K&B Pharmacy (1955)

K&B Pharmacy, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

In 1905 Gustave Katz and Sydney J. Besthoff opened the first Katz and Besthoff pharmacy at 732 Canal Street. [photo by Jeff Lamb]

In 1955 Katz and Besthoff comissioned Dreyfous, Seiferth and Gibert, architects to design a new K&B "self-service super drug store" with a "complete cosmetic department" at Napoleon and St. Charles avenues. The older store remained open during construction and was later razed to provide for parking. The signature "K&B purple" was ubiquitous on the firm's products, signage, shopping carts and bags. The business expanded throughout New Orleans and the Gulf South until it was sold to the Rite Aid corporation in 1997.

The building has since been razed and replaced with a banking outlet.

[Photo: 1972, New Orleans Virtual Archive, Tulane School of Architecture]