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.

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. 

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.