Partial demolition rejected on Laurel Street, two demolitions on Toledano Street and Ameila Street approved

A request to demolish part of a Laurel Street home to prepare for an addition was rejected by city officials on Monday afternoon, but requests regarding two homes on Toledano and Amelia streets were approved.

At 4018 Laurel Street, architect Rush Carlton told the Neighborhood Conservation District Advisory Committee on Monday that he and developers want to demolish 50 percent of the existing single-family residence and add a second story as well.

“The intention is to rebuild the rear portion of the house a two-story addition while maintaining the front two rooms, the classical shotgun rooms, in their existing configuration,” Carlton said.

Committee member Eleanor Burke, deputy director of the Historic District Landmarks Commission, said that she opposed the request because the plans removed too much of the structure’s side gallery.

“I am going to be voting against this proposal because I feel as though what’s being proposed, they’re asking to demolish too much of the historic structure. The proposed two story building is out of scale with existing single story historic structure and overwhelms,” Burke said.

“Personally I feel as though it’s very aggressive in terms of adding to a historic single shotgun,” Burke said.

Burke asked Carlton if plans could be reconsidered to preserve more of the historic structure of the property.

Carlton said he and the homeowner, who lives directly across the street from the property, did consider alternatives.

“He has purchased it and wants to renovate and rebuild it with that intention of keeping some of the historic fabric while recognizing that in the market we’d really be undersized to rebuild,” Carlton said. “We’re rebuilding our estimated square footage at about 2,700 square feet which in this market and in that neighborhood is comparable with many other new homes.”

NCDAC member Jenel Hazlett also said that she would prefer for the plans to reconsider parking requirements as well.

The committee voted to deny the demolition request by a vote of 5-2.

At 2117-19 Toledano Street, Louie Schnyder of Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans said the property was donated to the organization by the city after Hurricane Katrina. Snyder said he plans to demolish the existing home and rebuild a two-story home with the help of students from Tulane University.

“It’s a program that we’ve been doing for the last ten years,” he said. “The architect students, most of them in their master’s plan, designed the house in the fall semester and the spring semester they actually construct the house with the supervision of the professors from Tulane and general contractors,” Schnyder said.

According to Schnyder, the program has built seven or eight other homes in the area.

“When we first put the program together we asked them to do something in the 1,200 square foot range, similar to a shotgun house to match what would be in the neighborhood,” he said. “The exteriors don’t really look like the other houses around there but the house is designed very similar to a shotgun house.”

The committee voted unanimous approval of that request, along with a partial demolition on Amelia Street.

The property, located on 1824 Amelia Street, was represented by local architect Alec Adamick and said that the current structure was a three-room shotgun house.

According to Adamick, he plans to add on a second story to the house.

“I’d like to just demolish the rear third of the building and then do a two-story addition camel back style,” Adamick said.

According to Adamick, the addition would be add at least 600 square feet to the existing 1,496 square feet to the land area.

“I want to maintain as much as the historic character as I can,” Adamick said.

Adamick said that he intends to remove the brick façade on the front of the house, and do remediation work to the front two rooms, such as replacing the windowsills and framing.

All the recommendations by the NCDAC will move forward to City Council for a final decision.