There is wonderful news in the paper this morning. The New Orleans Lakefront Airport, one of the true architectural gems of the 1930s, is going to be restored to its original appearance. Architect Alton Ochsner Davis will oversee the project.
Completed in 1934 and originally named Shushan Airport Terminal Complex, the airport is one of a very few Art Deco/WPA-era terminals left in existence. Most of the air terminals of the era were demolished to make larger facilities to accommodate jet traffic. Shushan was spared this fate when Moisant Field (now Louis Armstrong International) opened in Kenner in 1946.
Still, Shushan was not completely untouched. In the 1964, at the height of the Cold War, the airport was chosen to serve as a fallout shelter/civil defense HQ. The classic deco exterior, designed by Louisiana capitol architects Weiss, Dreyfous & Seiferth, was covered in concrete panels.
It was a travesty, which even the architect hired to do the work admitted. But all was not lost.
Based on a careful examination of how architects with the Cimini and Meric firm erected the metal grid that holds the concrete panels in place, Davis said he is convinced that they intended for their work to be undone someday.
"To their credit, " Davis said, "they put this elaborate infrastructure in place so they wouldn't have to destroy all of the detailed aggregate and porcelain cement work. They created a great big pillbox around the existing building. And by anchoring it on the top, in the middle and on the bottom, they avoided drilling a lot of holes."
The restoration is made possible with public building recovery funds from FEMA which specifies that the monies can only be allocated if buildings are restored to their original condition.
While that's not entirely possible--some exterior details were damaged in the covering--the building will finally be returned close to its former state, and the horrid outside will once again match the glory of the interior.
Here are a few photos I took of the airport's main floor, including the Great Compass in the central hall, in 2004.
The center of the Great Compass, with the state seal.
A detail from the Compass
Another detail, from a time when Beijing was Peiping
Alcove off the main lobby
Staircase leading from the lobby to the balcony, now Levee Board offices
Hallway leading from the lobby to the airfield. . .
. . . past the phone booths
Detail of the molding, which features repeating industrial designs, here some slip-joint pliers
The waiting room in the main lobby
Sign outside the Walnut Room restaurant
Do read the article, which details the history of the airport, its defacement and plans for its resurrection.
Clear skies and fair winds to all.
Addendum (for the sake of clarification): The airport's interior is as beautiful today as it was when these pictures were taken. The floods after Katrina did inundate the building, but the inside has been cleaned up. It's only the concrete-mummified exterior that awaits restoration.
'Nother damn addendum: GF pointed out that the coverage of the restoration in the paper was really two articles. Here is the link to the second, about the two monster egos, Huey Long and Abraham Shushan, who made the airport possible.