Wheatley Elementary School was a perfectly fine building: Letter to the editor

Architect Raymond Boudreaux worked with Charles Colbert in the Office of Planning and Construction for Orleans Parish Schools and later in the firm Colbert Lowrey Hess and Boudreaux. 
His letter to the editor dated June 24, 2011 was  published on July 7, 2011 in the Times-Picayune.

Wheatley Demolition Accelerated

Dear Friends of DOCOMOMO-US/LA,

We regret to convey that Charles Colbert's lauded Phillis Wheatley Elementary began to be demolished on Friday 17 June 2011. Hannah Miet has covered the story for the Times Picayune. The structure is still standing, although battered by neglect and preliminary demolition work.

In this video clip from nola.com, former Phillis Wheatley Elementary student Phyllis Montana-LeBlanc, an actor and preservationist, witnessed the bulldozing. She has been a powerful advocate for saving the building. As we reported earlier this week, The Roots of Music envisioned renovating Phillis Wheatley School as the new headquarters for its nationally acclaimed youth program. DOCOMOMO-US/LA supported this proposal, canvassing Mayor Mitch Landrieu and new RSD Superintendent John White with pleas to preserve the innovative structure -- the site of historically significant music education programs -- for adaptive reuse. Despite such efforts, on 16 June, DOCOMOMO-US/LA supporters received letters advocating demolition from Mr. White, and bulldozers circled the next day.

While we are greatly saddened by this news, we want to convey our sincere thanks to all of you who lent your support!

Rufus Alldredge Medical Clinic (1964)

Facade detail 2, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

In 1963 architect Charles Colbert designed this medical clinic building for Dr. Rufus Alldredge as an elevated structure consisting of two units bridged in the rear by a glass enclosed ramp. A rusty pipe grillage creates subtly changing shades and shadows on the front facade. Today the building sits next to an empty lot that once was an Exxon station at the major intersection of Louisiana Avenue and St. Charles Avenue.

[Anthony DelRosario, DOCOMOMO NOLA; photo: Stephanie Day, New Orleans Virtual Archive, Tulane School of Architecture]

Auditorium eligible for National Register to be demolished without public input

Auditorium shared by the George Washington Carver Junior- Senior High School and Helen Sylvania Edwards Elementary School. 3059 Higgins Boulevard, New Orleans, LA. (1958, Curtis and Davis, architects) photo © Emily Ardoin

The City of New Orleans has issued a demolition permit for the George Washington Carver Junior-Senior High School designed by Curtis and Davis, architects. The Helen Sylvania Edwards Elementary School shared many campus facilities with Carver, but has already been demolished. The integration of three schools (elementary, junior and senior high) on a 65 acre campus in the upper ninth ward allowed the schools to share common facilities (cafeteria, kitchen, auditorium) and yet retain age-segregated classroom buildings. The auditorium was also available for community events. Curtis and Davis' plan gained national recognition when Progressive Architecture awarded the First Design Award to the Carver School in 1957.

The Federal Emergency Management Association deemed the auditorium building eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The striking design of the auditorium with its soaring (40 ft high and 200 ft long) parabolic concrete vault and hinged buttresses is truly monumental. DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana advocated for the auditorium structure to be retained and suggested that it be adaptively reused as an open air pavilion.

We still do not understand why FEMA never sought public comments for the Carver High School auditorium building. The Section 106 process in New Orleans does not appear to be functioning in the spirit of the National Historic Preservation Act. Section 106 does not mandate preservation, but is supposed to encourage it. Yet too many buildings are being demolished. In fact, in the past 5 years, have any of the historic buildings under Section 106 review in New Orleans not ultimately met their demise?

In this situation, the Recovery School District is using public funds to demolish a public building without seeking input from the general public and with the support of a federal agency.

Intelligent Design with Principles of Sustainability and Modernism in Mind

The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School is already elevated above the 100 year flood elevation - one of the most important factors for any building located in the city. Even though the classrooms did not flood after Hurricane Katrina, the school has remained shuttered for five years.

The open design of the building adds to the positive learning environment by creating an unrestricted open air feel. The original design utilized a beautiful glass wall exterior to allow large amounts of natural light into the classroom. Natural light has since been proven to aid in the learning process and combat depression.

The boarded window downgrade was likely to combat the heat element. However, since then glass and window construction tech has drastically improved so that double and triple pane Argon filled panels could be utilized to to reduce heat transfer yet retain the architectural beauty of the original design.

Due to the large flat roof and large glass windows, electricity needs could be subsidized through the use of solar panels. This is a vital point, since New Orleans is one of the largest solar cities in America and mid-century pieces were designed to be easily upgraded as technology advanced.

This unique school facility provides abundant sheltered play space, natural light and ventilation. Supports are in the middle of the building. The extensions are cantilevered about 35 feet from the supports - a very muscular kind of support, more often seen in bridge design. The elevated structure has a regional architectural sensibility. The earliest buildings of the French Quarter and around Louisiana were all elevated, not just for flood protection, but also to increase natural ventilation. The breeze is always a little bit stronger when you get above ground.

New facilities (performance spaces, band rooms, kindergarten) can be sympathetically constructed on the site adjacent to a renovated historic modern school.

The Mahalia Jackson Elementary School (also by architect Charles Colbert 1954) has been significantly renovated. The new Mahalia Jackson Early Childhood Family Learning Center is now serving the Central City community. If they can do it in Central City, why not Tremé?

New Orleans :: most Progressive Architecture awards :: 1955

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

In 1955 the Phillis Wheatley Elementary School was awarded a citation for its innovative design by Progressive Architecture.

All of the 22 classrooms for 770 pupils were raised off the ground, in order to provide an open play area, as the building occupies the major part of the site. Two rows of concrete piers support the cantilivered structure. A series of large steel trusses sandwiched between the classroom walls make this cantilever possible. Classrooms are accessible from open corridors, have bilateral lighting and cross ventilation. Administration and combination auditorium / cafeteria are housed in adjoining one-story structure.

In addition to Phillis Wheatley, five other designs by New Orleans architects received awards in Progressive Architecture's second annual Design Awards Program juried by Dr. Walter Gropius.

The Times-Picayune reports, "The designs, which gave New Orleans and Louisiana more awards than any other city or state were done by Curtis and Davis, Charles R. Colbert, John W. Lawrence, George A. Saunders, Buford L. Pickens and John Ekin Dinwiddie. The designs were of six proposed Louisiana buildings."

The envelope please.....

HEALTHCARE Madison Parish Hospital in Tullulah, Curtis and Davis

EDUCATION Phillis Wheatley Elementary School in New Orleans, Charles R. Colbert

RESIDENTIAL Dr. and Mrs. Lyman K. Richardson Residence in Harahan, Curtis and Davis

RESIDENTIAL Vacation House in Lacombe, Lawrence and Saunders

RESIDENTIAL General Electric demonstration house in New Orleans, John Lawrence and George A. Saunders with Buford L. Pickens

RELIGIOUS St. Bernard Methodist Church in Chalmette, John Lawrence and George A. Saunders with John Dinwiddie

DOCOMOMO advocates for the adaptive reuse of the Wheatley School

The School Facilites Master Plan of Orleans Parish has consistently threatened to eradicate important mid-century modern public schools from New Orleans’ historic neighborhoods. From the outset, DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana identified Charles Colbert’s Phillis Wheatley Elementary as one of the most architecturally significant buildings of the twentieth century.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency assessed the building as eligible for the National Register, thereby triggering the National Historic Preservation Act’s Section 106 Process. DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana -- in an effort to save the building -- agreed to participate as a Consulting Party in the Section 106 Process. Since the NHPA review process began, the World Monuments Fund has cited the structure for its 2010 Watch List, referring to it as an “architectural gem unique to New Orleans.”

As public support for adaptive reuse has grown, the RSD has acknowledged that Wheatley is not a generic twentieth-century building and deserves to be considered carefully. The hiring of Holly and Smith Architects to assess the feasibility of adaptive reuse is an acknowledgment of the building’s importance. In fact, Wheatley is the only Orleans Parish School Facility which the RSD has considered for adaptive reuse.

The successful renovation of Charles Colbert's McDonogh 36 School by the Early Childhood Family Learning Foundation demonstrates the feasibility of adaptive reuse for mid-century modern school architecture and provides a model by which Wheatley may be rehabilitated as a twenty-first century school.