St. Alphonses - 8-4-2026

August 4, 2026

New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission
1340 Poydras Street, Suite 1100
New Orleans, LA 70112

Re: Support for Local Historic Landmark Designation of St. Alphonsus Church Building, 2025 Constance Street

Dear Members of the Commission,

Thank you for your consideration of Louisiana Landmarks Society's nomination of the St. Alphonsus Church
building at 2025 Constance Street for Local Historic Landmark designation. We appreciate the staff's study and strongly support this designation of a building whose architectural and cultural importance is beyond dispute.

Completed in 1857 according to the designs of architect Louis L. Long and built by the Redemptorist Fathers and their parishioners, St. Alphonsus Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996. Since the 1990s, the Friends of St. Alphonsus (FOSA) have worked tirelessly to preserve the building and repair its damage.

It was out of concern for the building's condition that Louisiana Landmarks Society named the St. Alphonsus Church building as one of our New Orleans' Nine Most Endangered Sites in 2020. Years of deferred maintenance have left it in need of significant attention. St. Alphonsus is also eligible for historic tax credits, making it an attractive candidate for sale and redevelopment. Local Historic Landmark designation would help ensure that any future repair, rehabilitation, or redevelopment is reviewed by the HDLC and performed with the same care that earned this building national landmark status thirty years ago, and that any use of historic tax credits would benefit, rather than compromise, the building's historic fabric.

Louisiana Landmarks Society respectfully requests that the Commission approve Local Historic Landmark designation for the St. Alphonsus Church building.

Thank you again for your continued work protecting New Orleans' architectural heritage.

Sincerely,

Sandra Stokes
Chair of Advocacy