The Fall

While it's listed as a contributing property, the one house in the VA Footprint that I was not too concerned about seeing demolished...went down yesterday.  It was in deplorable, unsalvageable condition, which was apparent to anyone, and it was riddled with termite and other damage, from what I was told.

The Triangle

Often overlooked, the triangle of land between Banks Street, Rocheblave, and Tulane Avenue (dominated by the old Dixie Brewery from 1907) has been back on the radar in the past two weeks or so.

The camelback that recently met its end required asbestos abatement before demolition, as indicated by the red "Asbestos Hazard" tape strung along the site.

Down near the tip of the triangle, the sign at Lee's Seafood and Grill started to come down.  The busy corner restaurant recently stopped serving.

Asbestos, Hybrids, and Barbershops

Today, crews ventured into this hybrid house at 2423-25 Palmyra, which sports an "admixture of massings,"possibly from different time periods, according to the VA Footprint Booklet.

On S. Galvez, asbestos abatement crews worked alongside the demolition crew on the unfortunate structure at 227 S. Galvez - it had been expanded at some point with extremely unsympathetic materials.

The distinctive and interesting upper roof of the old Sam Jupiter, Jr. Barbershop and Beauty Salon is visible now from Banks Street.

Like a handful of buildings in the VA Footprint, it was not listed as a "contributing" historic structure for some reason in the Programmatic Agreement that governs site preparation.  A number of clearly contributing properties were also left off the list in the LSU Footprint - something reinforced by the fact that a recent survey of properties for a local historic district in Mid-City found at least one of the omitted properties to be "contributing."  Fortunately, Builders of Hope is working to move any houses on the site that it can.

Meanwhile, in the foreground, a different beauty salon and barbershop, HeadQuarters, continues to operate on Banks Street in a beautifully restored historic building under the live oaks.