Two historic townhome structures located in New Orleans’ Garden District are now entering a new chapter, thanks to the recent completion of a careful historic tax credit renovation led by the design team at New Orleans-based firm Studio BKA. Developed by Montgomery Berman & Co., an emerging developer in New Orleans, the 10,000-square-foot property at 1600 Prytania Street relishes in a high attention to historic detail while resulting in modern living spaces suited to the demands of today’s Big Easy renter.
Known as the Lizardi Townhomes, these two stucco-clad Greek Revival sister structures most recently were home to a well-known furniture and upholstery store, Halpern’s Home Furnishings. Montgomery Berman & Co. purchased the property in 2019 with a vision for a mix of uses well- suited to the lush, walkable neighborhood.
“One of our goals here was to bring multiple uses to this highly visible site, including commercial, retail, long-term residential and short-term rental,” says Samuel Berman, founder of Montgomery Berman & Co. He acquired a building permit for the project before updated short-term rental laws took effect in New Orleans in December 2019, meaning Berman would be able to operate two short-term rentals on the mixed-use site into perpetuity.
“I truly believe that buildings and communities work best when they have as many uses as possible mixed together. I believe this approach strengthens the viability of development in a big way and also adds great value to the people that interact with any urban site, like this one,” Berman says.
THE LIZARDI
The property has a fascinating history, dating back to the early days of the Uptown expansion of New Orleans. In 1838, the landowner Manuel de Lizardi developed three townhomes on the site as residences for himself and his brothers. The three de Lizardi brothers were known collectively as “The Lizardi.” The three structures were purchased in 1847 by Henry Laurence whose family would keep the property until around 1970 when it was sold to Halpern’s Home Furnishings. At some point, the smallest of the three buildings had been demolished and the vacant lot was used for parking for the furniture store. Meanwhile, Halpern’s Home Furnishings modified the two remaining townhomes into one large, single-occupancy space.
Berman’s decision to incorporate a mix of uses unfolded from a desire to renovate the buildings to the standards they deserved. “We know we have a legacy property here. We know the quality of this building is such that we didn’t want to just give it a low-cost renovation and rush it to market. We wanted to go to a high-quality level of finishes to help protect the longevity of the property,” Berman says. “That’s going to make it a very successful project for our team and for the community, long-term.”
DESIGN APPROACH
During the building’s Halpern’s Home Furnishings chapter, a wood-framed glass curtainwall had been erected between the complex’s two rear service wings, enclosing an old courtyard to create an atrium-type space that created more floor display area, a solution not well-suited to the site. Extensive interior walls also had been removed for storage. This created large openings in the loadbearing brick party walls. Historic windows previously were replaced with glass storefronts, further altering the former residential structures to create the large, open showroom space required by the furniture store.
“We wanted to highlight the original design of these beautiful, historic buildings, so the designers helped us envision a strategy that would peel back these exterior curtainwall additions to bring attention to the original ones,” Berman notes. “The Studio BKA team really took a strong position on this move, and I am really grateful they did.”
Because the buildings had been altered so significantly over time, the Studio BKA team made it a priority for this project to retain anything left of historic value to best serve the landowner and the greater historic community. Based on knowledge of buildings with similar floor plans in New Orleans, the team maintained the scale of the rooms as they would have been in the 19th century while incorporating modern elements for new interventions and highlighting the intact historic features.
By erecting walls in the former furniture showroom, the design team created two long-term one-bedroom apartments and two short-term five-bedroom apartments, as well as four commercial spaces.
Each finished apartment offers a unique layout with custom kitchens and individual color palettes. Original heart-pine flooring throughout the building was repaired where damaged, lightly sanded and stained. Exposed heart-pine beams also draw the eye upward and created another opportunity to salvage some of the building’s history.
Original fireplaces throughout the building were retained, though they are no longer functional. As focal points within living areas, they offer the residents the opportunity to clearly connect with another era in history. Brass and oil-rubbed bronze metals and hardware were selected in an effort to create a textural, rich interior as a tribute to the buildings’ layered history.
To ensure a 19th century building with commercial spaces would provide quiet living conditions for the tenants, the design team packed the floor cavities with batt insulation and suspended a gypsum ceiling from hangers attached to the joist, which was isolated from the brick walls. A heavy felt-like sheet product was installed in the walls and ceilings, which added mass to dampen sound. The original thick historic brick walls also perform quite well acoustically.
PHOTOS: IMOTO photo, courtesy Studio BKA