Another Modernist Battle in New Orleans
The plight of public schools in New Orleans have been a hot topic lately. This past Monday the School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish was released; it calls for a large-scale rehabilitation of the city’s educational infrastructure. This news falls in the larger context of a shift toward privatized education which, depending on how you look at it, is either a welcome solution to an entrenched problem of low-performance (as portrayed in this week’s New York Times Magazine), or a sinister example of “disaster capitalism” (as per Naomi Klein). In either case, something important gets lost in the conversation; that is the impending threat to New Orleans’s modernist architecture.
The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School was built in 1955 by architect Charles R. Colbert. The building is raised in such a way that helped it survive Hurricane Katrina. The original intent of elevating the structure was to create a sheltered play area underneath as well as to allow air flow that helped keep the interior cool.
(Photo by Frank Lotz Miller-courtesy The Estate of Charles Colbert, architect)
It’s becoming a common story: In an era before air conditioning regional modernists built airy, light-filled schools suited to their geographic environments. Then came years of band aid renovations that diluted those principles beyond recognition, leaving uncomfortable, poorly performing buildings that school boards prefer to knock down. In New Orleans the enormous building boom of the 1950’s and ‘60s created many such schools in the spirit of passive comfort, which as of Monday are pretty much all lined up to be knocked down.
There are greater and lesser degrees to the significance of each of these buildings, but the plan for their wholesale destruction is troubling. “Essentially all 30 schools built in the 1950s are slated for demolition,” says Francine Stock, who is the Visual Resource Curator at the Tulane School of Architecture where she also teaches architectural history. “It’s totally overwhelming,” she laments. Stock has been working with students to document New Orleans’s heritage of regional modernism before it’s gone (Check out their Flickr page).
Today, the Phillis Wheatley Elementary School is on the list to be torn down. Clearly it is not as it was in its prime-the original glass was replaced by cheap, opaque plexi-glass panels and it could use some fresh paint-but structurally it is sound.
(Photo by Francine Stock)
It’s not quite the end of the rope for these schools yet. There is now a 60 day response period to the master plan and groups including Docomomo, the Tulane School of Architecture, and the AIA are working to raise awareness. In June, mid-century modern public schools as a group were included on the Louisiana Landmarks Society’s 2008 list of the city’s nine most endangered sites.
The New Orleans’s public school system is notoriously bad and deserves improvement. But is it necessary for the city’s architectural heritage to take such a beating in the process? “It’s always more challenging to retrofit,” says Stock, “but in a case where you have a significant and innovative structure there’s great value there.” Add to the mix environmental considerations, such as the master plan’s recommendation that new schools aim for LEED Silver certification or the ever growing detritus of the old New Orleans piling up in the city’s landfills, and preserving the embodied energy and materials of these schools takes on yet another level of significance. This is a unique time to start fresh with the New Orleans school system, but the city’s architectural history should not have to be erased wholesale to achieve new goals.
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As a Tulane School of Architecture Alumnus (‘05) I feel cheated that these schools are not a part of my architectural knowledge of New Orleans. Throughout the 6 years I lived in New Orleans, I passed numerous decaying Modern structures, and this was pre-Katrina. Never once were these buildings a focus of study, instead we focused on abandoned lots and sites of proposed new buildings. What makes this all the more of a travesty is that while there I pursued a certificate of preservation studies and volunteered at the Southeastern Architectural Archive on campus. All of my working knowledge of the preservation worthy buildings and housing styles in the city ends before Modernism took hold. While I greatly value my education and the efforts of my professors to whom I am indebted, I have to wonder if the neglect these buildings are suffering is not in some way a betrayal by the very organized and involved preservation community within the city. It is almost as if their inaction is a means of paying back modernism for tearing down and destroying so much of the old architectural order that most members of that community hold dear.
Comment by Spencer Lepler — August 22, 2008, @ 1:48 am
I have created a google map which focuses on schools left behind by this plan, those threatened with demolition or obsolescence. This includes Modernist schools by Charles Colbert, Moise Goldstein, and Curtis and Davis, as well as 19th and early 20th century schools by Henry Howard, Thomas Sully and E. A. Christy.
The School Facilities Plan is over 1800 pages long and last Tuesday the Orleans Parish School Board approved a 30 day public comment period. The OPSB then has 30 days to review the public comments. So the situation is actually more acute. Teachers, administrators and parents are busy with the beginning of the school year and this is the height of our hurricane season. I am very concerned that 30 days will pass without sufficient public input.
Many thanks to Metropolis for helping bring this story to light.
Comments on the plan may be emailed to masterplan@rsdla.net
Comment by Francine Stock — August 25, 2008, @ 10:32 am
Sorry about the bad link above. I’m only slightly techie.
RSD Analysis Map :: layer one
A preliminary attempt to evaluate which school facilities are left behind by the School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans. Those with blue pins have links to photos and further descriptions. This map will be continually updated. The 30 day comment period is ticking away. Public comments on the SFMPOP go to
masterplan@rsdla.net
Comment by Francine Stock — August 25, 2008, @ 10:39 am
These building should be looked at carefully. Tulane and other University architecture departments could help. Perhaps the could be restored or renovated. I suggest looking at GSA’s First Impression Program as a model. It has delat with the “updating” of many federal buildings from the same era. Thomas Grooms would be the person to contact.
Comment by James S. Jones, Professor of Architectrure — August 26, 2008, @ 12:59 pm
Charles R. Colbert was my 5th year critic at LSU in the early 80’s. He was certainly one of the most influential teachers I experienced in higher education! He would begin every class with “story time.” Chuck would sit in a chair in the middle of the studio with all of his students surrounding him as he would read from his, at the time, unpublished manuscript. He would talk about “idea” as the “shaping force,” which became the title of the book once published. I became familiar with his work through “story time” and continue to admire his architectural interventions to this day.
At Louisiana Tech, we have undertaken HABS (Historic American Buildings Survey) drawings of buildings throughout the northern section of the state to expose our students to the wonderful architectural heritage of our state. In addition to the 18th century vernacular and 19th century high-style buildings, we have lately begun to document structures from the 20th century. The following is a listing of the modern documentation projects we have undertaken:
Hotel Palomar Courts (1938)
The Palomar is a streamline moderne tourist court located on Highway 80 in Shreveport. It is one of very few pre-war, cottage type tourist courts remaining in the country.
Big Chain Store (1940)
The Big Chain was designed by Samuel G. and William B. Wiener and was one of the most progressive grocery store operations in the United States outside of Los Angeles.
Samuel G. Wiener House (1938)
The Wiener house is one of the purest forms of Bauhaus inspired orthodox modern architecture in the southern United States. It is located in Shreveport.
G, B. Cooley House (1926)
The Cooley house was designed by Walter Burley Griffin in 1908 though not built until 1926. Located in Monroe, LA, the Cooley House is the only authentic Prairie School building in the state.
O’Brien-London House (1950)
This is the only structure in Louisiana designed by California architect Richard Neutra and is typical of his work from his “creative period.” The house is located in Shreveport.
Comment by Guy W. Carwile, Louisiana Tech University — August 26, 2008, @ 3:35 pm
Charles Colbert was the dean of Columbia University’s school of architecture 1960-63.
Comment by Frances Halsband — August 27, 2008, @ 2:14 pm