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The Lakeview Elementary School building, built in
the "bungalow" style, has been part of Milne
Boulevard since 1914.
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Photo by Eileen Loh Harrist
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Hey Blake,
My daughter, an architect, and I were taking the short cut from Canal Boulevard
through Lakeview to Veterans Memorial Boulevard, when she asked to stop so she
could photograph a school on Milne Boulevard. She told me it is a wonderful
example of bungalow architecture. Can you enlighten us further?
Adolph
Dear Adolph,
I suppose you want me to tell you more about the school. Since your daughter
is an architect, she already knows about the style.
Back in 1911, a swamp reclamation company
donated the land where Lakeview Elementary School stands at 5931 Milne Blvd.
Beginning in 1914, the school was built in three phases. They started with the
first floor, added some more in 1923, and finished it off in 1925.
From that time, it was used as an elementary
school continuously until 1983. Then it was converted to offices except for
a sixth-grade class that was an overflow from Hynes Elementary School. Soon
all the children were gone, and from 1985 to 1993, only the adults were left
to occupy the offices. Finally even the adults moved out, and since 1993, the
building has been used for storage. Behind the school on Colbert Street is a
house that used to be the residence of the custodian.
The Lakeview Elementary School, a landmark
in the area, is interesting for many reasons. One, of course, is its unique
design. As your daughter probably told you, a bungalow is a house type, but
the term can be used to refer to an architectural style. "Bungalow" is a category
of the "arts and crafts" style of architecture, a late 19th-century movement.
Another bit of information about this building
is its name. Most of the schools in New Orleans have had their names changed
at one time or another -- one school at least 10 times. Lakeview Elementary
School, however, has always been known as just that.
The good folks at the Preservation Resource
Center encourage people interested in a particular piece of New Orleans history
to establish a "Friends of ... " group. Perhaps someone should start a "Friends
of Lakeview Elementary School" and work to make sure that this significant building
is preserved.
Hey Blake,
The other day, a friend mentioned
that he was from the Hog's Alley area of Old Metairie. After nearly 30 years
in New Orleans, I do not recall hearing that name. What do you know about it?
Lee Pullen
Dear Lee,
Metairie has changed a great deal in the past 100 years. When it began to grow
at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, farms were created
by clearing the forests.
"Hog Alley" was not the real name of this
part of Metairie. It was so nicknamed because it was where the Kennedy family
operated a farm. In reality, the area was Ingleside Heights between Aris and
Focis streets. In the 1910s, these streets opened, and A.H. Martin was one of
the first to move into the 200 block of Aris. His son was a railroad man like
his father, and he was the first in the area to own a telephone.
But not everyone went about cutting down the
trees. In 1901, Harry Papworth Sr., a 35-year-old English horticulturist, bought
land in Metairie directly east of the "Hog Alley" land and proceeded to plant
not only trees but also shrubs and exotic flowers. He opened the Metairie Ridge
Nursery and personally planted 36 oak trees on Metairie Road between Avenue
A and Carrollton Avenue.
Papworth's property extended almost to the
lake, and since all was not necessary for the nursery, as time went on, much
of the area was converted to the Metairie Ridge Subdivision. After the original
Papworth Nursery property was sold, Metairie Tower was erected in 1971-1972
and in 1973 up went the Metairie Tower Office Building.
To the west of the Ingleside Heights/"Hog
Alley" property was the land owned by the DeLimon family. From the mid-1960s
to about 1980, it was the site of the Do Drive-In Theater and in the late 1920s
there was a racetrack for greyhounds
