Preservation Matters: Keynote address by Robert Ivy

On January 31, 2009 the Tulane School of Architecture hosted the Preservation Matters symposium organized by Dean Kenneth Schwartz. In this introduction he outlines the two main purposes of the symposium. "First, to focus on preservation education issues and the future of preservation in an open exploratory way, while inviting everyone interested in this topic... to focus on what this means to Tulane University as a national research university in this amazing city. . . . Second is to recognize the extraordinary contributions by Gene Cizek - the contributions he has made throughout his distinguished career at Tulane as Director of Preservation Studies." Dean Schawrtz also introduces the panel, Erica Avrami, Daniel Bluestone, Eugene Darwin Cizek, Ned Kaufman, Stanley Lowe, Jorge Rigau and the Keynote speaker, Robert Ivy.

The editor of Architectural Record since 1996, Robert Ivy holds a Masters in Architecture from Tulane University and is a former student of Gene Cizek. He provides an overview of Cizek's extensive accomplishments and legacy. Ivy looks forward to discuss challenges to preservation in China and London. He then looks back and frames the history of architectural preservation in the context of iconic buildings that focus on a significant person, event or place.

Ivy reminds us of the rich history of preservation in New Orleans. (In preservation we are progressive!) In 1925 New Orleans was the first city to pass an ordinance to create a historic district - the Vieux Carré. He also recalls the dedication of citizens like Elizabeth Werlein of New Orleans and the role of Tulane University in the growth of our local movement. He reviews the advances made by Tulane alumni in the field.

• Richard Koch (1910) "the progenitor of the Historic American Building Survey in New Orleans"
• Samuel Wilson (1931) "scholarly, authoritative, erudite and accurate"
• A. Hays Town (1926) "headed HABS in Mississippi....and produced the first drawings that HABS produced"
• Bernard Lemann (1926) "created an inventory of historic sites...part of the 1967 Community Renewal Program....mentor to generations of Tulanians"

In the Vieux Carré: A General Statement Lemann voiced the importance of recognizing the tout ensemble - the relationship of the part to the whole. This marks the evolution of an attitude of preserving individual buildings to one of preserving districts and a more comprehensive understanding of place.

Ivy reviews the history of legislation which enabled the growth of the movement. He discusses the National Trust's Main Street program as transformative - linking commercial revitalization to the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods. He credits New Orleans as a model community for preservation activity due to the combination of the high number of National Register Districts, efforts of the Preservation Resource Center, the enabling legislation and the commitment of individuals. Ivy's "democratization of preservation" is then the expansion of the dialogue and activity to a larger audience, "achieving the maximum benefit for the greatest number of people." He poses the question of representation. "Who is in charge here? Who guards the legacy? Who tells the story?"

Modernism, as exemplified locally in the Phillis Wheatley School, generally presents a problem to preservation. After the Second World War there was tremendous need for new buildings now. Some were excellent, worthy of care and recognition, while "others merely filled space." They present technical challenges due to the degradation of the physical fabric. They are often overlooked due to an "architectural myopia" - a condition that disables us from appreciating that which is too close.

Regarding sustainability, Ivy notes that the embedded energy of buildings is the greatest contributor to carbon emissions in the world. The percentage ranges by study -33% to 48% - more than transportation! This is increased by the energy required for demolition, hauling rubble and storing it somewhere "as a problem for the next generation."

New Orleans' architecture is generally well suited to its climate, utilizing convection, understanding how to pull a cooling breeze across a room. Extended roof lines shield walls from intense sun and rain. (see: Hoffman School) This responsiveness to site needs to be recognized and LEED needs to integrate its standards with preservation. Ivy suggests we are approaching a renewed Urbanism, an "Age of the City." He challenges the panel and audience to consider the following:

• What does Preservation mean now and for the future?
• Who is it for?
• What is the role of archaeology, science, economy, sustainability?
  

Special thanks to Tulane Technology Services for editing the video and hosting it on the Tulane YouTube channel.

Preservation Matters Symposium

Save Charity

Save Charity, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

http://www.vcpora.org/

LSU/VA Medical Complex - Is It Really a Done Deal?
Over 70 acres of lower Mid-City cleared.
Over 200 historic buildings demolished.
Over 1,000,000 square feet of downtown buildings abandoned.

Come hear why one of the biggest economic development projects proposed for the city is also one of the most controversial, and learn about the issues, the alternatives, and why this matters to every New Orleans neighborhood.

Wednesday, January 21
Bourbon Orleans Hotel - 717 Orleans St.
6:00—6:30 reception * 6:30—8:00 presentation

Speakers include:

Bill Borah, attorney and author
Walter Gallas, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Sandra Stokes, Foundation for Historical Louisiana
Bobbi Rogers, Lower Mid-City Resident

Sponsored by:
Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates
Foundation for Historical Louisiana
National Trust for Historic Preservation

ALL ARE WELCOME!

Sign the National Trust's Petition to Save Charity

Health Care -- Of the People, By the People, originally uploaded by Preservation Resource Center, Advocacy Department.

TAKE ACTION - Sign the National Trust's Petition to the Louisiana State Legislature

sign it here

The petition reads:

On November 25, 2008, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Louisiana State University announced the selection of the Mid-City neighborhood for the site of their new hospitals, in spite of the fact that the State Legislature has not yet finalized plans for funding for the LSU Hospital. The current plan would needlessly destroy the historic neighborhood around Charity Hospital, where residents have been rebuilding and restoring their community since Hurricane Katrina.

We, the undersigned, applaud the Legislature’s intention to have a hearing and urge consideration of ALL the alternatives for bringing quality health care back to New Orleans, including alternatives that rehab the historic Charity Hospital into a state of the art medical facility an option that would be both faster and cheaper and much less destructive than the plan proposed by LSU and the VA.

Thanks PreservationNation.

Galatoire House (Albert Ledner, architect)

ledner30, originally uploaded by regional.modernism. Galatoire Residence, 1966, Albert C. Ledner, 11 Park Island, New Orleans, LA photo: Francine Stock

In December of 2007 the new owner of the Galatoire House at No. 11 Park Island graciously opened his doors to the board of DOCOMOMO-Louisiana for an informal tour with the architect Albert Ledner. The photographs featured in this post are from the 2007 tour. The house previously had been featured on a tour of modernist buildings in New Orleans organized by the Tulane School of Architecture in 1994. I recently found a copy of this brochure and will subsequently blog the other buildings listed as well.

This home blends antique and contemporary, delicate windows and massive curving surfaces. Mrs. Galatoire spent much of her life collecting components from buildings slated for demolition, and the architect took up the challenge of incorporating them into a coherent home.

The entry drive and courtyard are paved with cobblestones from the site of the International Trade Mart, and the courtyard features an antique three-tier iron fountain in a reflecting pool. Arched fan doors from the Garden District home of Josephine Louise Newcomb serve as the entrance.

Mrs. Galatoire's collection of windows from Good Shepherd Convent (built in 1866 at Bienville and Broad Streets for the care of delinquent little girls) includes the arched windows that form the front of the house and eleven stained glass ceiling fixtures.

To the right of the entryway is a guest suite. The bath features a Portuguese carved door dating to the mid-eighteenth century, collected from the home of Archbishop John Shaw. Bronze faced window benches with antique tiles from the Shaw house are seen in the bedroom, living room and television room.

Stone is important in this home. The downstairs floor is white marble, and several bathrooms include marble as well. The circular wall behind the dining room and living area is of granite.

The curving lines of the building are particularly striking as the balcony passes through the arched windows upstairs. Equally compelling is the view of Bayou St. John. The back stairway is also an exercise in curves. It spirals tightly, and the newel post is a series of stacked [glass] balls.

Mrs. Galatoire's eclectic tastes are evident in the kitchen: the cooking island, crafted from a single brass column, was once the service counter of [the Whitney] Bank. An antique door of glass and metal is from Spain.

More recent owners have added a memento from another chapter of New Orleans history: the Floating Leaves from the 1984 World's Fair Wonder Wall, designed by Kent Bloomer of the Yale Art Department.

source: "The International Style in New Orleans" tour brochure, Tulane University School of Architecture, copy by Patty Andrews, 1994.

see also: "The Creation of Park Island" by Carolyn Kolb, New Orleans Magazine, February 21, 2007

Blue Plate Apartments

Blue Plate Building 6, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Developer Tara Carter Hernandez intends to adapt the Blue Plate Building (August Perez, Jr., 1941) into a 72-unit apartment building.

Developer wants Blue Plate on Her Menu by Bruce Eggler, Times-Picayune, January 4, 2009

Last day to comment on FEMA 106 review of public schools

Today is the last day to submit a public comment to FEMA on the schools effected by the master plan. http://www.crt.state.la.us/culturalassets/FEMA106/
Of the thirty schools built in the 1950s, only Mahalia Jackson Elementary is slated for renovation. All other modernist schools are slated for demolition.

The OPSB and BESE approval of the School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish (SFMPOP) may effectively erase mid-century modern school facilities from the cultural and architectural fabric of New Orleans. In the spring of 2008, DOCOMOMO Louisiana successfully nominated four of these schools to the Louisiana Landmarks Society Most Endangered List.

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, 1955
2300 Dumaine Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
Charles R. Colbert, architect
Progressive Architecture citation

Thomy Lafon Elementary School, 1954
2601 Seventh Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
Curtis and Davis, architects
AIA Honor Award

George Washington Carver Junior - Senior High School, 1958
3059 Higgins Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana
Curtis and Davis, architects
Progressive Architecture First Design Award

McDonogh No. 39 / Avery Alexander Elementary School, 1952
5800 St. Roch Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana
Goldstein, Parham and Labouisse; Freret and Wolf; Curtis and Davis, architects
First modern public school in New Orleans

In A Guide to the Architecture of New Orleans 1699-1959, Samuel Wilson, Jr. cites twenty-five of the thirty public schools which were built in the 1950s. Of these, ten have been demolished or are slated for demolition. Of the remaining fifteen mid-century modern schools, fourteen were assessed as "complete replacement." While many of these buildings were clearly damaged by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent inundation, some are merely victims of neglect. The Recovery School District is indeed in the process of recovering. However, that is not an excuse for the wholesale demolition of mid-century modern public school architecture from the city of New Orleans. These schools were designed with respect to the city's environment and the structures are ripe for sustainable rehabilitation and reuse.

All of the schools suffered from deferred maintenance and general neglect under the governance of the Orleans Parish School Board. The primary structures at the Phillis Wheatley and Thomy Lafon Elementary Schools are elevated, but ground floor adjunct spaces were inundated. McDonogh No. 39 /Avery Alexander and George Washington Carver Schools were heavily inundated. The school facilities were cleared of materials and have been boarded up. These buildings have all been vacant since the storm.
In 1952, Charles R. Colbert was named the architect in charge of the new Office of Planning and Construction. He initiated a study of physical plant and invited local firms to submit designs for review in architectural competitions for the new schools. Architecture firms involved in this mid-century modern renaissance include: August Perez and Associates; Burk, LeBreton and Lamantia; Charles R. Colbert; Curtis and Davis; Favrot, Reed, Mathes and Bergman; Freret and Wolf; Goldstein, Parham and Labouisse; and Ricciuti Associates. Several mid-century school facilities were recognized by national architecture journals and organizations for their design merit. The Thomy Lafon School (1954, Curtis & Davis) received the AIA Honor Award. Progressive Architecture recognized the Phillis Wheatley School (1955, Charles R. Colbert). In 1957 Curtis & Davis earned Progressive Architecture's highest honor, the First Design Award, in for the innovative George Washington Carver Junior and Senior High Schools. New Orleans mid-century modern architects were not just making headlines and history. They were creating models of a regional modernism, inventive designs which are of a place, by a place and for a place.

While McDonogh no. 39 / Avery Alexander Elementary School in Gentilly did not receive any awards, it was nonetheless recognized as a model facility and was the first modern school built in New Orleans. McDonogh No. 39 is a "finger school," with four lengths of classrooms connected at one end to a broad wing of administrative offices. The bands of classrooms are connected by an exterior corridor on one side. Both sides of the classrooms and the hall have operable aluminum and glass windows, so they benefit from ample natural light and ventilation. In addition, the hall also filters the sunlight from the classroom, reducing heat gain. Grassy courtyards fill the space between the stretches of classrooms. While the school flooded post-Katrina, the design of the structure is historically significant and appropriate to our climate. The architects of record were Goldstein, Parham and Labouisse, in association with Freret & Wolf, and Curtis & Davis.

The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School is by far one of the most compelling monuments of the era. It is the culmination of a series of design innovations produced by Charles R. Colbert, one of the primary instigators of change in the public school facilities. Colbert describes how the formal structure of the Phillis Wheatley School was informed by the desire to create additional play space for the children on a relatively compact urban site.

"The city building code was interpreted to allow Wheatley to be a one-floor structure. Because of this decision, the design could combine the advantages of an exposed steel structure, without fireproofing, while concentrating its reduced weight on pile supports. The entire classroom structure was raised above grade to allow the enlargement of a diminutive play area and to create a play yard. Conventional post-and-beam construction would have created a field of hazardous columns throughout the play area while the use of the full effective depth of the cantilevered steel trusses eliminated most of these obstructions. The entire classroom structure was housed within twelve shop fabricated trusses and the twenty-two classrooms were located within this simple floor-to-ceiling structural envelope. Secondary steel joists spanned from truss to truss and supported the horizontal roof membrane, while floors consisted of six inch deep double tongue and groove wood decking that spanned between trusses. The truss, better recognized in bridges, thus became more than the support for a roof system. This old and widely used structural assembly allowed efficient shop fabrication, simple assembly, and a reduced job site construction period. The raison d'etre, to free the play yard, developed into something more.

The result was stunning. Airy, light-filled classrooms, elevated from the street, gave the effect of a modern tree-house, an appropriate and poetic setting for a child's classroom. The elevation of the Phillis Wheatley School protected the classrooms from the post-Katrina inundation of the city. Sadly the building is a victim of decades of neglect. The facility does require some intervention. The steel trusses could certainly benefit from a coat of paint. Also, the clear glass was replaced long ago with cheaper opaque plexi-glass panels. Improvements in glass and automated HVAC make it possible to renovate Wheatley to perform better than originally.

Both Phillis Wheatley and Thomy Lafon Elementary Schools were built on raised piers that saved them from the floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina. The open space underneath the elevated structure helps cool the building in our climate. This structural conceit is borrowed from the French Colonial tradition. Breezes naturally cool an elevated structure. In the case of Wheatley and Lafon, the elevated structures also created a wealth of covered play space, protected from the elements. Both schools were built with a sensitivity to local environmental conditions. The exterior walls were glass in Wheatley, mostly glass in Lafon. This gave the children new perspectives, as well as an abundance of natural light and ventilation. It is tragic that so many of the later generation of school buildings were designed as nearly windowless detention cells.
Colbert encouraged his fellow architects to consider the "emotional and spiritual needs of children" in their design of school buildings.

The George Washington Carver Junior-Senior High School was praised as a model school for the nation. Integrating a junior and senior high school on the same campus as an elementary school allowed the schools to share some common facilities.

The striking design of the auditorium with its concrete vault and hinged bridge-like buttresses helped establish Curtis and Davis as architects on the international stage. Progressive Architecture's recognition of this school with its highest design award in 1958 is a tribute to the architectural quality of Carver High School as well as the design reforms set in place by Charles Colbert.
Buildings dating from the modernist era are currently entering a period of extreme vulnerability. Their architectural and mechanical systems are reaching the end of their life cycle and are in need of re-investment. The clean and clear modernist vision is likewise marred by neglect and unsympathetic alterations during the past decades. While 19th century buildings sometimes become more romantic as they decay, the results of deferred maintenance on mid-century modern buildings are unflattering at best. In addition, the modernist style has yet to reach an era of broad understanding and appreciation by the general public. In New Orleans, the economic argument for demolition and new construction inevitably prevails. We need to preserve the most significant buildings of the twentieth century for our city's future.

Continued education and advocacy for these structures will raise awareness of their significance, quality and importance to the architectural and social history of New Orleans. Increased acceptance of modern buildings as legitimate structures to be maintained, rehabilitated, preserved and restored will help eliminate the threat of demolition. Conservation and re-use of existing buildings is also a widely acknowledged strategy for the increased overall sustainability of a city's building stock.

Modern and contemporary architecture has been seen by some as having had a negative impact. In particular, historic cities that lost significant urban fabric through urban renewal have been averse to the buildings that came in its place. While there has been opposition to their retention, attitudes have been changing. There is a growing appreciation for their role in the urban fabric as a record of diverse values and cultural movements.

New Orleans' current population is approximately half of its 1960 population, so there is less need for so many facilities. It appears that the plan is to clear the lots while FEMA funds are available for demolition and rebuild as necessary. However, in that process, struggling neighborhoods are deprived of a potential community center, artists' studio complex or musicians' practice space. These buildings are ripe for adaptive re-use and they belong to the people of New Orleans. Their structures are solidly engineered, designed in sympathy with our climate, and have become part of our cultural and historic fabric.

The renovation of a modernist school that was built in a moment of sheer optimism can serve as a symbol for the city's rebirth. We can recover the future from the past.

Francine Stock
Visual Resource Curator, Tulane University, School of Architecture, New Orleans