Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007 - (Page 17)

Even though [Huey] Long wanted the hospital, he wanted even more to be able to keep federal projects out of the hands of his enemies. reestablishment of the state’s relationship with Roosevelt in 1936, the laws Long had passed to keep federal agencies at bay were repealed. The way was cleared for a third Charity Hospital proposal. This time only a grant was requested, which freed the PWA from concerns about hospital bond issues. Matters were further helped by the new regulations increasing the size of the grant from 30 to 45 percent. For the state’s share of the project, the Charity administrators could rely on funds from the corporation franchise tax that had been dedicated to it and which, a newspaper noted as early as March 1935, had been “piling up in the banks and not doing anybody any good.” The project was approved on September 14. The contract went to the state’s favorite firm: Weiss, Dreyfous, and Seiferth. a monument to public health The new hospital was to be the second largest in the country. It would rise 20 stories, the tallest building in the city. With it came a 15-story nurses’ building along with an ambulance house, laundry, incinerator, repair shop, and power house addition. The approved cost of the project was $8 million. It soon appeared that it would actually cost $12.5 million. Governor Leche got the legislature to come up with the additional $4.5 million. Weiss, Dreyfous, and Seiferth wanted their fees increased accordingly. After some consultation with well-known architects around the country, the PWA decided to stick to the original contract allowing 6 percent on the $8 million. It argued that all the work was done before construction costs went up. However, it had no objection if the state wished to pay the architects more out of its own funds. The state did. The growing cost of the project emerged gradually. The ambulance house and laundry were built first with some cost overruns. It got worse when bids were let for the main building. Orloff Henry decided it was time for a “showdown.” He stopped the bidding until the state assured him that additional money would be available. left: In this elaborate grille over The finished building Charity’s main entrance, sculptor was a grand monument to Enrique Alferez placed a symbolic reminder of the kickbacks governpublic health, but it had ment employees were required to feet of clay, or, more accu“contribute” during the regimes of rately, sand. No one had Governors Long and Leche. attempted to erect such a below: The Charity Hospital Nurses huge building on New Building Orleans’s spongy soil. So it was not altogether a surprise when Big Charity began to sink. By January 1939 it was nine DAVID JOHNSON Fall 2007/LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 17

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007

Contents Friends & Letters Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Big Charity: A History of New Orleans’ Public Hospital Historic New Orleans Collection Making Groceries: A History of New Orleans Markets New Orleans’ Faubourg Tremé: Rooted in Tradition Jazz Notes Louisiana Association of Museums Chinatown New Orleans Louisiana Foodways A Question of Secession Louisiana Architecture Louisiana State Museum The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish Terra Incognita Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007

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