Three-Bay Going Down

*This post was deleted by Blogger on about Thursday of last week. It has re-appeared, as shown below:

Here's what the house at 216 S. Johnson looked like yesterday.


The salvage crews have extracted a great deal from the building.

Here's what the building's facade looked like today:

Just down the block, proving there's rarely a dull moment in the Footprint, a car was being searched by police.  The occupant was arrested for distribution of heroin.

A Troubling Tipping Point

Today, at this beautiful, 3-bay shotgun home at 216 S. Johnson Street in the UMC Footprint, salvage was underway.  The cornices above the windows are gone, though the brackets remain.

While Mr. White and his crew are among the best salvors in town, it looks like this house is headed toward demolition instead of moving. Despite a lot of talk, I have yet to hear an actual plan for moving from the State of Louisiana, Jacobs Engineering, the City of New Orleans, or Builders of Hope. I'm grateful for any efforts that are underway to make something happen, but the fact that a house like this one appears to be heading toward destruction is not good.

I should note that the weatherboards on the side in the photo above have fallen away AFTER the state took possession of the house long ago.

Inside the recessed entryway, it looked like woodwork the once surrounded an interior doorway had been stripped away.  Bricks were coming out the window as well.

Zoom Out

Window out. As of yesterday afternoon.

By late this morning, the front windows had been boarded.  That's good.  Houses like this 3-bay shotgun that remain in the LSU Footprint now stand a chance of being moved.