And then there were none

The last of the three sister camelbacks on Cleveland Avenue fell this morning.

Here's an odd shot of the side elevation of that last camelback taken earlier this week (as it was being salvaged).  The strange warped look was not an edit of any kind:

The Last Camelback

Heavy salvage continued today on the last of the three sister camelbacks on Cleveland Avenue in the LSU Footprint.  The crew, which seems to be a Willie White crew, has spent multiple days scavenging a great number of architectural and structural elements from the doomed building.

Off in the background, McDonogh No. 11 commands the largely vacant site.

The second house in the camelback trio goes down

"And you tell me...

...Over and over and over again, my friend...

...Ah, you don't believe...

...We're on the eve of destruction."

Going Dark, Working on a Sunday

The camelback at 1928-30 Cleveland Avenue proceeded through heavy salvage today, its floor joists have been cut out and the building, one of the camelback triplets, is headed for demolition.

As always, I'm glad that Willie White's crack salvage crew is extracting as much value from the building in the form of architectural elements...but as always in the UMC Footprint, there's no reason this house should be demolished.  Here's a shot with more detail of the interesting brackets.

Circling the Drain

Today's been an incredibly busy day. I haven't even made it to the Footprint.

But here are two shots from last evening.  They show the two other camelbacks in the set of three on Cleveland that were losing parts of themselves to salvage...a sure sign that they, too, were circling the drain of demolition...and very well may be gone by now.

Next?

The board had been taken off the door at this camelback at 1932-34 Cleveland Avenue in the LSU Footprint as of this morning...right next door to the sister house that was demolished yesterday...

Despite talk from state, others, demolitions continue unabated in LSU Footprint

1936-38 Cleveland Avenue looked like this, reduced to rubble:

and

220-22 S. Prieur Street had been erased.

Both were demolished as of the end of the day today in the proposed site of the UMC.

They were both great, intact, structurally sound, well-kept, recently occupied examples of New Orleans architecture, modified camelback variations that are endemic to this city.

It would take an act of unpardonable stupidity and callousness to demolish these buildings when the ostensible reason for demolition remains a proposed project without adequate financing or a business plan.  It's an action that the State of Louisiana, LSU Board of Supervisors, and the City of New Orleans, as well as the contractors and subcontractors involved, chose to take.

Interestingly, the sub-contractors demolishing 1936-38 Cleveland were not watering down the demolition as the machinery tore through the piles of debris shortly after 6 p.m. this evening.  Someone has video of that, and I'd imagine La DEQ would be interested.

And if, as I suspect, the crew demolishing the building works for Midwest Missouri Contractors, it's not clear that the company is licensed to do business in Louisiana, per a search of the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors.

If someone has information to the contrary, send it along.  But those are some interesting tidbits.

2104 Cleveland Avenue

Salvage continues today on the 2-bay camelback at 2104 Cleveland Avenue, while some salvage is better than none, it's nonetheless an ominous sign that this property is headed toward demolition in the UMC Footprint.  The building was in great shape and occupied only a few months ago.

The dismantling of the property comes even as we're told that discussions continue related to house moving in the UMC (not a single property has moved in the site to date) and even as federal, state, and city officials reveal just how uncertain the UMC's scope and size will be.

Still Standing

[click photo to enlarge]

Here's a shot to contrast with the WWLTV statement from Friday's spot:

""The land is cleared for the new University Medical Center in Mid-City"

The three camelbacks pictured, all along Cleveland Avenue in the LSU Footprint, are still standing. And they were all occupied until recent months. They're still looking good despite four years of planner's blight caused by the designation of the footprint.

The double shotgun in the foreground at left was also occupied until only a few weeks ago.  It stands as well, along with dozens of historic buildings in the proposed site of the UMC.

A Bad Sign

The brackets were gone on this little camelback at 2104 Cleveland some time ago, as I reported.

Now the corbels over the door and window are gone.

And a crew was inside taking down chimney brick.

It could be preparation for moving, but I doubt it.

Endemic

"Restricted or peculiar to a locality or region."


The architecture peculiar to New Orleans continues to be destroyed in the LSU Footprint.

Salvage, sure, but a real loss

This interesting house on S. Galvez Street started its descent toward destruction yesterday.  It was still very much livable, and it was occupied by several people in 2010.

Here's what it looked like.  Note both the elaborate ornamentation with unique brackets, moldings, and quoins on the facade.

But also note the strange form of the building itself - a scrunched type of camelback, as I've noted before.

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.

Grim

The VA Footprint looks like the aftermath of some World War I battle.  Just remember - people still live here.

The seagreen house above, Gaynell's house, appears to be in the process of getting moved off the site.

The ruins of the gray house at 214 S. Tonti, which had a fantastic facade, lie at the head of a lake that continues to form due to rain and a bubbling spring that appears to be coming from a broken water pipe in the street nearby.

Here's a view of the space where Wally Thurman's house once stood.  Off on the right, the gray house, a camelback, is still occupied.

Back on S. Galvez, Ruth Sanderson's house from Palmyra, the last house on its entire city block square, awaits final extraction from the site.  Far off in the distance, you can see the houses on the mud path version of S. Rocheblave Street.

Bobbi and Kevin's Camelback

The handsome, fully restored sidehall camelback home at 2316 Palmyra Street was fading today as I arrived in the VA Hospital Footprint after a few days away.  The entire landscape looked far more alien then when I left; even the trees are now being torn down.  Here, you can see the home from beneath another building at 223 S. Galvez - a two-story structure whose bottom floor has been torn away and whose top floor is presently sitting on piers, waiting to be moved offsite.

Kevin, the former owner, stood by with a video camera today as the crews tore the roofs off of his former home.  He, along with his wife Bobbi, came down to New Orleans after Katrina to help with recovery efforts.  They ultimately became a part of the neighborhood in Lower Mid-City that they helped to serve, purchasing and restoring the camelback pictured above.

Around the corner, James, in black, discussed a problem with wires with work crews.  He, too, moved to New Orleans post-Katrina to help rebuild, working with the Phoenix of New Orleans organization (PNOLA).  Specifically, he helped intimately with the repairs and reconstruction on Bobbi and Kevin's camelback.

The man on the right, wearing his U.S.S. Bellatrix hat, grew up in the house decades ago.  He's been watching the process for some time now, and he recalled this morning how his father, a carpenter, made numerous repairs on the historic home when he acquired it many decades ago.

The camelback house is an architectural style that derives in large part from New Orleans' uniquely long and narrow lots.  Oftentimes, a long, narrow, single story shotgun home from the latter half of the nineteenth century would be altered with the addition of a second story "hump" in the back of the house, making it a "1.5 story" home.

Fortunately, it appears that Builders of Hope will be moving the lower front portion of the structure at the very least.  To date, I have yet to see a camelback from the VA Footprint moved "with its hump" to a new location.

While the moving effort is a true silver lining, it's difficult to avoid seeing the cloud as I watched the people so intimately connected with the home - and the neighborhood - look on as it met its end as a place so particular to its little corner of New Orleans.

Death of a Camelback

The earth shook a few blocks away as the leaning house on S. Rochblave Street crashed to the ground.

As I ran around the corner, I caught the last remnant of the house, which seemed to be quailing in fear, as the machinery moved in for the fatal blow.

"Danger Danger Danger"

An old stretch of tape floats in the breeze today before a stretch of now-vacant land and a lingering camelback on S. Rocheblave.

"Welcome Cuidado"

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

Second Historic Home Demolished in LSU Footprint - Despite Insufficient Funding to Build Hospital

Crews demolished the nice camelback home at 216 S. Prieur today in the LSU Footprint.  The home was perfectly livable, it was well-landscaped, it was nestled between a number of occupied homes, and it was a contributing building in the Mid-City National Register Historic District - and rightfully so, as its particular architectural style was quintessentially New Orleanian.

The home's destruction is a perfect example of the utter stupidity inherent in proceeding with demolition of historic, livable properties in a site where the developing entity does not have the funding to build the final proposed project.

Additionally, a vacant double shotgun at the corner of S. Johnson and Cleveland Avenue started on fire last evening, according to neighbors.  The building suffered significant structural damage and some minor damage to the neighboring camelback.  Two investigators from the New Orleans Fire Department were on the scene, one of whom requested that I not post any photos of him...for some reason.

Lower in the LSU Footprint at about 301 S. Roman Street, a property owner accompanied two assessors who were conducting a second assessment of his property after he requested it.

On the VA Footprint side, workers were going into the Neivert house at 2310 Palmyra - I have to wonder if the house has, unbeknownst to its owner, already been expropriated.  ADDED: checking in it CDC, it has - as of Monday, Oct. 11, 2010.  Speaking with the former owner this afternoon, he told me he did not have notice that it was being expropriated.