Piazza d'Italia
Encyclopedia
The Piazza d'Italia is an urban public plaza
located at Lafayette and Commerce Streets in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. It is controlled by the Piazza d'Italia Development Corporation, a subdivision of New Orleans city government. Completed in 1978 according to a design by noted post-modernist Charles Moore
and Perez Architectshttp://www.e-perez.com/ of New Orleans, the Piazza d'Italia debuted to widespread acclaim on the part of artists and architects. Deemed an architectural masterpiece even prior to its completion, the Piazza in fact began to rapidly deteriorate as the development surrounding it was never realized. By the turn of the new millennium, the Piazza d'Italia was largely unfrequented by and unknown to New Orleanians, and was sometimes referred to as the first "postmodern ruin". The conversion of the adjacent Lykes Center
to the Loews Hotel, New Orleans
, completed in 2003, was accompanied by the full restoration of the Piazza d'Italia (accomplished by 2004).
in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, that ethnic group's role in the city's cultural mix went largely unacknowledged, typically overshadowed by the seminal contributions of French and Spanish culture. In the early 1970s, leaders of New Orleans' Italian-American
community conceived of a permanent public commemoration of the Italian immigrant experience in the city. New Orleans' downtown
, despite receiving some prominent new investment (e.g., One Shell Square
, the Superdome
) was by this time suffering from many of the same ills infecting most American downtowns in the post-World War II era of suburbanization
, white flight
and urban disinvestment
. New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu
was committed to the improvement and revitalization of the city's struggling downtown and greeted with approval suggestions that the project be sited to encourage investment in the city center.
In 1974, Charles Moore, a prominent contemporary architect, former dean of the Yale School of Architecture
and a proponent of a witty, exuberant design language later termed postmodern architecture
was approached to help realize the vision of New Orleans' Italian-American community. In close collaboration with three young architects then practicing with the Perez firm in New Orleans - Malcolm Heard, Ronald Filson and Allen Eskew - Moore conceived of a public fountain in the shape of the Italian peninsula, surrounded by multiple hemicyclical colonnade
s, a clock tower
, and a campanile
and Roman temple
- the latter two expressed in abstract, minimalist, space frame fashion. The central fountain, located in the middle of a city block, was accessed in two directions: via a tapering, keyhole-shaped passage extending from Poydras Street, or through an arched opening in the clock tower sited where Commerce Street terminates at Lafayette Street. The fountain and its surrounding colonnades playfully appropriated classical forms and orders, executing them in modern materials (e.g., stainless steel
, neon
) or kinetically (e.g., suggesting the acanthus leaves of traditional Corinthian capitals
through the use of water jets).
The location ultimately chosen for the Piazza d'Italia was a city block sited in the semi-derelict upriver edge of downtown
, four blocks from Canal Street
and the edge of the French Quarter
and three blocks from the Mississippi River
. By the mid-1970s, this area had already endured several decades of disfavor and was littered with abandoned or barely-utilized mid-19th commercial row houses, early-20th century industrial architecture and obsolete port infrastructure
. Talking a cue from Boston, Baltimore
and other aging port cities who had, starting in the late-1960s, moved to redevelop their historic waterfronts, by the 1970s New Orleans sought to spur investment in what later became known as the Warehouse District. The Piazza d'Italia, it was hoped, would trigger a wave of investment in the Warehouse District and along New Orleans' downtown riverfront, and more generally ignite interest in downtown.
Essential to the Piazza's design was the full realization of its intended surroundings, which were to have included a rehabilitated historic row of 19th century buildings facing Tchoupitoulas Street
(buildings whose rear abutted the edge of the Piazza). The Perez team designed infill buildings to complement this anticipated historic restoration. The mixture of restored architecture and new construction was to have fully brought into being the context envisioned for the Piazza, such that it would function as a "surprise plaza" in the mode of the urban Mediterranean, wherein the pedestrian is proceeding unawares along a narrow passage or alley, only to suddenly emerge into a sunlit plaza ringed by cafes and shops. This intended effect was responsible for the placement of the Piazza d'Italia at the heart of a city block, set back from the surrounding streets.
headquarters. Without commercial tenants to subsidize maintenance, and with dwindling city budgets increasingly constrained - first by the incremental phase out of federal government revenue sharing, then due to the regional Oil Bust
of the mid- to late-1980s - the plaza rapidly deteriorated, with the fountain rarely in operation and the fanciful neon and incandescent lighting accents going unreplaced and unrepaired. In 1987, the vacant historic row along Tchoupitoulas Street was heavily damaged by a fire and was demolished, resulting in the installation of a large surface parking lot adjacent to the Piazza. By 2000, the Piazza d'Italia was routinely cited as a "postmodern ruin", ironically echoing its far older classical antecedents.
. The hotel's developers pledged $1 million to restore the Piazza to working order, and Perez Architects was hired to ensure a faithful restoration. In 2004, the fountain was restored to operation, though the badly deteriorated campanile on the site's extreme periphery was removed. The owners of the Loews Hotel currently lease the surface parking lot next to the Piazza and intend to one day realize the Piazza d'Italia's design vision of an urban "surprise plaza", perhaps by constructing another hotel. Nothing is imminent, however - given the state of the national economy (2009) - and though the fountain has been restored, the Piazza's design remains only partially fulfilled.
Public space
A public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants...
located at Lafayette and Commerce Streets in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. It is controlled by the Piazza d'Italia Development Corporation, a subdivision of New Orleans city government. Completed in 1978 according to a design by noted post-modernist Charles Moore
Charles Willard Moore
Charles Willard Moore was an American architect, educator, writer, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and winner of the AIA Gold Medal in 1991.-Life and career:...
and Perez Architectshttp://www.e-perez.com/ of New Orleans, the Piazza d'Italia debuted to widespread acclaim on the part of artists and architects. Deemed an architectural masterpiece even prior to its completion, the Piazza in fact began to rapidly deteriorate as the development surrounding it was never realized. By the turn of the new millennium, the Piazza d'Italia was largely unfrequented by and unknown to New Orleanians, and was sometimes referred to as the first "postmodern ruin". The conversion of the adjacent Lykes Center
Lykes Brothers Steamship Company
Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States.-History:In 1900 the sons of Dr...
to the Loews Hotel, New Orleans
Loews New Orleans Hotel
Loews New Orleans Hotel , located at 300 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 22-story, -tall skyscraper.-External links:* on Emporis.com...
, completed in 2003, was accompanied by the full restoration of the Piazza d'Italia (accomplished by 2004).
Early History and Design
Though New Orleans received tens of thousands of Italian immigrantsItalian diaspora
The term Italian diaspora refers to the large-scale migration of Italians away from Italy in the period roughly beginning with the unification of Italy in 1861 and ending with the Italian economic miracle in the 1960s...
in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, that ethnic group's role in the city's cultural mix went largely unacknowledged, typically overshadowed by the seminal contributions of French and Spanish culture. In the early 1970s, leaders of New Orleans' Italian-American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
community conceived of a permanent public commemoration of the Italian immigrant experience in the city. New Orleans' downtown
New Orleans Central Business District
The Central Business District is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the French Quarter/CBD Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Iberville, Decatur and Canal Streets to the north, the Mississippi River to the east, the New Orleans Morial...
, despite receiving some prominent new investment (e.g., One Shell Square
One Shell Square
One Shell Square is a 51-story, skyscraper designed in the International style by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, located at 701 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the tallest building in both the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. The...
, the Superdome
Louisiana Superdome
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, previously known as the Louisiana Superdome and colloquially known as the Superdome, is a sports and exhibition arena located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
) was by this time suffering from many of the same ills infecting most American downtowns in the post-World War II era of suburbanization
Suburbanization
Suburbanization a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs...
, white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
and urban disinvestment
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
. New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu
Moon Landrieu
Maurice Edwin "Moon" Landrieu is a Democratic politician from Louisiana who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1970–1978. He also is a former judge...
was committed to the improvement and revitalization of the city's struggling downtown and greeted with approval suggestions that the project be sited to encourage investment in the city center.
In 1974, Charles Moore, a prominent contemporary architect, former dean of the Yale School of Architecture
Yale School of Architecture
The Yale School of Architecture is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. It is generally considered to be one of the most prestigious architecture schools in the world.- History :...
and a proponent of a witty, exuberant design language later termed postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...
was approached to help realize the vision of New Orleans' Italian-American community. In close collaboration with three young architects then practicing with the Perez firm in New Orleans - Malcolm Heard, Ronald Filson and Allen Eskew - Moore conceived of a public fountain in the shape of the Italian peninsula, surrounded by multiple hemicyclical colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
s, a clock tower
Clock tower
A clock tower is a tower specifically built with one or more clock faces. Clock towers can be either freestanding or part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall. Some clock towers are not true clock towers having had their clock faces added to an already existing building...
, and a campanile
Campanile
Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...
and Roman temple
Roman temple
Ancient Roman temples are among the most visible archaeological remains of Roman culture, and are a significant source for Roman architecture. Their construction and maintenance was a major part of ancient Roman religion. The main room housed the cult image of the deity to whom the temple was...
- the latter two expressed in abstract, minimalist, space frame fashion. The central fountain, located in the middle of a city block, was accessed in two directions: via a tapering, keyhole-shaped passage extending from Poydras Street, or through an arched opening in the clock tower sited where Commerce Street terminates at Lafayette Street. The fountain and its surrounding colonnades playfully appropriated classical forms and orders, executing them in modern materials (e.g., stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
, neon
Neon sign
Neon signs are made using electrified, luminous tube lights that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in December, 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show. While they are used worldwide, neon signs...
) or kinetically (e.g., suggesting the acanthus leaves of traditional Corinthian capitals
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
through the use of water jets).
The location ultimately chosen for the Piazza d'Italia was a city block sited in the semi-derelict upriver edge of downtown
New Orleans Central Business District
The Central Business District is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the French Quarter/CBD Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Iberville, Decatur and Canal Streets to the north, the Mississippi River to the east, the New Orleans Morial...
, four blocks from Canal Street
Canal Street, New Orleans
Canal Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter , it acted as the dividing line between the older French/Spanish Colonial-era city and the newer American Sector, today's Central Business District.The...
and the edge of the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
and three blocks from the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. By the mid-1970s, this area had already endured several decades of disfavor and was littered with abandoned or barely-utilized mid-19th commercial row houses, early-20th century industrial architecture and obsolete port infrastructure
Port of New Orleans
The Port of New Orleans is a port located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the 1st in the United States based on volume of cargo handled, second-largest in the state after the Port of South Louisiana, and 13th largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo...
. Talking a cue from Boston, Baltimore
Inner Harbor
The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and iconic landmark of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the World.” The Inner Harbor is actually the end of the...
and other aging port cities who had, starting in the late-1960s, moved to redevelop their historic waterfronts, by the 1970s New Orleans sought to spur investment in what later became known as the Warehouse District. The Piazza d'Italia, it was hoped, would trigger a wave of investment in the Warehouse District and along New Orleans' downtown riverfront, and more generally ignite interest in downtown.
Essential to the Piazza's design was the full realization of its intended surroundings, which were to have included a rehabilitated historic row of 19th century buildings facing Tchoupitoulas Street
Tchoupitoulas Street
Tchoupitoulas Street is a street in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is the through street closest to the Mississippi River running through Uptown New Orleans...
(buildings whose rear abutted the edge of the Piazza). The Perez team designed infill buildings to complement this anticipated historic restoration. The mixture of restored architecture and new construction was to have fully brought into being the context envisioned for the Piazza, such that it would function as a "surprise plaza" in the mode of the urban Mediterranean, wherein the pedestrian is proceeding unawares along a narrow passage or alley, only to suddenly emerge into a sunlit plaza ringed by cafes and shops. This intended effect was responsible for the placement of the Piazza d'Italia at the heart of a city block, set back from the surrounding streets.
Decline
The Piazza d'Italia struggled as an urban space almost from the moment of its completion in 1978. Neither public nor private funding was secured to pay for the further redevelopment of the block - the Lykes Center having preceded the Piazza's construction by several years - leaving the Piazza mostly invisible from the street and wedged between blight and the blank modernist facade of Lykes Steamship'sLykes Brothers Steamship Company
Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States.-History:In 1900 the sons of Dr...
headquarters. Without commercial tenants to subsidize maintenance, and with dwindling city budgets increasingly constrained - first by the incremental phase out of federal government revenue sharing, then due to the regional Oil Bust
1980s oil glut
The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s Energy Crisis. The world price of oil, which had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel , fell in 1986 from $27 to below $10...
of the mid- to late-1980s - the plaza rapidly deteriorated, with the fountain rarely in operation and the fanciful neon and incandescent lighting accents going unreplaced and unrepaired. In 1987, the vacant historic row along Tchoupitoulas Street was heavily damaged by a fire and was demolished, resulting in the installation of a large surface parking lot adjacent to the Piazza. By 2000, the Piazza d'Italia was routinely cited as a "postmodern ruin", ironically echoing its far older classical antecedents.
Restoration
In 2002 plans were announced to convert the by-then vacant Lykes Center adjacent to the Piazza into a Loews HotelLoews New Orleans Hotel
Loews New Orleans Hotel , located at 300 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 22-story, -tall skyscraper.-External links:* on Emporis.com...
. The hotel's developers pledged $1 million to restore the Piazza to working order, and Perez Architects was hired to ensure a faithful restoration. In 2004, the fountain was restored to operation, though the badly deteriorated campanile on the site's extreme periphery was removed. The owners of the Loews Hotel currently lease the surface parking lot next to the Piazza and intend to one day realize the Piazza d'Italia's design vision of an urban "surprise plaza", perhaps by constructing another hotel. Nothing is imminent, however - given the state of the national economy (2009) - and though the fountain has been restored, the Piazza's design remains only partially fulfilled.
External links
- Freeman, Allen. "That ’70s Show: In New Orleans, the third act begins on a famous outdoor stage", Landscape Architecture, May 2004.
- Paterson, Seale. "Bellisimo! The New Orleans Italian Community and the Piazza d'Italia", St. Charles Avenue, March 2009.
- City Archives - New Orleans Public Library: Piazza d'Italia Project Records, ca. 1976-1982.
- Littlejohn, David. "Waiting for the Water", Places, October 1, 1983.
- Moore, Charles. "Ten Years Later", Places, October 1, 1983.
- McHale, Brian. "What Was Postmodernism?" Electronic Book Review, December 20, 2007.
- American Italian Renaissance Foundation - The Piazza d'Italia.
- Regional Modernism: The New Orleans Archives.
- Annotico - Joe Maselli, champion of New Orleans' Italian American community, dies at age 85 (October 2009).
- Image results for "Piazza d'Italia" new orleans - google.com Photographs