Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2009 - (Page 41) Instructrice et Directrice” resided on South Roman Street. Not far away, at 120 N. Galvez, one could find the Nickerson School of Music, a family-run institution offering instruction in classical music. Jazz greats Jelly Roll Morton and Manuel Manetta were only two of the Nickerson family’s many famous students. Violinist Andrew F. Rosemond, a Nickerson instructor, lived on Cleveland Avenue near Rocheblave. Because musicians often earned their living in other professions, some who are known to have played or taught music escaped identification in city directories or the census. One Derbigny Street resident, known to have taught and played music, is better-known for his political achievements. Oscar C. Dunn, Louisiana’s only AfricanAmerican lieutenant governor, resided in a Derbigny Street home that once stood on the site of the former Claiborne Towers, later the Plaza Suites Hotel. Lower Mid-City was also home to several generations of the Schrenk family, a musical dynasty whose members built pianos, composed and taught music and worked as musical lithographers. Joseph Schrenk, a piano maker for Grunewald, lived on Derbigny Street. The elder John Schrenk, a piano builder, music teacher and musician, was also a musical lithographer. His son, John Schrenk, Jr., a longtime Cleveland Street resident, followed in his father’s footsteps. The widow and daughters of musician Jacob Herr taught music and voice to generations of New Orleanians. At the turn of the 20th century, Lena Herr and daughter Marie, a published composer, taught music from their home at 2310 Canal Street while daughter Mercedes coached singers. Steps from the Herr’s door resided the Seebold family whose Lower Mid-City residences were meccas for the art and literary community from the 1870s into the 20th century. A German-born art dealer and a stationer by trade, patriarch Frederic William Emile Seebold was a founding member of the Southern Art Union, the Artists’ Union of New Orleans and the similarly-named Art Association of New Orleans. A list of culturally-significant Seebold relatives, friends and house guests is a veritable who’s who S above: Residence of Charles A. Orleans, Canal and Derbigny streets, circa 1909. This Victorian house is one of the few surviving mansions on Canal Street in Lower MidCity. left: St. Joseph Church, a National Historic Landmark, is located at 1802 Tulane Avenue. Begun in 1869 and completed in 1892, this house of worship — one of the largest in the nation — narrowly escaped demolition in 1975. Sketch by Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION Spring 2009/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 41 THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION haped and inhabited by both native-born and naturalized citizens from foreign lands, Lower Mid-City has always been a diverse multiethnic microcosm.
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.