Turning the page. With a track-hoe.

As I said earlier, last Tuesday I went to New Orleans to witness the demolition of my parent’s house in Lakeview. We moved there in 1972 (from another house in Lakeview) and I lived there until 1979 when I went off to college. Here is the house several days before demolition:


Here is the house 90 minutes after they started taking it down:


This is the second house I have watched come down. My in-laws house, also in Lakeview, came down last November. I know this sounds bizarre, but it amazes me how fast a structure can come down. Yes, I know. I'm an architect; I should know these things. It's probably for the best, especially with all the memories tied up in the place. Slow deaths are always the worst.

Is it painful to watch? You bet it is.

I’m putting this up not because I want sympathy, or to imply that what our family has been though is a special case. (My folks were lucky - they had a second floor that did not get flooded and so had things to rescue intact. Not so my in-laws.) But what you see in these images happens all over New Orleans and the Gulf Coast hundreds of times a week. I’m putting this up to remind others that Katrina still isn’t over for thousands - there are many families who will have to do the same thing we did, and many more who are working to save their homes if they can. They need to be remembered. Pray for them.