St. Charles Parish is in the process of losing one of its historic structures – the old Luling Elementary School, built in 1931 and one of the primary structures in the history of our educational system. It’s maintenance is expensive and the building has become a liability problem for the school board. Efforts were made to find a buyer and the active demolishment of the building, no longer usable for school needs, was delayed. We considered it seriously as a location for Louisiana Publishing Inc. in putting out this newspaper and five magazines.
But repairing the seriously deteriorated structure would be very expensive. And even if repaired, it would have its serious limitations in use. After all, it was designed as a schoolhouse with an auditorium and other areas that would not fit easily into the operation of a modern-day business.
Some of the artifacts of the school will be saved, perhaps to be used on other structures that would preserve the memory of the building. This comes at a time when the Cabrini church building in New Orleans is about to be demolished to make way for Holy Cross High School. Many are pleading that the structure be worked into the school campus as a chapel and meeting rooms.
Though Cabrini church actually is not as old as the Luling school, it does have unique design characteristics similar to that of the Rivergate which was torn down to make way for Harrah’s Casino on Canal.
But as time and progress march on, Luling school and Cabrini church seem to be lying in the way.
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