I saw your Web site and wondered what construction firm built the Shushan Airport. I have indications that it was Caldwell Brothers, but no confirmation. CBC Dear CBC, You are right. The company that built the administration building, the hangars, and the pump house at Shushan Airport -- known today as the Lakefront Airport -- which was inaugurated on Feb. 10, 1934, was Caldwell Brothers and Hart, General Contractors. Their motto was "We specialize in airport construction."

Of course, there were other companies that contributed such necessities as the runways and taxiways and the electrical work. And the company that did the tile work was Joseph Ariatti's Tile Shop.

The state-of-the-art airport was designed by the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous & Seiferth and was built on an artificial peninsula of land reclaimed from Lake Pontchartrain. The airport cost $3 million.

Originally it was the major commercial airport in New Orleans, but it was supplanted in 1946 when Moisant Field (now Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport) began service.

Much has changed, but the administration building at Shushan was a thing to behold when it opened. The front of the building was beautifully landscaped, and inside we admired the sculptured panels, which depicted the development of aviation and its influence on modern civilization. The work of local architects such as Enrique Alvarez, William Proctor and John Lachin greatly added to the appearance of the airport. The sculpture The Fountain of the Winds by Enrique Alvarez became a local landmark.

The waiting room was the main element in the administration building. It seems so small now, but in 1934 it was impressive at 50 feet wide by 80 feet long and was two stories high with a continuous mezzanine balcony. The walls were decorated with marble colored in reds, cream and buff, and the floors were terrazzo. The floor featured a giant compass. Around the borders of the compass were the names of important cities of the world, their true directional location and airline distances from Shushan Airport.

The impressive mezzanine balcony overlooked the main waiting room. The walls featured eight large panels with mural paintings by Xavier Gonzalez with the theme of the conquest of distance by the airplane. On the field side of the building were thoughtful additions, which included observation decks and loggias that gave us protected places to watch when field events and exhibitions took place. In addition, the art deco building had a restaurant that was frequented by locals.

One interesting feature of the design of the airport was the frequency of the letter "S." Abe Shushan, president of the Orleans Levee Board when the airport was built, decided he needed to be immortalized. He did this by putting his name or the initial S anywhere possible. When Abe Shushan became involved in the "Louisiana Scandals" of 1939, it was decided to change the name of the airport. However, they had a terrible time trying to get rid of all those S's. Hey Blake,

I am trying to find out where the Bond Bread Company was located in New Orleans. My dad worked there in the early 1950s, and I seem to remember the building being on or around the riverfront. IÕd also like to know the years of its operation there. Anne Wells Dear Anne, The Bond Bread Company was located at 517 Soraparu St. from about 1928 to 1965. Your memory serves you correctly, because Soraparu Street runs perpendicular to Tchoupitoulas, and the bread company was just about a block from the Mississippi River. Hey Blake,

How can I find out if the Steamboat Houses survived Katrina? I read your article about them from 2001 and have seen them featured in magazines before Katrina. I was wondering if they would be able to be saved. Terri Farwell Dear Terri, Located in the Holy Cross District of the Lower Ninth Ward, the amazing Steamboat Houses are still standing. On the surface, there appears to be only a little damage. Both of them were inundated with 6 feet of water that stayed for some days after Hurricane Katrina.