CaseStudy:Demolition of the Thomy Lafon Elementary School in New Orleans

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) proposes to provide Public Assistance Funds to the Recovery School District to demolish the Thomy Lafon Elementary School. Neighborhood residents generally support the project, but two historic preservation organizations are opposed to demolishing the historic school. FEMA is working with consulting parties to resolve the undertaking’s adverse effects on historic properties.

Details
Through its Public Assistance Program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) proposes to provide funding to the Recovery School District (RSD) for the demolition of the 1952 Thomy Lafon Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. RSD currently has no plans to replace the school following its demolition of the building. In consultation with the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), FEMA has determined that the Lafon School is individually eligible for National Register listing.

Thomy Lafon Elementary School is architecturally significant for its International-style design and its association with prominent New Orleans architects Nathaniel Curtis and Arthur Q. Davis, who also designed St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in the Gentilly neighborhood (which was demolished in a separate FEMA undertaking) and the Louisiana Superdome. The American Institute of Architects presented its First Honor Award to the school in 1954 for its innovative design. The school also is historically significant for its association with the mid-20th century growth of the Orleans Parish School District and the city of New Orleans. RSD has no plans for re-developing the Lafon School site, and any new construction there has the potential to affect two former cemeteries.

The proposed project to demolish the school enjoys widespread support in the neighborhood. However, two local historic preservation organizations--the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans and the New Orleans Chapter of DOCOMOMO (Documentation and Conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the Modern Movement) object to demolition of the historic school and have urged FEMA and RSD to find an alternative that will preserve the building. Demolition may also disturb burials remaining from when the land was formerly occupied by two mid- to late-19th century cemeteries. Because FEMA’s proposed undertaking will have adverse effects on historic properties, the agency is consulting with the Louisiana SHPO, Indian tribes, neighborhood representatives, and local historic preservation organizations.

FEMA’s first consultation meeting about the undertaking took place on August 21, 2009. FEMA also held a public meeting on September 23, 2009. Consultation meetings continued during the fall of 2009 and are ongoing.