Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007 - (Page 2)

2006 Donors to the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities of $250+: ALTRUISTS: $5,000 PLUS I I I I Raising a question over the identity of a razed building I want to compliment the Louisina Endowment for the Humanities and Louisiana Cultural Vistas on a particularly interesting Summer 2007 issue. In fact, the past several issues have all been exceptionally good. One small note by way of clarification: the caption for the illustration on page 23 (“Saving the Vieux Carré”) states that the building shown was removed to make way for the Supreme Court Building in the French Quarter. This is not accurate. The building shown stood in the 1000 block of Chartres Street on the uptown, riverside corner of Chartres and Ursulines Streets (note the Ursuline Convent visible in the background across Ursulines Street). The building stood through the 1920s. A modern two story residential structure built in imitation of traditional styles, but not in imitation of the building it replaced, stands on the site today. Not a criticism, as these sorts of errors are easily made, but merely a clarification of the facts. Many significant structures were lost when the block bounded by Chartres, St. Louis, Royal, and Conti Streets was razed for the Supreme Court Building in the first decade of the 20th century. The aforementioned building, however, was not among them. —Eric J. Brock, Shreveport Anonymous BellSouth I Booth Bricker Foundation I Capital One Bank, N.A. I Mr. & Mrs. William Christovich I Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation I Mr. & Mrs. Randy Ewing I Freeport-McMoRan Foundation I Goldring Family Foundation I GPOA I Gumbo Foundation I Jones Walker I Kevin Kelly Libby-Dufour Fund Mr. & Mirs. R. Lewis McHenry I Gustof Westfeldt McIlhenny Fdn. I R.E. “Bob” Miller I Jean & Saul Mintz and Melinda & Morris Mintz I Drew & Sheila Ranier I Reily Foundation I Selley Fund I Dr. Michael Sartisky I Patrick F. Taylor Foundation I Whitney National Bank I Zemurray Foundation MENTORS: $1,000 – $4,999 I I Paul Alker Mr. & Mrs. Sydney Besthoff III I William Blake I Darnell Bludworth & Mike Boyle I Lorraine Brownell I James Cahn I CAM Group LLC I Thomas C. David, Jr. I Philip & Lucie Earhart I Glenda & Neil Erwin I Mark Heller, CLU,CPC I Peter & Cissy Hilbert I I I I I I I I I I I I I Norman & Margaret Kinsey Sarah Kracke Catherine Kuhlman Dorothy Lawrence Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Moses Dr. Alice Pecoraro Dr. William Pederson M. Cleland Powell III Margaret Ritchey Dr. Phillip Rozeman Mary Ann Sternberg Michael Wilkinson Janet Wood Creole townhouse. The building shown on page 23 was known as the “Old Spanish Cottage” or “Old Tile Roof Cottage.” There is a drawing of it on page 11 in Grace King’s book Creole Families of New Orleans (1921) which says it is “now demolished.” This was much to the upset of early preservationists, since it was reputedly the “oldest building” in the city. Some people at the time even said — I’m sure with great conviction — that the structure dated to 1710(!), but there weren’t any Creole cottages in that year, or even a city yet. This Creole cottage — in the low-roofed Spanish style — was probably built closer to 1800 or a bit before. One last thing — in the Grace King book, part of the caption also read “built in the time of Bienville” which is later than 1710, but still way off. —John Magill, New Orleans Sharing the loss In response to Dr. Michael Sartisky’s editorial in the Summer 2007 edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas: “For the hardest thing to see is the thing that is no longer there.” Indeed. When I stand on the roof terrace of the shell of our house on Canal Boulevard, looking out across the stark, treeless and unpopulated neighborhood, watching weeds sprout around damaged houses and the empty lots where homes stood and families sent up fireworks every holiday, I wonder how to begin to explain this to those living outside our “reality.” The Ninth Ward is not the only ghost town. Your column is, as always, well stated. —Rick Gruber, Director Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans Louisiana Cultural Vistas invites feedback from our readers. Send letters to Editor, Louisiana Cultural Vistas, 938 Lafayette St., Ste. 300, New Orleans, LA 70113; or e-mail: lahum@leh.org PATRONS: $500 – $999 I I I I I I I I I Dr. & Mrs. Charles Aprill Mr & Mrs John & Mary Conrad Charles Davis Dr. & Mrs. Quentin Falgoust Joshua Force Mr. & Mrs. Robert Force Mr. & Mrs. Richard Freeman, Jr. Dr. Dana Kress Dr. Richard Levine I I I I I I I I I I I Mark Manguno Kevin McCaffrey Julie McCollam Hall Morehead Dr. Anil Nanda Dr. Lawrence Powell Virginia Shehee Smurfit-Stone Container Ms. E. A. Stafford Renee Vanover Christie Weeks SPONSORS: $250 – $499 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Suzan Allen Mr. & Mrs. Allain Andry, III Mr. & Mrs. Ben Brady Jennifer Cargill Jack Dampf Dr. & Mrs. Paul Davis, Jr. J. Brandon Ewing Mr. & Mrs. Randall Feldman John Fischbach Morgan Goudeau, III Dr. & Mrs. Roman Heleniak Danella Hero Gregory Holt Laura Hudson Dr. William Jenkins Jane Legier Jeanne Linam I Dr. Mary McBride I McNeese State University I Laura Simon Nelson I Mr. & Mrs. C. Howard Nichols I Charlotte Norman I Mr. & Mrs. Paul Paskoff I Sylvia Porteous I Dr. Helaine Razovsky I Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Reck I Francoise Richardson I R.J. Rowland, Jr. I Dr. & Mrs. Randy Sassone I Luella Snyder I Marilyn Sonnier I Dr. Charles Vincent Louisiana Cultural Vistas consulted with John Magill, Historian of The Historic New Orleans Collection, from whence the image in question was drawn. The caption on page 23 of an old postcard identifies the depicted building as Andrew Jackson’s headquarters for the Battle of New Orleans, which was indeed on the site of the Courthouse, however this is not the building shown. Jackson’s headquarters was not a Creole cottage, but rather a three or four story 2 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Fall 2007 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/leh/lcv-summer07/index.php?startpage=24 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/leh/lcv-summer07/index.php?startpage=24 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/leh/lcv-summer07/index.php?startpage=24 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/leh/lcv-summer07/index.php?startpage=24

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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