One of the last remaining buildings from Storyville, the city’s former red-light district, with ties to the early days of jazz could be renovated as a restaurant with an apartment above.
The Historic District Landmarks Commission’s Architectural Review Committee gave conceptual approval to the plan to restore the two-story building at 1216 Bienville St., sending it to the full HDLC for further review.
Plans call for restoring the building, a local landmark which has been heavily altered on the first floor, to its original appearance.
Once known as Frank Early’s My Place Saloon, the building “had a reputation as a place to hear good music, especially during the time that the legendary pianist Tony Jackson played on the premises,” a landmark designation report from the HDLC reads in part.
A unique part of the building is the siding on the second floor, which is shiplap that was cut to look like bricks, said Michael Vega, an architect and project manager with Adamick Architecture, which drew the latest plans.
“Downstairs at some point that was replaced with plaster. … We’d like to restore that as well” if funding allows for it, Vega said.
The building operated in recent years as a convenience store. The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office closed it down in 2023 after it was described as a “hot spot” of criminal activity.
Storyville — named for Alderman Sidney Storey who proposed the district — was in operation from 1897 until 20 years later when the federal government ordered its closure to try to wipe out prostitution near naval bases.
Almost all of the buildings were torn down in the 1930s to make way for the Iberville housing projects.
In addition to Frank Early’s saloon, the last surviving Storyville buildings include the first floor from Lulu White’s Saloon at 237 Basin St. and Joe Victor’s Saloon at St. Louis and North Villere streets.
Architectural Review Committee members said the building that housed Frank Early’s saloon might be the most intact of the remaining Storyville structures.
