This weeks NCDC agenda contains an application to demolish “The Annunciation Church”:http://www.neworleanschurches.com/annunciation/annunciation.htm

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My guess is they want to demolish the Church along with the rectory and meeting hall to build senior housing. Which in and of itself may be a needed service, but with the abundance of vacant lots in the City it would seem a creative land swap might satisfy the space need.

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After the flood of 2005 the Archdiocese seemed to get out of the business of serving communities and “entered the housing market.”:http://www.providencecommunityhousing.org/index.html

Many of us who live work or attend one of the many Churches which dot the City has been worried about what may happen to these significant buildings. I know when I purchased my home it was, in part because of the church which is located across the street from me.

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Riding out to see this property today I was thinking about what kind of reaction there would be in my neighborhood if they proposed to tear down my neighborhood church.

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It is time for the Archdiocese to come out and talk about the plans for the future and the future of it’s assets.

Karen Gadbois co-founded The Lens. She now covers New Orleans government issues and writes about land use. With television reporter Lee Zurik she exposed widespread misuse of city recovery funds and led...

17 replies on “The Archdiocese opts for demolition”

  1. oh no. I bought my home because of the two churches behind it, a building belonging to one backs up on my yard and it is beautiful. I hate to see a well built, beautiful church go.

  2. Good god! These heartless holy rollers don’t care for their own damn legacy… make ’em sell.

  3. Pingback: Annunciation Church Slated for Demo | New Orleans Metblogs

  5. The Archdiocese ought to be ashamed of themselves.
    They need to write to me on a regular basis and rmind me why I am catholic.

  6. Whay about all the empty buildings left to rot by the Archdiocese? They need to get a grip on the history of N.O. & restore & reuse.

  10. The archdiocese was trying to do this on the sly–tear down an historic building, with the notice to the public merely posted on the door?

    So, whose church is next?

  11. I think it’s important to know who is requesting this demolition. It should be Ab Gregory Aymond to be legal. He was appointed June 12, and immediately Ab Hughes took another title. So if Hughes is requesting this, he should have no authority to do so. The property is probably owned legally (vs morally) by a corporation like “Congregation of Annunciation parish” where the president is the archbishop of New Orleans. This being an irreversible act, the one in charge should be requesting it.

  12. You obviously have the Archdiocese confused with someone who cares what the public they serve wants or needs.

    Peace,

    Tim

  13. Hey Ms Karen, you got dat’right!

    I spotted you when we hung our lede today for the WWLTV story on this:
    [NO Archdiocese moves to start Phase-2.1 of its Real Estate Portfolio Re-allignment (REPR):
    Raze their abandoned churches!]

    Thanks youz,
    Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

  14. Sorry, errrahem!
    Forgot my Editillaxicon:
    Phase 1 began with the initial abandonment/white-flight issues.
    Phase 2 began with the Post Flood Evictions
    Now, they move into Phase 2.1: Demolitions

    Jus’sayin…
    Thanks again.

  15. Thanks for getting the word out about this Karen. It is mind boggling that the Archdiocese had no plans for the property other than to raze it and that the representative from the Archdiocese stated that this was the first of many properties that they were planning to submit for demolition. Was this a trial balloon? I am sure there will be more to this story…. Thanks to you and everyone from the St. Roch/Marigny neighborhood who came and spoke at the hearing.

  16. just got back from speaking out against this at city hall. the committee voted unanimously to deny the request for demolition. several people spoke very passionately against demolition and one of the committee members reminded us to keep an eye on this because the church could still appeal.

  17. The archdiocese is already knocking down other properties that do not require NCDC review.

    Included is Marian Central middle school in Gentilly along with its convent and cafeteria. The permits were activated last week:

    Convent:
    http://aca.accela.com/nola/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Permits&capID1=09COM&capID2=00000&capID3=00862&agencyCode=NOLA

    School:
    http://aca.accela.com/nola/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Permits&capID1=09COM&capID2=00000&capID3=00863&agencyCode=NOLA

    Cafeteria:
    http://aca.accela.com/nola/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Permits&capID1=09COM&capID2=00000&capID3=00864&agencyCode=NOLA

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