Wanna buy a school? The Orleans Parish School Board is auctioning off several on Aug. 20, reports The Advocate. Among the schools on the auction block are some designed by New Orleans architect E.A. Christy (he also designed firehouses and the school being renovated into the soon-to-open Jack and Jake's Market).
The Christy schools up for auction include Louis D. Armstrong Elementary School at 5909 St. Claude Ave., which, as The Advocate notes, when it was McDonogh No. 19, was integrated in 1960 by three African-American girls on the same day that Ruby Bridges had her famous first day of school at William Frantz Elementary School; Israel Meyer Augustine Middle School at 425 S. Broad St., which has a "flamboyant" style characterized by Spanish Colonial Revival features; Valena C. Jones Middle School at 1901 N. Galvez St., whose notable alumni include Keith Plessy, a relative of Homer Plessy, of the Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson; and the former Benjamin Franklin Elementary School at 1010 N. Galvez St., contained on the Andrew J. Bell Junior High School campus that also includes the Gothic Revival St. Joseph's Academy.
You can find more info on the properties up for auction here.
· Orleans School Board placing historic buildings, empty lots up for auction [The Advocate]
· All E.A. Christy coverage [Curbed NOLA]