Coliseum Place Baptist Church: The Saga Continues
At the end of the day yesterday, it had been decided that the entire church building, tower included, were coming down. According to the paperwork, the J.T. Curtis family had declared themselves owners, had acquired the demolition permit and paid for the demolition, and were bringing the whole thing down.
nola.com: Hopes crumble with walls of church
[Preservationists'] efforts came to naught and the demolition continued apace [shortly after 2PM]. [Banks] McClintock said he was pleased to see that, for all the talk about how unsound the surviving structure was, the sides held up pretty well under the assault by heavy machinery. “They’ve really got to hit it,” he said, with a touch of admiration for the brick.
When I arrived on the scene at 10:45 this morning, no more demolition had taken place. As I walked through Coliseum Square Park to the demo site, the brouhaha began again. Banks McClintock and I witnessed a member of the Curtis family take down the marble plaque on the front of the church only to deliver it to one of their waiting family vehicles. After this was 30 minutes of booting up the wrecking crane for the day’s work. Thinking no more would come of the debacle, I left to get some coffee before witnessing and photographing the rest of the demolition.
Tower in November 2005 (L) and noon on June 24, 2006
Was I ever wrong. On returning 40 minutes later, the tower was missing one wall and all hell had broken loose. Stacy Head had returned, while a large group of area residents gathered around to watch the demolition and the drama. I walked up to Stacy and said, “I go away for a little bit and they tear down a whole wall of the tower?” Stacy replied with something to the effect of, “I wish I had looked into this in much more detail yesterday and had stopped it. This demolition may not be legal, I may have been fed a bunch of lies.”
What?!?!
NOPD was called and rushed to the scene to investigate any wrongdoing on the part of the Curtises, the city attorney was called, and preservationist residents ran around like headless chickens trying to get a hold of a judge for a temporary injunction.
It was then explained to me by Banks, Stacy and Robert Wolf, head of the Coliseum Square Neighborhood Association, that the Curtises cannot produce any paperwork that shows their complete ownership of the church. To make matters more interesting, Coliseum Square resident and member of the congregation, John Boyd, had finally shown up. He had just returned from a trip out of town, no one had informed him of the demolition and he did not want to see the building go without full examination of permits and a better understanding of what was going on. This had the demo equipment screech to a halt for a few more hours while more legality was investigated and hotly debated.
At this point, a very large and gruff man, who identified himself only as a city official, told everyone involved, including Stacy Head, to back off because he had been paid, the Curtises had paid Gioe’s for the demolition and there was nothing any of us could do about it. The demolition continued. Whomever said yesterday that the walls and tower would require “just a tap” to cave in is an ignorant liar. Each successive wrecking-ball blow, some applied to the same spot several times over given how well the brick held up, felt like a punch to my solar plexus. I am so proud of the tower’s resilience up to the bitter end.
This is when the mainstream media showed up once again and began to interview everyone on the scene (with yours truly locating good interview candidates for them). Stacy Head offered them some comments and then took off to investigate the owernship of the building as well as any possible wrongdoing on the part of anyone involved with the demolition. She is one passionately angry woman about this controversy and I want to thank her for all that she has done on behalf of our neighborhood.
As of 5PM today, the entire front of the church has been destroyed with the rest to continue tomorrow or Monday. There is no more tower to fight for. What remains is a lesson of neglect, loss and future preservation.
People, the city just cut off its nose to spite its face. We just lost the oldest Baptist church in the south, the first one to hold services for slaves in pre-emancipation days and a treasure trove of history. Not a plaque remains to remember this building by (although the retrieval of that plaque is part of the follow-up plan). It is crucial to get to the bottom of this issue before it is used as a precedent to demolish other historic buildings in town for carpetbagger-developers and new architecture discordant with any given neighborhood. Even from a purely economic standpoint, this demolition was a foolish move given that, without its history, New Orleans has very little appeal. Demolition by neglect should be a crime in a beautiful and hurting city on a shoestring. Once we relinquish that which we have going for us, what’s left to preserve?
- Maitri’s Picture Gallery Of Demolition
- Post 1 on this topic: Calling All Area Preservationists To The Coliseum Place Baptist Church
- Post 2: Update From Coliseum Place Baptist Church
- Post 3: Coliseum Place Baptist Church: The Saga Continues
Related posts:
It just shows what can happen when there’s no consistant oversight — particularly in the wake of the fire earlier in the week. I think (hope) if there’s anything that will be taken away from this, it’s that a fire or whatever in other historic buildings will be a lightning rod for preservationists.
…and I’d hope owners of such buildings will take a much closer look at their various documents to clearly establish ownership and tighten up what should happen in a similar event.
You know, it’s just one depressing thing after another here now. All these fires, all these people who seem like they just don’t give a shit about anything anymore (if they ever did), all this work NOT GETTING DONE… I’m almost to the point where I can’t take it anymore. I love this town so much, but I just don’t know if it’s enough anymore.
Don’t let the church die a meaningless death.
Laurie
I was working at the PRC on Friday, at the time Maitri began this saga. Our Director, Patty was eating lunch, a modest sandwich in the breakroom, people were calling her but she said, it’s a done deal, things were in place for a legal demolition. There was nothing we could do.
At the PRC, for what it’s worth, we work really hard but we’re used to losing. Sorry, y’all. But after that, was pretty sure it was done. I hated to see it happen too. We are still questioning the number of suspicious fires in that area.
Sounds like the land-grabbing has begun. Expect more instances like this as long as no one in the city government takes control.
Beware the wrecking ball! Egads….I never thought I’d see the day that NOLA would be as helter-skelter about demolishing historic buildings as Houston is. Shoot, over here, we tear down anything that has stood more than 20 years — and that’s a real crime. Houston perfected the “sneak in a demolition permit at 4.50 pm on a Friday.” By Monday, the old building would be rubble and dust. DON’T LET THAT HAPPEN IN NEW ORLEANS!! One thing that I can depend on in the Crescent City is that buildings aren’t supposed to disappear the way they do here. I hope the wrecking ball does not become a permanent fixture in New Orleans.
If the PRC and the HDLC need to take preventative measures. Their prioritize are backwards !Everybody in this neighborhood knew this building would torch because the owners were blatantly letting the building be vandalized. They need to seek out precious and endangered historical buildings !!!! If this city wants to be an old city and attract visitors they better take preventative actions to avoid such occurrences. These two organizations and the city need to come up with a plan.
“They left the door on.
Why did they leave one door on the Coliseum?”
If they would have charged admission to the event
they would have less of excuse.
Laurie
If the PRC and the HDLC need to take preventative measures… These two organizations and the city need to come up with a plan.
The PRC’s a private organization and doesn’t have any enforcement powers. HDLC has been an underfunded office at least since Morial and probably since its inception - they’ve had ONE inspector who has to cover EIGHT historic districts for as long as I can remember. Nagin’s had it in for them since he got elected the first time, since the HDLC review process is about the only place where citizens can insert themselves into the zoning process. And (the old) Council consistently overturned HDLC decisions (on appeal.)
So really this is the mayor’s problem. And where was he during all of this?
O, Cue Ball, how could you let this happen?
Laurie
New Orleans is full of committees and boards that have no real power( just talk). If the HDLC/PRC are private or under funded then its totally typcial of the nature of New Orleans. From what I understand the HDLC has alot of influence with developers. They need to change thier focus for the new post katrina issues. Forget about what is planned and protect what is existing.