Sans Roofs in the LSU Footprint

Several of the homes being prepared for relocation out of the LSU Footprint stood without their roofs today.

Rooftop...removal?

Last week, crews took the many chimneys down on this house on S. Johnson Street.

Importantly, the roofs of the dozen or so houses are still on.  By this point in the VA Footprint house moving process, the roofs would all have been removed.

But I've been hearing rumblings that the roofs are indeed still set to come off.  That would be highly unwise.

If the houses are moved with their roofs off, it will show that the city and Builders of Hope failed to learn the lesson from the VA Footprint experience.  Removing roofs, as I've noted repeatedly, is the root cause of the problems with the moved VA houses nearly a year after they moved.

The roofs should not be removed from the houses set to be moved off the UMC Footprint.

Rehab Underway

Crews continued rehabilitation work today on two historic homes now located on Bienville Street.

Roofless

Two of the final three houses left in place on the VA Footprint stood with their roofs largely removed this evening.  The purple house, in the foreground, and the gray camelback behind it were home to the last residents in the VA Footprint.  They will be moved off site in coming weeks to vacant lots provided by Providence Community Housing for rehabilitation.

Roof Restore Row

Crews continued to rehabilitate the roofs of the various moved homes that now occupy a row along N. Rocheblave Street between Orleans Avenue and Lafitte Street.

Wally's Place

It looked like crews were going to remove the front porch this afternoon.

A Series of Rectangles

Only in New Orleans

Mr. Steve Lemoine at Orleans Shoring was kind enough to provide me with these shots of the houses crossing I-10 (they did get a number of honks from below).  

In the second shot, I'm in the knot of people near the dark brown house.

Also, as I've noted all along, it's important to know that the roofs of the houses have to be removed to make it to their destinations, especially given the timeframe.

Rooftops

In the foreground, the Mediterranean Revival Pump No. 15 building stands ever lonelier at the end of Palmyra Street.  From what I know, it is not slated to be saved when the hospital arrives.

Off in the distance, the top of the former Pan-Am building has been painted - it used to be covered heavily in graffiti.  At the moment, it is the only building owned by VA.  LSU and the State of Louisiana will turn over the properties in the VA Footprint to VA once site preparation is complete.

In the middle, workers began removing the distinctive, oddly-shaped roof on the fine aquamarine home at 222-24 S. Rocheblave.  As you can see in the shot below, the recently-occupied building from about 1905-1910 has a great front porch facade, as well as an interesting rear side entry with metal overhang.  I'm not certain if the rear wing will fit within the 60-foot maximum for moving.

Roofs Return

Down along Bienville, roofs continue to reappear on the cluster of moved VA Footprint houses.

From what I hear, a volunteer group from Capital One Bank even helped with the effort at this site in the past week.

Five More

Only five structures remain to be removed from the city block bounded by S. Galvez, Palmyra, Cleveland, and S. Miro.  On Friday, crews began taking the roof off the lonely house at 328-30 S. Miro, which has stood alone for some time now.

Getting Skeletal

This fine Edwardian home at 2209-11 Banks Street transformed today...serving as a sort of microcosm for the VA Hospital Footprint as a whole.  Still there...but fading.

Roofs Return

Crews began putting a new roof on this moved home that now sits at the corner of S. Derbigny on Bienville.

Across the way, another home that used to stand in the VA Footprint had an entire roof on, including an apron over the porch - except for shingles.

Another replacement roof was in progress just a block up the street.

The First Roof Replacement Gets Underway

Today.  This home, which once stood on Banks Street, now sits on foundation piers along Bienville, just above S. Derbigny.  It's the first of the houses moved off the VA Footprint site to get a roof put back on. Note the classic creole cottage home behind it, a good indicator that the home, like many of its fellow travelers, is still located in the historic context of Mid-City.

This particular house has always been a bit of an oddball.  It was a camelback in its old site, and it won't be now - at least it does not appear that a second story camelback portion is in the works.  But the structure was also significantly modern in its construction, despite its historically intact form.

HT/Casius P

Moving to Cleveland

Gritty

Some of the houses, as you see here with the work from today, get rather roughed up as an incident of the moving preparation.  A number of houses, including the last two shown here, are scheduled to move out of the Footprint tomorrow.

McDonough No. 11

Clouds loom.