thomy Lafon Elementary School

Designated an HDLC City Landmark in 1977, this church was on the most recent list from the Archdiocese to close and merge with a neighboring parish. Located in the middle of the Central City National Register Historic District, St. Francis de Sales parish grew out of St. John the Baptist, and was established around 1870 to serve the Irish and German immigrants in the area. But with the changing demographics in the city, St. Francis de Sales became a mostly African American congregation.