Along Canal Street

Here's a view of the VA Footprint, through the dust screen on the outer fence. Note that there's a second fence inside.

A Voodoo Curse...on the UMC

I just noticed this today.  It's a small sign nailed about 10 feet off the ground on a live oak tree along Canal Street - near where the Canal Street Guest House once stood.  The sign faces in toward the UMC site.

"Voodoo Saint Baron Samadi protects this property...bad deeds, bad vibes reversed"

Displaced, Demolished

It may not have been much to look at.  And it wasn't historic by any means, from what I could tell.

But the Avis Car Rental shop on Canal Street, located in the LSU Footprint, was a functioning business.  Like dozens of small businesses in the LSU and VA Footprints, it was displaced and forced to relocate as usable buildings were demolished for a project without adequate financing or a business plan.

The Idiocy Continues - State, UMC, Jacobs, subs proceed with multiple demolitions in UMC Footprint despite growing uncertainty

This great house on S. Prieur Street, a wonderful example of New Orleans architecture from circa the 1870s, in good shape and occupied until recently by multiple families, is now gone, demolished for a proposed hospital that may never be built in the LSU Footprint.

The two-story building (at right above) stood immediately next to the still-in-danger McDonogh No. 11 School (the City Council, at last week's June 2 meeting on street revocation, watered down the City Planning Commission command to save or move the building...the state now only has to "use best efforts" - which functionally means that the state will likely demolish it).

Thanks, City Council members, for not making UMC street revocation contingent upon the state agreeing to move all remaining historic structures off the site.  You had a point of leverage that could have stopped this, and you did nothing.  While there are a cast of characters to blame in this steaming heap of stupidity piled up over years, you're to blame for this particular loss.  This one's on you.

If I sound bitter, once again, it's because this sort of squirming by public officials in the face of alternatives makes a person bitter.  Throughout this saga, there has been no champion for what's right on the City Council - the one body that should be looking out for neighborhoods, for residents, and for the city's architectural heritage.  There have been many nods and poses, many excuses, and several half-attempts.  But no member decided to suck it up, do what's right, and vote "No" on anything related to the LSU/VA project.

That's shameful, and I hope it's not forgotten.

Also lost this week:

The corner two-story building at S. Prieur and Canal, former home of a Zulu King.

Here's what it looked like as crews started inside on May 16:

The Canal Street Guest House, too, is gone. The irony is deep and dark - given that the Landrieu administration touted the concessions it got from the state last week, including the possible inclusion of a strip of commercials space along Canal...right where the Canal Street Guest House used to stand.

Canal Street Commercial

This large building at Canal and S. Galvez, which has never appeared here, is in perfectly good shape - restored, sporting its Corinthian capitals and entablature.

It too, will be demolished.

The Last Day

I caught up with Sam Kranzthor today as he moved a few final items out of the Canal Street Guest House on Canal Street under the live oaks. 

Once a bordello of sorts, the building turned around under the Kranzthors, "We made this a good place for good people."  Several people, seeing this blog, have contacted me and confirmed that Canal Street Guest House was indeed a good place, a place that mattered to them and their sense of what makes New Orleans.

"The building looks kind of sad now," he noted as he wheeled two tables out of the building he once owned.  He's been moving things out for the past four days.

Unlike a neighboring property - a Cox Communications block house that will apparently stay put and be built around by the UMC...interesting - today was the last day for the Canal Street Guest House.

Panning In on the Pan-Am Building in the VA Footprint

In recent weeks, crews have been taking the "sun shade" panels off the perimeter of the former Pan-Am Insurance building in the VA Footprint.  The Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill building is being incorporated into the VA Hospital complex.

Under the Programmatic Agreement for the site preparation, the developing parties have a number of obligations with respect to treatment of the building:

Has the City posted summary reports of stabilization measures for the Pan-Am building to the dedicated Website?  If my understanding is correct, VA already has control of the actual property - and has had control for many months as actual holder of title (we've heard from City and VA officials since the fall that the Pan-Am building was the only parcel owned by VA thus far), since the early or mid fall of 2010 at least.  Indeed, the sign out in front of the building, put up by Clark/McCarthy, the construction - not demolition - contractor for the VA itself, noted today that there have been no lost time accidents on the site for 130 days:

More importantly, was the required recordation conducted prior to the present renovation work getting underway?  Work on the building was already underway in the fall.  Here's what I wrote, in green, in response to items in VA's November 24, 2010 "Interim Progress Report on the Programmatic Agreement dated 11/21/2008":

• VA will commence documentation of the Pan-American Life Insurance Company Building and
Dixie Brewery when provided access to these structures. (Stipulations V.B.2.(c).iii., and
V.B.4.(b).ii). It is anticipated that documentation of these structures will take three months to
complete.

VA has already had access to and control of the Pan-Am building for several months. It has also commenced a significant amount of work on the property, such as repainting the uppermost portion of the building. Why hasn't the documentation already been completed?

To the Dance Studio

Now that Outer Banks Bar has been demolished, the Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital will be meeting in a new location in the LSU Footprint this evening:

6pm-7:30pm

1926 Canal Street

Canal Street Guest House Dance Studio

The Canal Street Guest House is being expropriated and displaced - and the comparison properties used in the assessment of the property, from what I understand, consisted of lodging facilities that are not located on the streetcar line, a crucial aspect of the business' current location.  Thus, the compensation offered by the state for the taking, at least initially, did not reflect the value of the property.

"Along the streetcar route"

For those of you on Facebook, Michelle K captures the sad juxtaposition of a cheery New Orleans streetcar - and a government-induced wasteland.

UPDATE:  Here's the full Flickr album from Michelle's foray - it gives a sense of what's left.

Remnants

Parking Lot of the Grand Palace Hotel

As demolition companies sought a contract to demolish the old Grand Palace Hotel at 1732 Canal Street (down at today's Summit on Economic Opportunities for Local Businesses), a knot of people gathered outside the parking lot that adjoins the vacant, towering building in the lower part of the LSU Footprint.

Orleans House up for Sheriff's Sale on Wednesday?

According to a notice in today's Times-Picayune, that appears to be the case for the mansion at 1800 Canal Street:

...will proceed to sell by public auction, on the ground floor of the Civil District Court Building, 421 Loyola Avenue, in the First District of the City on November 24, 2010, at 12:00 o'clock noon, the following described property to wit: 

Lot 6 and one-half of Lot 7, Square 436 First Municipal District Municipal No. 1800 Canal Street

Acquired Min 990478 Writ Amount: $1,829,847.90  Seized in the above suit (Omni Bank vs. FM Properties, Inc. a/k/a FM Properties Inc. DC").

The ornate Eastlake building at 1800 Canal Street, one of the last Canal Street mansions, was once owned by Charles Orleans.  It is the only building that has been considered "off-limits" to demolition in the LSU Footprint all along.

Ostentatious

This elaborate wrought iron fence rings the Orleans House, an Eastlake-style mansion at 1800 Canal Street.  The structure, one of the last Canal Street mansions, is the lone building that will ostensibly be saved in the LSU Footprint according to plans at present.

Dixieland

A Zulu King in the Footprint

Iron Ivy

1926 Canal Street

Gingerbread Trim

The residence of Charles A. Orleans, one of the last remaining Victorian mansions along Canal Street.