Green Coast Enterprises finally closed on the building at 234 Loyola Ave (former Higgins Industries Building) last month and it looks like development will move quickly. To learn more about the project itself and the developers, check out this article from Canal Street Beat written last December.
Below are the plans that were filed with the city this week:
The two ground floor pediments on Loyola Ave. look hokey. Can’t they get someone who is knowledgeable about historic architecture to assist in restoring this facade?
Hi Michael,
The pediments are just placeholders on the elevations, and we will be working with a Cast Stone artist to recreate the historic pediments. Thanks!
see image below
Amy, Thanks for your response. I have been studying classical architecture for the past 25 years, and am in the process of starting up a local chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, a non profit headquartered in New York. When the local chapter is up and running there will be courses and lectures provided that will provide educational opportunities for architects and anyone interested in classical architecture. Unfortunately, classical architecture is no longer taught in architecture schools so it is difficult to for architects today, with the education that they have to reconstruct missing components on historic buildings. If you would like, I can review the drawings, and shop drawings to assist with getting the details as accurate as possible. I am also connected with various sources that could provide sculptural services to assist with the cartouche. I am enclosing a pencil sketch I did the day I made the comment. I didn’t have the benefit of the close up photos.
Sketch below:
Was it not originally called the Pythian Temple? Will we learn about it’s history as the first African-American skyscraper in New Orleans?
That is true. I’m working on the building now. It still has a lot of it’s antique fixtures. I’m doing the ceramic tile.
[…] project includes the an entire residential, retail, and commercial redevelopment of the nine-story, 107-year-old building. Financing for the project recently closed, and […]