Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007 - (Page 18)

Charity Hospital’s emergency room was renowned as among the best in the United States. opposite page: Debate continues over the now vacant hospital’s fate in New Orleans’ post-Katrina health care environment. inches below its starting point, more than two and a half times the average settlement in the city. Cracks, separations, and distortions proliferated, and the PWA regional engineer Alexander Allaire became concerned that the building’s structural steel frame might be damaged. Allaire, PWA chief engineer Harry M. Brown, and Resident Engineer-Inspector Edmund B. Mason met with architects Weiss and Seiferth. Brown found them “quite complacent.” Consultants were sought. Karl Terzaghi of Harvard University was retained at $75 an hour. Weiss agreed to pay the fee, probably gnashing his teeth. Allaire wanted a “structural man” so Hardy Cross of Yale University was hired. His services were secured for a lump sum of $6,000. Test borings cost another $4,651.50. Terzaghi concluded that the architects were not at fault. Longer pilings, which some critics said should have been used, wouldn’t have helped. The gradual consolidation of material under them would have happened in any case. Cross affirmed that the structural steel was undamaged. It would, however, require another $70,000 to repair the building. By the end of 1939, the building had sunk 12 and threequarter inches and was still going. Terzaghi had originally thought that 80 percent of settlement had occurred. In his final report, he revised it to 70 percent and predicted it might continue until 1950. He was right about the percentage but overly conservative about the time. The building would continue to sink for another three and a half years, coming to rest almost 18 inches down. Rumors that the second story had now become the entry level were a slight exaggeration. The Ivy League experts did not impress everyone. Charles Fowler, an engineer who had been among those originally recommended for the inspection, called their reports a whitewash and proclaimed himself willing to 18 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Fall 2007 straighten things out (for only $2,500). He claimed experience on more than 4,000 projects from 1886 to 1939 and to have authored 30 books. Had he known what he was doing, it would have been a bargain. We’ll never know. Despite his impressive credentials, the PWA declined the offer. Another volunteer fixer was a young Tulane graduate named Claiborne Perrilliat. He was no more successful than the veteran Fowler. The crisis passed, the experts were paid and went home to New England, and the hospital opened for business. A CLEAN BILL OF CONSTRUCTION Though Huey Long was not able to get Big Charity built before he died, the structure contains a tribute to him and his system of government. Sculptor Enrique Alferez designed an aluminum grille over the main entrance to the hospital. In the center is a flying duck. It is a reference to the deduction, or “dee duct,” box into which state employees put cash “contributions” to Long’s campaigns. They were required to remit a percentage of their salary on designated paydays. When this was called for, the word was passed that “de ducks were flying.” Governor Richard Leche continued the practice and was not amused at Alferez’s reference. According to Alferez, a man with a hacksaw was sent to excise the offending bird. He was intercepted by TimesPicayune reporters who told him that since the PWA had helped pay for the building, his duck hunting would be a federal offense. The duck remains. Alferez had another interesting story about the building of Big Charity. He claims that Leon Weiss was asked “almost every day” to take money in amounts of $2,000 to $10,000 out of hospital funds to pay off people who were owed money by Governor Leche. He alleges that fire escapes were omitted to save money. In one case, Weiss is PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER

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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