The two-story masonry building at 1719 St Charles Ave. was built as the future home of Pitney Bowes, a business equipment company.
For the first half of the 20th century, 1719 St. Charles Ave. was a large home, divided up for use first as a boarding house and then as apartments. In the late 1950s, it was torn down and a new mid-century modern building took its place. Designed by Roessle & Van Osthoff, it opened in 1962 as a Pitney Bowes office. The New Orleans architects were prolific modern designers during the 1950s and ‘60s, mostly known for their work on churches and civic buildings, including the YMCA (now Holiday Inn) at Harmony Circle.
During the 1980s, urban blight spread in that area. Pitney Bowes left 1719 St. Charles in 1988. By the mid-90s, most of the 1700 block was comprised of boarded up, vacant buildings.
In 1997, The Doody Group, founded by New Orleans native Alton F. Doody, Jr., bought the entire block and began renovations. His firm – which specialized in interior design, architecture, and marketing for the funeral services industry – took over the Pitney Bowes building. Renovations included a grand entrance and atrium, a showroom, and offices.
The renovation of the block joined all the properties into one continuous, connected series christened the Doody Building. At one end was the newly renovated space for Bravo! Italian Kitchen, housed in the Packard Motor Car building that was built in 1925. A few apartment buildings, the Pitney Bowes building, and other storefronts that had in decades past housed Mitchel’s Music Store, Lois Despeaux’s hat shop, Kitchens by Cameron, and Westgate Amusements comprised the rest of the block.
The successes that new businesses found in that block in the late 1990s and early 2000s helped revitalize the general area, spurring more redevelopment of restaurants, shops, and offices, rather than continuing previous trends toward fast food and strip malls.
While some may bemoan the loss of the mid-century mod look of the Pitney Bowes office, others are glad to see the more traditional old New Orleans style present now, with French doors and small balconies lining St. Charles Ave. Various businesses and offices have occupied the building over the years. Currently it is a medical compound.
