LAFITTE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT (Treme, 1939-41)

by Orleans Avenue, N. Galvez Street, N. Claiborne Avenue and St. Louis Street
The Lafitte complex is important in the history of public housing in New Orleans because of its early place in the Wagner Act Housing Program in the late 1930s. New Orleans was the first city in the United States to benefit from the Wagner Act, with six large developments placed across the City.
Lafitte was developed as the African-American counterpart to the nearby whites-only Iberville Housing Development, and features many of the same architectural and planning details that garnered Iberville a spot on our 2005 Most Endangered list: masonry construction, fireplaces, wooden windows, tile roofs, cooper flashing, porches and galleries with decorative wrought iron railings, and courtyard-oriented structures.

There are 77 low-rise, row house-style buildings on the site, along with an Administration Building. The layout, typical of 1930s public housing developments and college campuses, is a major character-defining feature. The prevailing urban grid is blocked off to create green spaces and the buildings are arranged in C-shaped clusters that face each other to form large courtyards. Hurricane Katrina’s flooding did enter the first floors of most of the buildings, but the masonry construction and plaster walls were remarkably resilient to the effects of the water. Yet the buildings have remained closed and are now slated for demolition by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

There could be viable alternatives to total demolition of this historic housing development, such as incorporating the renovated buildings into a redevelopment plan. The buildings feature solid construction, quality materials, good design and a workable plan with mature landscaping, all of which could be reused to help provide affordable housing, while maintaining our historic architecture.

Threat: Demolition