The lobby of the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans’ headquarters, in the Leeds-Davis Building at 923 Tchoupitoulas St., is devoted to a museum-style exhibit explaining, according to the title wall, “the greatest architecture museum of all – the streets of New Orleans.”
From the colonial era to midcentury modern, creole cottages through shotguns to American townhouses and ranch houses, the lessons on how to “read” a New Orleans home explore the historic origins and organic utility of each design.
Actually, the lessons start in the precolonial era. Also on the exhibit’s title wall, the indigenous populations that predated the first colonists are credited with pioneering the concept of raised dwellings, a centuries-old practice still relevant this week.
The exhibit’s detail beyond the major dwelling styles – down to window and door designs, roof shapes, cladding styles, and the fact that several “types” can be present in one building – makes for a great standing read.
The text for the exhibit was written by MaryNell Nolan-Wheatley and Michelle Shoriak; Susan Langenhennig Granger was project editor. The designers were David Jack Browning and Liz Jurey.
Print and podcast coverage here and here. Images below.
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