Tulane Homecoming 2018

SEAA had special Tulane Homecoming hours this past Saturday for our current exhibit, "The Laurel Valley Plantation Photographs of Philip M. Denman." Visitors included Hortensia Calvo, Director of the Latin American Library at Tulane, accompanied by Penny and James Morrill. Penny is a leading scholar of artist William Spratling, and has written extensively about him and his involvement in the Taxco silver renaissance in Mexico. Spratling also taught drawing in the Tulane School of Architecture in the 1920s. We gave them a tour of the Laurel Valley exhibit, and also showed them beautiful gouache, ink wash, and watercolor drawings done by Tulane architecture students in the 1920s and 1930s, including, at left, this ink and watercolor on illustration board proposal for a plot plan for Tulane University from 1932 by New Orleans architects Moise H. Goldstein and Nathaniel Cortlandt Curtis, Sr., and drawn by Tulane students Samuel Wilson, Jr. and Earl Mathes.

We also welcomed Roland and Frances Bourgeois and family. Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeois own the property next to Laurel Valley Plantation in Thibodaux, Louisiana, and came into New Orleans for the chance to see Philip Denman's beautiful images covering nearly 40 years of history of the largest extant sugar plantation in Louisiana and, in its day, one of the largest in the southern United States. Mr. Bourgeois regaled us with wonderful stories of life growing up on a Louisiana plantation.

Bibliography and Research Methods class visit

We welcomed Tulane English Professor Melissa Bailes' Bibligraphy and Records Methods class to SEAA last week to learn about our holdings, and how we might be able to help in her students' research projects. We brought out items from our Albert Weiblen Marble and Granite Company records to give the class an idea of information a single collection might contain (and because it was Halloween). We focused on presentation renderings used to show clients proposals by the Weiblen company for tombs, plaster scale models of classical tombs made by the Lachin family of New Orleans, Weiblen's stone sample box, which includes granite from Weiblen's quarries at Stone Mountain, Georgia (Albert Weiblen's brother George helped carve the Confederate bas relief on the mountain's side), art glass samples, decorative bronze reliefs, bronze color samples for tomb doors made by the Gorham Company in New York from 1910, photos of Weiblen stone carvers, masons, and builders from 1931, and the only known surviving enamel sign used to mark newly erected Weiblen tombs from the 19teens.

Ink wash rendering for prospective tomb, unidentified client/location. 1923.

Watercolor rendering for Salvatore D'Antoni tomb, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans,
Ca. 1920s. Stanley R. Poole, architect for the Weiblen Company.

Color samples for bronze doors, 1910, Gorham Company, New York.

Preservation Studies in SEAA

Gallier & Turpin watercolor perspective drawing for Luling house, 1865.

Last week we welcomed Professor John Stubbs' Master of Preservation Studies (MPS) students to SEAA. John talked to the class about our current exhibit, "The Laurel Valley Photographs of Philip M. Denman", which includes a three volume survey of the plantation, which he wrote in 1975 for the Thibodaux U.S. Bicentennial Committee. John also wrote the foreword to the exhibit, and MPS co-hosted the exhibit's opening reception in September in SEAA. We also brought out examples of the types of material researchers might find in SEAA, focusing on the Luling Mansion on Leda Court in New Orleans. Built in 1865 for German immigrant and cotton merchant Florence Luling, the house was designed by Gallier and Turpin (James Gallier, Jr. and John Turpin) as an Italian Renaissance style palazzo. The house originally faced Esplanade Avenue, but the grounds were subdivided in the 19teens and turned into a bungalow neighborhood obscuring the mansion from Esplanade. After his two young sons drowned in nearby Bayou St. John, and he lost the bulk of his fortune and moved back to Germany, Luling sold his house and property to the Louisiana Jockey Club in 1871, which used the mansion as its clubhouse until 1905. The students were very engaged, and it was a joy to have them with us.

Above and below are items we showed the class, including the original Gallier and Turpin watercolor perspective rendering, a Theodore Lilienthal 1867 photo of the house in its early days showing its original dependencies accessed by arched bridges. The dependencies contained a stable, kitchen, billiard/smoking room, and a bowling alley. The faint pencil drawing is by James Freret, ca. 1870, and we're not sure why he drew it. The large photo is a reproduction of one from the 1870s, when the house served as the Jockey Club. And we have photos from the 1890s through the 1950s. The ink drawing is a 1904 proposal by Rathbone DeBuys to alter the exterior of the mansion in the arts and crafts style, but was never carried out. And, an 1896 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showing the house with its dependencies, when used at the Jockey Club. The house was converted to an apartment building in the 1930s, and is still in use today.

1867 Theodore Lilienthal photograph.

Ca. 1870 pencil drawing by James Freret.

Reproduction of 1870s photograph, Unidentified photographer.

1904 Rathbone DeBuys ink on linen drawing for proposal
to redesign the mansion.

1896 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showing the Luling house with its original dependencies when it was used as
the Louisiana Jockey Club.

Cities of the Dead Class

We welcomed Professor Heather Knight's "Cities of the Dead" class to SEAA last week for an introduction to our holdings and a tour of our stacks to give the students an idea of what an archives looks like. We brought out materials from our Albert Weiblen Marble & Granite Company records, including watercolor presentation renderings and plaster scale models for tombs, which were used to show clients potential designs. Great expense went into these drawings and models, but the result of a client spending many times more than the price of some of the costlier homes in New Orleans at the time, was well worth the effort. The Weiblen company had architects on staff who designed many of the large-scale "golden age" tombs of Metairie Cemetery in the 19teens through the 1940s, including Lorenzo Orsini, Charles Lawhon, and Ralph Phillippi. The company also worked with other leading New Orleans architects hired by clients. 

We also included in our talk working plans, bronze decoration and art glass samples, and photographs of the Weiblen stone carvers, masons, and office staff. A highlight of our stacks tour included the concrete, plaster, and copper foil scale model of the 1918 Bendel family tomb and memorial at the Jewish Cemetery in Lafayette, Louisiana, also made by the Weiblen company, designed by Charles Lawhon. The photo shows the tomb fairly soon after completion. The tomb was commissioned by Henri Bendel to hold the remains of his mother, father, and step-father. Bendel, who was born in Vermilionville, Louisiana in 1868, established himself as a milliner in New York City in 1895, and soon after created what became the iconic Henri Bendel department store. It was announced recently that the remaining Henri Bendel boutiques located throughout the United States would close.  

Coffee Wash French Quarter Plans

We welcomed Tulane Master of Preservation Studies Professor Laura Blokker's first year students to SEAA last week. We wanted them to see what Tulane architecture students were doing in the late 1920s and early 1930s, so brought out large-scale coffee wash plans of the French Quarter, which were entered in the S.S. Labouisse competition. Each sheet focused on one entire block of the New Orleans French Quarter, and showed the footprint of all buildings, details such as courtyard paving, landscaping, stair and fireplace placement, and elevations of buildings surrounding the block. To give the drawings an aged look, the students used diluted coffee in lieu of watercolor on the heavy paper, and some sheets were shellacked. We also included a few more Tulane architecture student drawings--a watercolor drawing of ironwork details by Tulane alum and former architecture professor, Bernard Lemann, and an ink wash drawing of French Quarter doors by another Tulane alum and co-founder of the New Orleans architectural firm, Koch and Wilson, Samuel Wilson, Jr.

Reception for New SEAA Exhibit--This Friday 5:30 - 8:00pm

Please join us for an evening opening reception for the Southeastern Architectural Archive’s new exhibit, "The Laurel Valley Plantation Photographs of Philip M. Denman," Friday September 14, 5:30pm – 8:00pm. Free and open to everyone. Refreshments will be served. This event is being co-hosted with the Master of Preservation Studies Program, Tulane School of Architecture. Please see additional information below--

The Laurel Valley Plantation Photographs of Philip M. Denman.

September 14, 2018 – June 14, 2019.

Showcasing the nearly 40-year photographic coverage of Laurel Valley Plantation in Thibodaux, Louisiana by Philip Marin Denman. The journey began in 1978 documenting the more than 100 buildings dating from the 1830s—ca.1900. Denman returned in 2005 to record the condition of the plantation 27 years later, and again in 2017 to photograph the 55 or so remaining structures. The striking b/w images are enhanced by a small number of color prints. The exhibit includes Denman’s capture of life in New Orleans’ French Quarter in the late-1960s to early-1970s, and his images of the remains of Seven Oaks Plantation in Westwego, Louisiana before its demolition in 1977. Special thanks to John Stubbs, Director, Master of Preservation Studies Program and Senior Professor of Practice, Tulane School of Architecture, for writing the exhibit foreword.

Generous support provided by the SEAA Gifts Fund and the Marjorie Peirce Geiser and John Geiser, Jr. Fund of the Southeastern Architectural Archive.

Curated by Kevin Williams, The Laurel Valley Plantation Photographs of Philip M. Denman opens September 14, 2018 and runs through June 14, 2019 at the Southeastern Architectural Archive, 6801 Freret Street, Jones Hall, Room 300 on Tulane University’s Uptown campus. Hours are 9am–12pm and 1pm–5pm Monday-Tuesday; Thursday-Friday. Admission is free and open to the public. 

LGBT+ Archives Project and Barnett's Furniture Store

Our friends in Tulane University's Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) will be honored at the 4th annual Oracle Gala of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana. Founders of Southern Decadence will present LaRC with the official donation of their records. The LGBT+ Archives Project works with New Orleans and Louisiana archives to preserve the written record of the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups and individuals, and to find permanent homes for these important materials.

This year's Oracle Gala will be held at the Ace Hotel in New Orleans this coming Sunday evening. SEAA preserves the original drawings for the hotel's original occupant, Barnett's Furniture, in our Weiss, Dreyfous, and Seiferth (W,D,S) Office Records. W,D,S was the New Orleans architectural firm also responsible for the current Louisiana State Capitol building in Baton Rouge, the unoccupied Charity Hospital in New Orleans, much of the second phase of the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, the St. Bernard Parish Courthouse in Chalmette, and many more public, commercial, and residential projects in the state. The drawings below are pencil on tracing paper, and include the Carondelet and Lafayette Street elevations, details of the beautiful Art Deco details, and details showing the Barnett name. They are dated July 1927, and are very dark and dirty--apologies for the poor quality photos.

Tulane Buildings

1932 proposal for the Tulane campus by Moise
Goldstein and Nathaniel Curtis, Sr. 

We had a Tulane alum visiting Special Collections on Friday, and brought out a few drawings of Tulane University buildings. Included is an ink on linen 1893 front elevation for Gibson Hall (originally the Arts and Sciences building) by Harrod and Andry, a watercolor on illustration board for an unrealized Moise Goldstein proposal for a bell tower between Gibson Hall and Tilton Hall, ca. 1920s, and a 1932 watercolor proposed plan for Tulane's campus by Moise Goldstein and Nathaniel Curtis, Sr. (drawn by Samuel Wilson, Jr. and Earl Mathes). A Jay Dearborn Edwards ca. 1857 photo of the James Robb residence at Washington and Camp Streets in New Orleans. Robb lost the house and it's contents of his art collection due to the stock market crash in late-1857, probably just months after this image was taken. The Robb house was sold to John Burnside, and in 1891, the residence was sold to become the second home of Newcomb College. 

Watercolor proposal for bell tower for Tulane University by Moise H. Goldstein.

Front elevation from Arts and Sciences Building (now Gibson Hall), Tulane University.
Harrod and Andry, architects. 1893.

Jay Dearborn Edwards' photo of Robb residence, ca.1857.

From our Koch and Wilson Office Records, we brought out a 1949 Richard Koch colored pencil on tracing paper elevation for Tulane's Paterson House dormitory, a large watercolor on illustration board elevation for Monroe Hall dormitory from 1962. And from 1958 an ink wash elevation for the Student Medical Center by Burk, LeBreton, and Lamantia, and also by them a 1963 watercolor elevation for Butler Hall dormitory, both drawn by James R. Lamantia. 

Richard Koch drawing for Paterson House dormitory, Tulane University.
1949.

Monroe Hall dormitory, Diboll, Kessels, and Associates; Richard Koch and Samuel Wilson, Jr., architects. 1962.

Tulane Student Health Center. Burk, LeBreton, and Lamantia,
architects. 1958.

Butler Hall dormitory, Tulane University. Burk, LeBreton, and Lamantia, architects. 1963.

Rivergate Virtual Reality Exhibit (and Joan of Arc)

Photo of color rendering of Rivergate, 1965. TESLA, delineator.

Tomorrow night, July 26 from 6pm - 9pm the New Orleans Architecture Foundation, along with the Preservation Resource Center, is presenting "Mid Mod NOLA: Virtual Reality Tour of the Rivergate," a virtual reality exhibition of the demolished Rivergate building in New Orleans. Built in 1968 at the foot of Canal Street as a convention exhibition hall, the building was known for its remarkable undulating concrete roof. Designed by New Orleans architects, Curtis and Davis, with Edward B. Silverstein and Associates, and Mathes, Bergman, and Associates, the building fell into disuse, and was demolished in 1992 to make way for a hotly contested land-based casino. The Louisiana Landmarks Society, not known for advocating for saving modernist structures, spearheaded a movement to save the Rivergate, and was supported by architect and preservation leader, Samuel Wilson, Jr. before his death in 1993.

Original drawings and photographs from the holdings of SEAA were used to create this virtual reality exhibit. We were able to test drive its capabilities ourselves, and felt very on point trendy (if not a little dizzy). 

Original publicity photos for Rivergate, ca. 1968. Photographer unknown.

Photo of scale model for Rivergate, ca. 1967. Frank Lotz Miller, photographer.

International Trade Mart (later World Trade Center), showing corner of
Rivergate at right. Photo from Edward Durell Stone's office. Ca. 1968.

Joan of Arc statue upon delivery to New Orleans, 1964.
Leon Trice Photography.

In 1972, a casting of the gilded Joan of Arc statue, by French sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet, was placed in a small park designed by Samuel Wilson, Jr. between the Rivergate and International Trade Mart (later World Trade Center), Edward Durell Stone, architect. The statue was a gift of Charles de Gaulle to the city of New Orleans in 1964, but it sat in a warehouse until it was dedicated at it's original home in front of the Rivergate. Joan of Arc was relocated in 1999 to Decatur Street in front of the French Market.

Albert Ledner Exhibit

This is the final day of our exhibit "The Organic Modernism of Albert C. Ledner," and we thought we would share images from the opening reception from last August (Mr. Ledner at left). The exhibit was sponsored by the Louisiana Architecture Foundation (LAF), and Letterman's. Additional support was provided by the Marjorie Peirce Geiser and John Geiser, Jr. Fund of the Southeastern Architectural Archive. The opening reception was generously sponsored by the LAF. 

Many thanks to everyone who attended, and all who helped make this exhibit, and the opening reception, the most well attended in our history, and one of the biggest events of Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. Special thanks go to Stacey Pfingsten, Executive Director of the Louisiana Architecture Foundation, and her volunteers, including Kelly Lauren Calhoun. Thanks to Chuck Perret and his staff at Letterman's. Thank you Katheryn Warzak of Howard-Tilton Library for the video she produced of the exhibit prep work and reception, and to Bernadette Birzer and Lisa Hooper for their help with the video. And thanks to Leon Miller of the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) for providing music for the opening reception.

Our reception was also the opening event for the premier of the documentary film about Ledner, "Designing Life:The Modernist Architecture of Albert C. Ledner", at the New Orleans Museum of Art, which was part of the Architecture and Design Film Festival New Orleans. Mr. Ledner passed away in November 2017 while in New York City for the showing of his documentary there. 

All photographs provided by the Louisiana Architecture Foundation