LCV Winter 2013-14 - (Page 43)

THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION Beaux-Arts decoration embellishes the terra-cotta or cast concrete adds to Roman-influenced Calcasieu Parish courthouse. the overall classical effect. Fine examples of these banks are in Alexandria, Ville Platte and Thibodeaux. Sometimes the architects used a single Roman triumphal-arch motif to frame the façade, as in Houma, and occasionally, as in Opelousas, a triple arch. Such high-style classical designs often made the banks the most stately buildings in their communities. Favrot and Livaudais' most imposing bank, however, and one of the most outstanding buildings in New Orleans is the 23-story Hibernia Bank of 1921. The building rises from a monumental lower section enriched by Corinthian columns and pilasters to a circular tempietto. Less grandiose and of smaller size is New Orleans' Cotton Exchange Building (1920) on Carondelet Street, which more heavily draws on Italian commercial-set a modern tone in the city's center. The Renaissance palaces as a source than does the Hibernia. Calcasieu Parish courthouse (1912) on Ryan Street is a glorious More subdued but nevertheless impressive are the architects' Beaux-Arts creation that was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome Beaux-Arts courthouses, notably those for De Soto Parish in in its prominent portico and shallow dome. The courthouse Mansfield built in 1911 and the similar version of 1914 for Allen exudes power and importance, and the carefully detailed and Parish in Oberlin. Their gravity lies in rusticated bases and, on the ornamented exterior gives a foretaste of the handsome interior. upper stories, paired Ionic columns set between enormous arched Opposite the courthouse is the former City Hall (1911; now the windows. Lake Charles Arts and Cultural Center), a smaller building but Perhaps more than anywhere it is in Lake Charles that Favrot with equal presence. The colorful red brick building is slathered and Livaudais' stylistic versatility is displayed. Following a in white terra-cotta and stucco ornamentation; it is one of devastating fire in 1910 that destroyed much of the downtown Favrot and Livaudais' most flamboyant structures. The area, the buildings they designed-civic, institutional and building's symmetrical silhouette, four-story clock tower and prominent paired brackets supporting the roof reveal the architects' ability to successfully meld classical with Arts and Crafts. As it should be, the city hall is a more extroverted and The Hibernia Bank building less forbidding building than the courthouse. Nearby, the soared above New Orleans' Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (1913) also has a skyline in 1921 and remained Louisiana's tallest tower, but here it is Italian Romanesque, as is the building itself. skyscraper until the new The former Calcasieu Marine Bank (1928), however, is classical capitol was built in 1932. with tall round-arched openings and colossal engaged columns. And to round out the plethora of styles in Lake Charles, Central School (1912; now the Arts and Humanities Center) is mildly Jacobean with touches of classical detail. Favrot and Livaudais' designs for Lake Charles summarize their skill with building types and styles, and the fine sense of ornamental detail that imbues their creations with life and flair. Underlying the external display is a clarity of plan and organization that draws from rational Beaux-Arts principles and generates an exterior articulation that gives a hint of what lies within. The buildings described here make up just a fraction of Favrot and Livaudais' enormous body of work, which brought high-style architecture to towns big and small. This accomplishment alone makes the firm one of the most interesting and influential in the state. --------------------------------- Karen Kingsley, Ph.D., is professor emerita of architecture at Tulane University, author of Buildings of Louisiana (Oxford University Press, 2003) and editor-in-chief of the Buildings of the United States series. Winter 2013-14 * LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 43 

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