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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Snow Pea Harvest

It doesn't get any more local than your back yard.
Why bother to cook them when they taste so good right off the vine?

Snow Pea Harvest Flower remnants on the tip of the pea

Snow Peas ready to be harvested Snow Pea Flowers

Look like Sweet Peas...
they have to be planted at the same time as Sweet Peas in late fall/early winter.
Snow Pea Flowers

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Expendable?

How would you feel if someone told you that these houses at 4037 Octavia and 4031 Octavia (at Walmsley) should be torn down? They are not historic. They don't add to the character of the street scape. They are, in a word, expendable.
Not Fig Street

Well that is essentially what Mr. Blancher has argued at City Hall. These 2 houses on Fig Street are expendable.
Fig 8125 8129
Mr. Blancher paid a total of $355,000 for the 8125-27 and 8129-31 Fig Street. The postKatrina damage assessment for each of the properties was less than 20%. These properties were remediated, permitted by the city as rentals and inhabited until Mr. Blancher evicted the tenants. Apparently these houses are expendable, unnecessary, valueless as housing stock and valueless to the neighborhood. Mr. Blancher would rather have vacant lot or an unpaved parking lot because he thinks that this would be better for the neighborhood.

Requests to demolish in this neighborhood must go before the the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee (aka NCDC). At hearings Mr. Blancher indicated that the properties were in poor repair and harbored drug dealers and that he wanted to tear them down to protect his business and his clients and to provide parking.
The story Mr. Blancher weaves on Demo Diva, Simone Bruni's radio show on WGSO about the drug dealing transvestites with Black lights for Crack and Red lights when it's a cat house is better than fiction. But during her Demo Diva interview even the neighbor in the middle of Dublin (whose new Lot next Door abuts the empty corner lot Mr. Blancher owns across the street from Fig requested demolitions) indicated that she had never seen drug dealing from these properties. And she spoke in favor of Mr. Blancher's requested demolition at the NCDC meeting.

NorthWest Carrollton spoke at the NCDC an indicated that the neighborhood was opposed to the demolition of these properties. We have lost a significant amount of housing stock to: postKatrina fire, demolition by neglect, the 2007 Tornado, to illegal demolitions... We'd prefer not to loose any more.

We believe these structures can be saved and become valuable housing stock, just like the houses on Octavia Street. And based on the New Orleans Assessor Website these twin properties were purchased prehousing bust for LESS than what Mr. Blancher paid for practically identical posthousing bust houses on Fig.

The NCDC agreed with us and the issue now goes before City Council.

If it wouldn't be a good idea to allow these houses on Octavia Street to be demolished,
Not Fig Street
why is demolition a good idea in NorthWest Carrollton?

Monday, March 21, 2011

2nd Distrist Crime Map March 13-19 2011

Crime Map from NOLAReady.
NorthWest Carrollton is 2T. Southern edge of 2T is Claiborne Ave.
comstat week 3-13 thru 3-19 2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Lemon Dill Chevre

Picked up some Ryal's Goat Dairy Lemon Dill Chevre
at Hollygrove Market and Farm this weekend.

I'm not the cook in my family but..... Here's what I've done with it:

Spread Chevre on Roberts Olive Bread
after thinly (1/4 ") slicing the bread and toasting it the toaster.

For a meaty version of this open face sandwich:
Create Robert Olive Bread size ground meat hamburgers that are about an inch thick. Just add salt, pepper & a little bit of Worsterchester Sauce to the meat mix.
Spray some Pam in a small frying pan and cook until medium rare.
Slice the medium rare burgers in half and put on top of the Chevre covered Olive Bread.

Make a salad
Into a large salad bowl
Add the cleaned! Head of lettuce, also from this weekend's market, that you have broken into small bits.
Add fresh arugula (from our garden).
Scrape a fork over the container of Chevre so small bits fall on to the lettuce/arugula mix.

In a Small Bowl put some Ranch Dressing (1/4 cup) and add a little bit of Lemon Juice (4 tablespoons). Mix aggressively.

Pour over salad in large bowl and mix well.

Serve as lunch with some freshly brewed tea.

For Dessert
Enjoy fresh strawberries & wedges of Blood Oranges, also from this weekend's market.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Post Katrina Fire

A fire the week after Katrina took out almost the entire city block
bounded by Carrollton Pritchard Fig Dublin
And people wonder why we are so protective of our historic housing stock

8128 Fig Street

Chimneys

Bathtub and Ashes

Still 2 FEMA Trailers in NorthWest Carrollton - now 2 out of 168

FEMA trailers must go, residents are told
Fines could start piling up, FEMA and N.O. say

Friday, March 11, 2011 By Michelle KrupaStaff writer


Louisiana residents still living in FEMA trailers must relocate by April 30 or face fines of $800 a month and possible eviction, according to a letter sent recently to more than 400 households statewide.

The penalty could be even more severe in New Orleans, where City Hall recently began notifying trailer occupants that they could be fined an additional $500 a day, up to $15,575, if they don't remove the units from their property, Chief Administrative Officer Andy Kopplin said Thursday.

City law prohibits trailers across the city except in a few designated areas. The rules, which were suspended after Hurricane Katrina, have been back in effect since July 2008.

The number of FEMA trailers in the city has dwindled from a high of 23,314 to 168 occupied units this week, Kopplin said.

While that amounts to less than 1 percent of the one-time total, neighbors continue to complain that the trailers are eyesores and hindering the recovery.

"The message is that now is the time for folks in those 168 trailers to take advantage of the housing options that the city is giving them," Kopplin said.

State and federal case workers have been assisting families still living in trailers, though the expensive rental market and the specialized needs of elderly and disabled residents have posed challenges. At the program's peak, FEMA had issued about 92,000 trailers statewide, according to the agency.

In December and again in January, City Hall notified residents still living in trailers that they would face hearings and fines if they didn't abandon the units. Hearing notifications will go out next week to 50 households, with an additional 50 to follow every two weeks until every case has been set, Kopplin said.

The first cases are expected to be heard March 28, he said.

Meanwhile, FEMA officials have notified trailer occupants several times that the temporary housing program was slated to end May 1, 2009.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Recycling is back and you're paying for it so....

Register for your recycling bins by clicking the link below
http://www.nola.gov/en/RESIDENTS/Department-Of-Sanitation/CartRegistration

You just type in your address and the bin is delivered.
I've requested mine today.... we'll see how long it takes for the bin to arrive.
Pick up starts March 15th.

Here's what you can put in the bin:

•Paper products including office paper, newspapers and color inserts, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, paperboard boxes (including cereal boxes, 12-pack soft drink boxes) telephone books, shredded paper

•Plastic containers coded #1 through #7 (water, soda, juice bottles, etc.), plastic pots from nurseries, plastic bags

•Aluminum cans, Steel Ferrous metal food containers & lids)

•Cardboard

Nelson Street Corner Dante Street

Square 343, lot E
Wells Fargo Bank NA to Department of Housing and Urban Development $2000
Real Estate Listings March 5, 2011

Somebody explain to me how a house purchased for $240,500 in 2006 gets sold to HUD for $2000. I think there are plenty of folks out there who could become property owners and live in our neighborhood if all they had to pay to get the house was $2000.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Polling Locations RETURN to Incarnate Word

After 6 years

and numerous requests to the Registrar of Voters

the kinks finally got worked out and

City Council Voted on March 3rd to

RETURN the polling locations for 17-10 and 17-12
to Incarnate Word in the 8300 Block of Apricot Street.

All our polling locations are back in NorthWest Carrollton!

No more driving to Xavier to vote!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Detail on the Ashton Theatre on Apple Street

Ashton Theatre on Apple Street
NorthWest Carrollton would like to work to have this building added to the National Historic Register.  In addition to being one of the last old theatres in New Orleans, it was designed by Ferdinand Lucien Rousseve (1904–1965).
In April 1934 he sat for and passed the state licensing examination for architects, becoming the first licensed Black architect in Louisiana.


We are in contact with some of Rousseve's relatives that remain in the New Orleans Area.

The Ashton is currently owned by the artist Lin Emory but is not open ot the public.

The websites below that provided this research are no longer working but this detail is some of the information that has been sent to NorthWest Carrollton on the Ashton Theatre.
__________________________________________________________________

/http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/ferdinand-lucien-rousseve-tf/


Ferdinand Lucien Rousseve (1904–1965)

John J.Burns Library, Boston College Archives

Ferdinand Rousseve was born on July 18,1904, in New Orleans, Louisiana, into a devout Catholic household headed by his Creole father, Bartholomew, who was a postman, and his mother, Valentine Marie, who was a housewife. Ferdinand had three brothers and four sisters including twins, Leonie and Leona. His father faithfully recited the Rosary every morning and raised his children to have devotion for the Virgin Mary. Ferdinand’s sister, Theresa, married Jesus Christ by becoming a nun, and one brother, Maurice, ordained his soul to the Catholic Church by becoming a priest. One brother, Rene, was a social worker. Two brothers, Numa and Charles, who were gifted artists, became a professional landscape painter and university professor of fine arts, respectively. Ferdinand, like two of his brothers, chose a profession in the fine arts, but his oeuvre was forever ecclesiastically influenced.
Ferdinand’s father enrolled him in Saint Louis Elementary, a private school in New Orleans, and then successive New Orleans parochial schools—Holy Family Boys’ Middle School and Xavier Preparatory High School. Ferdinand Rousseve was inspired to study architecture by his Xavier drafting and industrial arts teacher, William Lewis. He graduated with academic honors third in his class in June 1922.

Rousseve was a smart and determined student who advanced his station in life by seeking out and conquering the educational opportunities that presented themselves to him. Following his graduation from high school, he enrolled at Guillaume College in New Orleans in 1924 and received a diploma from the commercial course. Also in 1924, he attended Coyne Trade and Engineering School in Chicago, Illinois, earning a certificate in mechanical drawing and elementary machine design. The latter was a discipline in which patternmaker RICHARD MASON HANCOCK had excelled. Rousseve returned to New Orleans and worked as a draftsman for Louis J.Charbonnett, a family friend, mechanical engineer, and mentor and owner of one of the leading millwright companies in the lower Mississippi Delta. After Charbonnett died in 1924, Rousseve left for Cambridge, Massachusetts, intending to enter the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. To prepare for the entrance examination, Rousseve enrolled at Rindge Technical High School in Cambridge. It was a worthwhile investment of a year of study. He won a Gold Medal in oratory and qualified for a four-year, full-tuition Cambridge scholarship. The summer before he started college, he worked as a draftsman for Maginnis, Walsh & Kennedy Architects, who specialized in church architecture. Rousseve entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall of 1925. His matriculation was highlighted by many honors, such as receiving a $1,000 scholarship grant from the Cambridge Rotary Club. He was the only African American member of the Architectural Society and he was a dependable member of the Catholic Club. He spent the summer of 1926 working as a draftsman in the Boston office of Edward T.P.Graham (1871–1964). The summer of



Greater Tulane Baptist Church, Neil Alexander Photography
1929 he worked as a draftsman for the nonprofit Architectural Bureau of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Chicago. His terminal thesis was “The Hall of Fame of a National Capital Building in Design.” In his fifth year, Rousseve graduated from MIT with a bachelor of science in architecture in 1930.

Not since ROBERT ROBINSON TAYLOR in 1892 had the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduated a Black architect. Rousseve was a hot commodity and he quickly found employment as an instructor in the School of Architecture at HOWARD UNIVERSITY. He taught at the university from 1930 to 1933. During the two summers he taught at Howard he took classes in interior decoration, arts, and ornamental decoration in New York City, probably offered by the popular Beaux-Arts Institute of Design.

In April 1934 he sat for and passed the state licensing examination for architects, becoming the first licensed Black architect in Louisiana.1
 
Rousseve was an architect-academician with a strong preference for classical styles. His interest motivated him to attend the University of Chicago during the summers from 1936 to 1939 in a specialized field of the history of art, concentrating on twelfth-century French architecture. For his terminal thesis he wrote “The Majestas Domini in the Tympanum of the Twelfth Century French Church—A Study in Iconography.”2 It was an iconographic analysis of the “Majesty of the Lord” decoration theme found in the tympana of medieval church portals. Rousseve received his master of art degree during commencement ceremonies held in the summer of 1940.

Rousseve added a capital to his record of scholarship in 1948 when he was awarded a doctoral degree in architecture from Harvard University. He made A’s in all his courses, completed his foreign (French) language requirement, and passed his oral comprehensive examination all within two semesters. His thesis, supplemented by a detailed scale model that he built, was a critical assessment of one of the last churches along the great Pilgrimage Road, “The Romanesque Abbey—Church of St. Martial at Limoges, France.”
Ferdinand married Elise Mirault Clarke of Augusta, Georgia, in the fall of 1930. They were parents to Yvonne Elise, Angela Rose, and Marie Valentine. Rousseve, in the vein of ALBERT IRVIN CASSELL and HOWARD HAMILTON MACKEY SR., was a successful architect-administrator. In the fall of 1933, he was appointed assistant to the university president and business manager for SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY at Baton Rouge. In 1940 Rousseve received a dual appointment as head of the Department of Fine Arts at Xavier University in New Orleans and university architect. He managed the department, taught design classes, and was responsible for supervising the Facilities Department as well as the construction of university buildings.

When Rousseve returned to New Orleans in 1940, he opened a solo private practice to supplement the salary he received from Xavier University. Rousseve maintained his architectural practice until 1948.

Rousseve designed many buildings in the Gulf region of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. His commissions ranged from Catholic high schools to Catholic churches to houses. Among the most noteworthy were greater Tulane Baptist Church in New Orleans and St. Jude’s Catholic Hospital in Montgomery, Alabama.

Rousseve was quoted as saying, “I have a strong conviction that it is our individual and collective duty to make our communities better places in which to live.”3 His civic commitment was demonstrated by board memberships in the New Orleans Family Services Society and New Orleans Council of Social Agencies and in Boston by board memberships in the Cambridge Planning Board, Catholic Inter-racial Council of Boston, National Council of Christians and Jews, and more than a dozen other groups.

In 1961 Rousseve returned to Massachusetts to accept the directorship of the Fine Arts Department at Boston College in Chestnut Hill. He was once again a trailblazer by being one of the few African Americans to head an Art Department at a predominately White college and being one of the few architects to head an Art Department at a college or university.

Ferdinand Rousseve died on July 18, 1965, at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Brighton, Massachusetts.4 He is interred at Newton Cemetery in Newton Centre, Massachusetts.

Notes

1. Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners, “Ferdinand Rousseve,” no. (unknown), issued 23 April 1934.

2. Ferdinand Rousseve, “The Majestas Domini in the Tympanum of the Twelfth Century French Church—A Study in Iconography,” (master’s thesis, University of Chicago, 1939).

3. Clarence Laws, “Ferdinand L.Rousseve-Architect and Citizen,” Opportunity. (September 1947): 95.

4. “Dr. Ferdinand Rousseve, B.C.Fine Arts Chairman,” Traveler (Boston), 19 July 1965, p. 30.

Bibliography

“Rousseve, Ferdinand Lucien.” In Who Was Who in America. A.N.Marquis, ed., vol. 33. New York: Marquis Company, 1964.

“Rousseve, Ferdinand.” In Directory of American Scholars. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Science Press, 1951.


DRECK SPURLOCK WILSON

BUILDING LIST

Name
Address
City
State
Year
Comments
House
1436 Pauger St.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
House
1428 Bourbon St.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
House
1625 Pauger St.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
Twin House
1455–1457 Pauger St.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
5th African Baptist Church
3419 S.Robinson St.
New Orleans
LA
 
Michael D’Orsi, assoc. architect
Ashton Theatre
 
New Orleans
LA
 
Michael D’Orsi, assoc. architect
Beecher Memorial Congregational Church
1914 N.Miro St.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
Central Congregational Church of Christ
2401 Bienville Ave.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
Cherrie-Segue Medical Clinic
 
New Orleans
LA
 
Michael D’Orsi, assoc. architect
Convents Holy Ghost Catholic Church Rectory
2015 Louisiana Ave.
New Orleans
LA
 
Addition
Dryades Street YMCA
Dryades St.
New Orleans
LA
 
Destroyed by fire
Greater Tulane Baptist Church
214 N.Johnston St.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
Le Rendezvous Restaurant
 
 
 
 
Michael D’Orsi, assoc. architect
Louisiana Colored Teachers Association Bldg.
Campus
Baton Rogue
LA
 
Now Southern Univ. Archives Bldg.
McDonald Dental Office
 
New Orleans
LA
 
 
People’s United Methodist Church Community Center
 
New Orleans
LA
 
Michael D’Orsi, assoc. architect
Rhodes Funeral Home
1716 N.Claiborne Ave.
New Orleans
LA
 
 
Rose Hill Baptist Church
4520 Willow Rd.
New Orleans
LA
 
Michael D’Orsi, assoc. architect
Rousseve, Ferdinand L.
4636 Willow St.
Cambridge
MA
 
 
St. Claver’s Catholic Elementary School
1020 N.Prieur St.
New Orleans
LA
1921
Michael D’Orsi, assoc. architect
St. Jude’s Catholic Hospital
2048 W.Fairview Ave.
Montgomery
AL
1951
Now Apts.
St. Raymond’s Catholic Church
3738 Paris Ave.
New Orleans
 
 
 

 

 


 

http://www.ohsno.org/opus_lists/index.htm

REPRODUCO
 
 
 
Reproduco / Ashton Piano
 
Ashton Theatre, 8437 Apple St., New Orleans
 

*The Organs of the United States and Canada Database is operated by George Nelson

This page is a service of www.neworleanschurches.com
and the New Orleans Chapter of the Organ Historical Society

http://www.cinematour.com/picview.php?db=us&id=63805

http://www.preservationnation.org/travel-and-sites/sites/southern-region/ashton-theatre.html

http://www.preservationnation.org/travel-and-sites/sites/nationwide/historic-american-movie-theaters.html