Pap’s Cleaners in the Vieux Carre, 1977 ©jeffrey lamb 2007
New Orleans photography 1977-85
Intoduction
The focus of the document is to to illustrate New Orleans 19th century, historic vernacular architecture.
However, now a month into it, this is really an effort in two parts, so to speak;
Survey HDLC, Part I: my work and documentary of New Orleans 30 years ago. Photography of New Orleans architecture for the Historic Districts Commission and
Survey PRC, Part Ia: the Preservation Resource Center, and work from my UofM master’s thesis.
Survey, Defense, Part II: the contemporary work of citizens documenting the City of New Orleans, post-Katrina, in a day to day effort to document all that has been forsaken.
These are the first days with this , and edits, additional material and photos… will find their way here, a work in progress… all comments and knowledge relative to the subject, the neighborhoods, the architecture are welcome here.
The material will include photography from 1978-1980, black and white images that were a part of the Historic District Landmarks Commission of New Orleans survey of the city, completed in Dec., 1979. A joint venture of Koch and Wilson, architects/Urban Transportation Planning Assoc.. Another color photographic survey, completed in 1984, for the Preservation Resource Center, of New Orleans provides the source material for additional color illustration of New Orleans architectural resources. And a third source of material for the history and development of the city and neighborhoods and types and styles of architecture, is taken from further research in the completion of my master’s thesis, “the Visual Survey, Documentation and Analysis of Historic Resources and Districts, Case Study: New Orleans, Louisiana”. MLA, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources, 1985
Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
Photography for the PRC, was an overall color survey of excellent examples of vernacular types and styles of architecture, typically found w/in historic neighborhoods of the city.
The purpose of this survey was to visually document significant examples of 19th century historic architecture throughout the city of New Orleans, and it’s historic neighborhoods. This project was completed in 1984, for the Preservation Resource Center, as part of their exhibit at the 1984 New Orleans’ World Exposition. In conjunction with Koch and Wilson Architects, of New Orleans, types and styles of architecture were discussed and chosen to represent the significant, historic architectural resources of the city. Five historic neighborhood districts were chosen to provide for an overview of the development of New Orleans architecture throughout the city. Focus of the project was to illustrate significant, architecturally and historically intact, buildings of the 19th century. Similarly, with the earliest development of the city, the choice of neighborhoods, uptown and downtown from the Vieux Carre, follows closely along the banks of the Mississippi river. This presentation is a look back at that work, and is meant to present a basic outline of the project.
Jeffrey Lamb is, I am a photographer who came to New Orleans in 1978, became involved with the survey and documentation of the city’s historic resources , and left in 1985.
HDLC Survey 1979
This project, for the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission, completed in 1980, involved the survey and documentation of 35,000 individual properties and structures, along with several hundred photographs illustrating historic architectural types and styles, landmarks and districts. Fourteen architectural districts were recommended to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This HDLC project, was, in many ways, a foundation for this presentation.
All text from the HDLC report.
The purpose of the survey was to determine which areas of Community Development Neighborhoods (cdn), of New Orleans, could be proposed as 19th century historic architectural districts to the National Register of Historic Places. Individual properties were also to be identified as candidates for the National Register, as well as city landmark properties. The method used to do this inventory was a visual survey of the exterior of buildings, as seen from the street, with the focus primarily on the architectural integrity and condition of the structures inventoried, and those neighborhoods where they were located.
The survey began downriver, downtown of Canal st., in the area of Holy Cross, and proceeded upriver, through the Bywater, Inner Marigny, Esplanade, and Canal-Tulane neighborhoods. Beyond Canal st., moving uptown the neighborhoods of Riverside, Marengo, Black Pearl, Carrolton and finally across the river to Algiers. The Central Business District (cbd) was an area surveyed as well. The recommended districts predictably follow the historic growth of the city upriver and downriver from the French Quarter and along the portage that became Grand Route St. John and Esplanade, to Lake Ponchatrain. The remaining, and large inventory of pre-WWI structures, clearly reflect the variety, history and ethos of the city at the turn of the century and the gradual economic decline of the city during the late 19th century, and slow times between the two world wars. Prosperity in other American cities at this time, destroyed other such historic areas, as those that are found, and remain in New Orleans.
all images copyright 2007 Jeffrey Lamb, text copyright 1979 HDLC
1984 New Orleans , prints upon request, www.jefflambphoto.com/
you may not publish blog or borrow any material presented here w/out request and my written permission. jl
jlp/ New Orleans 