The Louisiana Apartments (pictured here in 1950) were built by O. Bechtel and Sons, who were prolific builders throughout the 1920s-1940s, building numerous homes around the city. They also built multiple apartment buildings in the same general architectural style as the Louisiana Apartments in the Uptown area, some of which are still standing today, including the Monterey Apartments at 4506 St. Charles Ave.
The Louisiana Apartments at 1526 Louisiana Ave. (between St. Charles Ave. and Prytania St.) were built in 1926. The three-story Spanish Colonial Revival stucco building contained 30 efficiency apartments.
Each apartment had a Murphy bed, breakfast table, stove, Kelvinator refrigerator and came with steam heating and janitor service. Furnished apartments were $75/month and unfurnished were $60/month; within 30 days of opening, all the apartments were rented.
The new building attracted those on the upper tiers of the social ladder, many experiencing changes in their lives: newlyweds and new residents to New Orleans, as well as divorcees and widows. Among the early residents were a race horse owner, a banker, and the credit manager of Maison Blanche. The wife of the chief of police lived there during their (very public) divorce.
Other residents of note at the Louisiana Apartments:
Miss Virginia Hodge, of Monroe, LA, moved to New Orleans in 1929. She was one of two women to enroll in the first women’s flight school class of the Southern Aeronautical Service at Menefee airport in Chalmette. Of her trailblazing decision, she said: “I think there is a lot of room for girls in flying and I know I’ll love it… I can’t think of a more thrilling career.”
Edwin Moise lived at the Louisiana Apartments in the 1930s. He had been a political reporter for The Item and the assistant secretary to Louisiana Governor Luther Hall. He managed the political campaign of Thomas Walmsley, and then served as his special assistant when Walmsley was elected Mayor of New Orleans in 1929. He also had one of the largest collections of documents pertaining to the origin of WWI.
Emile A. Zatarain, Jr., son of the grocer and food entrepreneur who founded Zatarain’s, shared an apartment with his wife until her death in 1940 at age 38.
As the years progressed, the building became outdated, rents fell, and residents became frequent entries in the newspaper’s arrest records. In 1994, a foreclosure pushed the property into auction by the civil sheriff. The building was soon demolished, and the property is a parking lot today.
