This completely slipped my mind until now: Charity Hospital was featured prominently in the June 11th issue of Architecture Week in an article called Historic U.S. Places at Risk.
One of my pictures of Charity’s magnificent facade was used in the article (with permission) along with several from other contributors. Also mentioned is the LSU/VA plan which involves “demolition of some 200 homes and buildings constructed prior to 1880 in 25 blocks of the Mid-City Historic District, despite the existence of a largely vacant site nearby.”
Lower Mid-City was flooded in 2005 but not as badly as many other parts of New Orleans. Through hard work and the attendant pitfalls of the last three years, this is one part of the city which has been able to come back in an appreciable manner, the Deutsches Haus a prime example of such a rebound. It seems criminally negligent and wasteful to demolish a whole neighborhood that has mostly succeeded in recovery and in maintaining its historic roots to put in a much-needed hospital, but one that has the option to build elsewhere.
Currently in circulation is an open letter to Mayor Nagin and City Council demanding public hearings on the LSU/VA campus development plan. Worse than a hospital complex going up on top of a recovering historic neighborhood is the public left out of the planning process.
