All of the wood molding and beaded wood trim is part of the renovation and taken from the original drawings of the building. As much wood as possible was salvaged and reused in the renovation. Wood flooring was added in the work area on the first floor. Almost all of the wood flooring on the second and third floor is original, including the wood floor in the Courtroom.
New terrazzo was added on the first floor, on the stairway and in the areas near the elevator on the second and third floor to match the original. The terrazzo floors with marble borders in the hallways of the second and third floor are original to the building, as is the terrazzo in the basement.
Much of this had been damaged in the 1950’s remodeling. A significant effort involved restoring the original plaster molding found in what was formerly the public area of the Post Office on the first floor, the hallways and offices of the second and third floors and the Courtroom.
Post office in lake charles louisiana windows#
Custom windows were made to match the original look of the windows. Much of the cypress had to be replaced, and each piece of tile was removed, cleaned, repaired or replaced, then reinstalled. The roof is supported by iron beams that support cypress, which in turn support the tile roof. The second construction phase was the cleaning and repair of the tile roof. (The original construction pre-dated the use of asbestos as insulation.) The exterior was sandblasted and the Broad Street facade and fire escape on the east exterior were removed. This was followed by minimal asbestos removal. The initial renovation involved the demolition of interior spaces to return the interior to its original shell and the removal of the flooring added to the third floor. The purpose was to renovate the building for use as law offices for the firm. The remodeling also included the bricking up of the arches of the Courtroom windows to make them rectangular and similar changes to reduce, and make uniform, the size of all the windows.Ĭourthouse The building was purchased on Augat a Sheriff’s sale. This new flooring had the effect of horizontally dividing the Courtroom, creating two rooms, each with ten-foot ceilings. This included the placement of linoleum tile over the wood floors, dropping new ceilings to a uniform height of ten feet throughout, the construction of a colored glass brick and cement facade on the Broad Street entrance, the removal of the original marble stairway from the first to second floor and, most damaging to the original construction, the addition of flooring in the Courtroom off the third floor hallway to create new square footage on the third floor. In preparation for becoming the home of Sowela Technical Institute, it underwent a significant remodeling. The Federal Government transferred the Broad Street building to the Louisiana Board of Education in 1961. The building was the center of activity for mainstream Lake Charles from the 1920’s through the 1950’s. Post Office and Courthouse took occupancy at 501 Broad Street and remained until a new Post Office/Courthouse complex was built on Moss Street and dedicated in 1958. The size of the building is 13,272 square feet, which includes 1,824 square feet of basement area. Joe Cash found one in pieces in the middle of Broad Street during our initial renovation phase.) A local craftsman hand-carved the replacement rosettes out of cypress. Several of the rosettes had deteriorated and had to be replaced. The tiled roof overhang is adorned with rosettes and supported by carved wooden brackets. There are centered Roman arches that terminate in fleur-de-lis, roundels on the facade and three balustrades in front of the pocket arched windows.
The first floor has a rusticated facade topped with a string course of stylish fossils, typical of Cret. The building, designed in 1908, is in the style of French architect Paul Phillipe Cret. Construction of this limestone structure on a granite base began in 1909. On October 7, 1938, the Lodge deeded additional property (the current parking lot area) to the United States, taking the boundary of the property to the Lodge’s driveway, just south of the current Lodge. The property on which the building was originally constructed was deeded to the United States of America on Februby Lake Charles Lodge No. Department of Interior, through the State of Louisiana, Division of Historic Preservation. Its restoration was monitored by the U.S. Post Office and Federal Courthouse and is on the register of National Historic Places. The Lundy, Lundy, Soileau & South office building, located at 501 Broad Street, is the original U.S.
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