BATON ROUGE – Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development’s Division of Historic Preservation announced today the Pontchartrain Park Historic District in New Orleans as the newest addition to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. Located near Lake Pontchartrain, construction on the Pontchartrain Park neighborhood began in 1955. Development of Pontchartrain Park created new suburban-style tract housing available to African Americans in New Orleans, attracting middle- and upper-class African American families according to the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans which helped coordinate the neighborhood’s nomination.
“This is a great honor for the Pontchartrain Park Historic District. This status can be very useful in helping save historic buildings and sites as properties on the National Register are held in high regard,”
said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser.
Louisiana’s Office of Cultural Development says that property owners of commercial or residential rentals may be eligible to apply for and receive federal tax credits for historic rehabilitation projects, provided they agree to certain federal guidelines. Any federally-certified historic property is also eligible to apply for federal preservation grants when funding is available. Additionally, the recognition provides the owner the opportunity to apply for the Louisiana Department of Economic Development’s Restoration Tax Abatement Program.
Pontchartrain Park originally included more than 1,000 ranch-style homes arranged around a municipal park which features the first, full-time golf facilities available to Black New Orleanians. The golf course was designed by Joseph M. Bartholomew, an acclaimed Black golf course designer and namesake of the course. It was the first public golf course he designed on which he was allowed to play. Other facilities in Pontchartrain Park include a large children’s playground, basketball courts, baseball fields such as Wesley Barrow Stadium, and an off-street parking lot at the southwestern edge by the intersection of Press Drive and Prentiss Avenue. Annually, the Gentilly Festival brings in musical acts and visitors from across the New Orleans metro area. For a map of the Pontchartrain Park Historic District, click here for the boundary map or view the attachment.
The nomination was overseen by the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, and funded in part through a Historic Preservation Fund Grant with Federal funds from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, through the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Office of Cultural Development, Division of Historic Preservation.