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Wilshire Village Apartments At 1701 W. Alabama St.


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Have they been able to rebuild Beauvoir after it took a hit from Katrina?

No idea, I haven't been back over there in nearly 30 years. From what I could tell from the coverage, it was almost completely destroyed. So beautiful, such a shame.

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There's an extensive video of the re-opening online

Beauvoir

My great-grandmother's home on East Beach Boulevard was almost completely demolished in Camille - she and her maid Matilda managed to live through it because the bedroom on the second story they were in was supported by the chimney which somehow kept the center of the house standing. She had a massive stroke during the storm and we couldn't locate her for days - both were assumed to have died in the storm until Matilda finally called us and said my great-grandmother was in a hospital in a coma - never recovered. Many years earlier, she had donated numerous items to help refurnish the separate kitchen at Beauvoir after some kind of incident - fire, IIRC. I remember visiting in 1970 or so and my mother looking in at the kitchen remarking how fortunate it was that all the things had been at Beauvoir "where they were safe". Ah, irony. Horribly, "making it through Camille" led many people on the Mississippi coast to make the wrong decision in 2005.

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Remember, there were 2 Jeff Davis hospitals, and the first is now the Elder Street Artist Lofts. ;) The first was made a state historical landmark last month, complete with historical marker: http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/20...ognition_1.html

Wow, I hadn't realized that, it's good to know it has a marker now, such hallowed ground, with the graves and all. I toured the outside of it years ago, that whole area is interesting, 1st ward.

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heard that the legal dept was on the property attempting to determine if the evictions were actually legal. the investigators said that they are going to force the owner(s) to bring the building up to code. if they can't, the people will have 3 days to leave the premises. timeframe is unknown.

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Where was the other Jeff Davis hospital?

The first one was built on a Civil War graveyard with the people still in the ground (!) so the angry families insisted they name it Jeff Davis Hospital after the Southern hero. That one is now the Elder Street Artist Lofts at 1101 Elder, in the shadow of downtown.

The second one (pic) was built in 1937 at Allen Parkway at Taft and replaced the Elder Street one. The location is now the Federal Reserve building.

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i love the fact there was so much speculation that this thread completely derailed into a different subject.

as for wilshire, i cannot really comment. at one point, matt considered selling but his price was not economically feasible, even during the boom times.

Funny how that happens... And to think, it was derailed from a discussion due to similarities of brick color of Wilshire and the third Jeff Davis Hosp.

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Never really cared for that color either...you have a unique way of describing it...nicer term than some I've heard. I think the Jefferson Davis Hospital (2nd) was that same color, same time period. Those garden apartments could be awesome, once again, if restored right, but that probably won't happen in this city.

Derailment was after my comment...gees, didn't mean to do that. I refrained from answering today's JDH question for that very reason. And for the above comment about the 3rd hospital, I'm not even going to ask.

Edited by NenaE
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Ha! I grew up just a few miles from his last home, Beauvoir. That's about as deep in the heart of Dixie as you can get.

I meant the bricks, Silly. :P

rsb...you are from Mississippi ??? You say a few miles, so Ocean Springs, Gulfport, Biloxi, Long Beach, Kiln, Pass Christian, Goula ?

Edited by TJones
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The first one was built on a Civil War graveyard with the people still in the ground (!) so the angry families insisted they name it Jeff Davis Hospital after the Southern hero. That one is now the Elder Street Artist Lofts at 1101 Elder, in the shadow of downtown.

The second one (pic) was built in 1937 at Allen Parkway at Taft and replaced the Elder Street one. The location is now the Federal Reserve building.

Let me continue to derail the topic by adding that there is an old monument put up by the UDC that marks or commemorates that there were a bunch of Confederate Soldiers buried there when there was a hospital at or near the site during the war. There was also a regular city cemetary there around the same time. The marker is west of the old hospital and is now on the grounds of the city motor pool. If you ask nicely, they might let you in to go back there. It's just a patch of grass and tree with a marker in a sea of blacktop. Totally bizarre and very houston.

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Great....just freaking great! :angry2:

hey everyone:

when tony & i returned this morning from looking at places to move, the Fire Marshall slid in and slapped 'condemned' notices on all of the apt buildings. which means, they can show up tomorrow or later, ordering us out with just the clothes on our back.

So much for the end of the month. Anyone got garage space for a bunch of homeless elderly people???

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with city inspectors there earlier in the week, you knew this was inevitable.

Great...the only thing better than an old, decrepit apartment complex @ probably 10% occupancy is an old and abandoned decrepit apartment complex. Do they have to fence it off or anything, or will we have the pleasure of watching it rot even further? It seems extremely unlikely that anything is actually going to happen here for quite some time

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it won't just sit there. It will get stripped of all its metals, and then finish rotting.

Sad.

Thinking about it more - does being labeled a fire hazard mean that they have either have to be brought up to code or demolished?

Interesting that there really isn't any media coverage on this as of yet. Granted, it's not front page news like the unending coverage of the "octomom", but you'd think at least the chron would give it a mention considering the plight of the residents

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Interesting comment on Swamplot about how there's been a fire station on the corner of Dunlavy & Richmond forever, yet the fire marshall never noticed Wilshire Village until yesterday.

Sure the end was nigh, but first they get a notice saying "leave"; then the owner calls some people and says "stay", and now everyone who had planned on the end of the month has to turn backflips because the place is suddenly a fire hazard. Not everyone there is elderly or a stay-at-home artist. There are students and working people as well who now have to drop everything to move a week early. Those who have found new digs have leases that start March 1st since the last day of the month is a Saturday. If I'm wrong, please correct me, but I understood that fire hazard condemnation meant out within 24 hours or sooner.

Oh, the owner was spotted yesterday wandering around the complex and gritching about some tenants who had put Christmas lights up in their windows, which is forbidden by their lease. Glad he's on top of things. <_<

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i have a feeling that the developer donated some "funds" to a councilperson so that the inspectors would be summoned to the property.

I dunno, it sounded like the owner was fine with the people staying for now. It sounds like there's some interlopers, maybe some lesser co-owners or something? Maybe the ones who sent the letters. They're probably the ones that sicked the inspectors on it.

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Interesting comment on Swamplot about how there's been a fire station on the corner of Dunlavy & Richmond forever, yet the fire marshall never noticed Wilshire Village until yesterday.

unfortunately the number of inspectors is inadequate to routinely inspect every building. unless something happens to flag a problem (like councilmember intervention), things will be missed.

Sure the end was nigh, but first they get a notice saying "leave"; then the owner calls some people and says "stay", and now everyone who had planned on the end of the month has to turn backflips because the place is suddenly a fire hazard. Not everyone there is elderly or a stay-at-home artist. There are students and working people as well who now have to drop everything to move a week early. Those who have found new digs have leases that start March 1st since the last day of the month is a Saturday. If I'm wrong, please correct me, but I understood that fire hazard condemnation meant out within 24 hours or sooner.

the inspectors that were there told my friend 3 days to vacate.

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unfortunately the number of inspectors is inadequate to routinely inspect every building. unless something happens to flag a problem (like councilmember intervention), things will be missed.

Yeah, but its hard to miss a set of buildings you can nearly spit on. I lived at W. Main @ Mandell and saw it all the time. Its a huge eyesore, and the busted doors and etc. are hard to miss.

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I dunno, it sounded like the owner was fine with the people staying for now. It sounds like there's some interlopers, maybe some lesser co-owners or something? Maybe the ones who sent the letters. They're probably the ones that sicked the inspectors on it.

yeah i agree the ones who want to proceed with a new development vs keeping the residents there.

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