LOWER 9’s LANDMARKS: historic, modern, unexpected
Here, are the old and the new, the natural and the built: a set of landmarks unique to New Orleans and in many instances found nowhere else along the Gulf Coast.
The Steamboat Houses along the Mississippi must be the first stop on any tour here. Also known as the “Captain’s Houses” and “Pilot Houses”, these two nearly identical structures with their green tile concave roofs date back to 1910 when Paul Doullut, a steamboat captain, had them built at Egania and Douglas Streets (➊) in the Holy Cross Neighborhood. These highly unusual houses have achieved international fame, recalling the pilot houses of another era: encircling decks or galleries are deep, interior halls narrow, the pilothouses large and open, with a view of the river. Cylindrical metal smokestacks replace masonry chimneys. Round and square porthole-type openings are interspersed among the full-length openings at the main level. Both houses feature metal cresting around the roofs and decorative gables covered with pressed tin. The gallery woodwork also reflects the steamboat era with turned colonnettes and round balls of cypress graduated in size, strung as double-garland rows around the gallery.
Located further to the east on Chartres Street is St. Maurice Church (1857), a stuccoed Romanesque Revival structure. The church (➋) was heavily damaged by the storm, losing its steeple. But in July 2007 volunteers from the Metal Construction Association (MCA) worked to restore the building inside and out, installing a new standing seam metal roof on the rectory and re-erecting the steeple. St. Maurice has since reopened to its congregation.
Older still are the Jackson Barracks (1834-35), which extend the entire length of the Lower Ninth Ward from the river to the bayou along the St. Bernard Parish line (➌). President Andrew Jackson signed a Congressional bill on July 19, 1832 for the building of a post to house U.S. army troops; the location was chosen for its close proximity to the city and as a defense against seaborne invasion like the one New Orleans had faced in 1815. Today, the Barracks is on the National Register of Historic Places and includes unique examples of federalist architecture. The site now serves as headquarters for the Louisiana National Guard and houses the Jackson Barracks Military Museum.
The western edge of the Lower Ninth Ward is defined by the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal, known more commonly as the Industrial Canal (➍). The Canal was opened in the spring of 1923 by the Port of New Orleans as a shortcut between the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. This project was controversial from the start, creating a significant physical change in the district. The vintage Industrial Canal Lock – and proposals to widen it by the Army Corps of Engineers – has long been a source of concern for neighborhood residents.
The Holy Cross School and its grounds remind us of the plantations of yesterday. The main building, a three-story brick Italianate structure with decorative cast-iron galleries, dates from 1895. The school’s 17-acre campus (➎) was acquired by the Brothers of the Holy Cross as a Catholic boarding school for boys. At the time of Katrina, the student body totaled 887 boys in Grades 5 through 12. Despite its location on the neighborhood’s “high ground”, all school buildings were damaged by flooding from the storm. The school, its faculty and administration have since relocated to another part of New Orleans.
The Levee (➏), stretching from St. Claude along the Industrial Canal then west to east along the Mississippi River, is a great, long, sloping, peaceful green space used by residents for walking, biking, running, picnics – or just watching wildlife and the river commerce. The levee along the River was constructed in 1912 to prevent problems due to land erosion.
Beyond the northern end of the Lower Ninth Ward is Bayou Bienvenue, once a Tupelo cypress swamp (➐) and a place visited often by residents for fishing, boating and other types of recreation. Completion of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in 1965 led to saltwater intrusion, severely restricting the Bayou’s role as a natural buffer against storm surge. Local activists, with help from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Colorado-Denver, are working to restore these wetlands and create a public space for the neighborhood again.
The newly-restored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School for Science & Technology is a source of great pride for the community. Located at the corner of Caffin and Claiborne Avenues, the MLK Charter School (➑) is a bright spot in the midst of desolation – featuring a newly-refurbished school building with freshly painted butter yellow pillars, a newly sodded sports field and gleaming monkey bars and slide. Against all odds, parents, volunteers and the school’s principal were able to re-open MLK last August, with more than 650 students enrolled for the 2007-08 school year.
Full of promise for a sustainable future, Global Green’s Holy Cross Project is aiming to become one of the greenest developments of its kind in North America. This 1.5-acre site (➒) right next to the river will serve as a fitting bookend to the historic Steamboat Houses just one block away. Upon its completion later this year, the complex will include five single-family residences, an 18-unit apartment building, a community center, and outdoor space with an interpretative learning component and children’s education area that connects to the river levee.
Aiming for LEED Platinum, the complex features high performance design, green roofs, rainwater harvesting, a geothermal system, solar panels, and energy-efficient appliances – enabling all structures to use at least 75 percent less energy than typical buildings in this climate. The Holy Cross Project (originally known as “GREEN.O.LA”) is sponsored by Brad Pitt and Global Green and conceived by architects Workshop/APD of New York to serve as a showcase for green, affordable housing in New Orleans and the U.S.