A part of St. Louis Street in the French Quarter remains closed after bricks and part of a gutter fell from a building, a sight some said highlights how buildings in the city are crumbling before our eyes.
Thursday’s partial building collapse isn’t the first time this has happened this year, and Commercial Builder Bill Edwards said this could be an unfortunate trend.
A day after bricks and debris fell several stories to the ground, many people are wondering why some buildings are cracking at the seams.
“You have a lot of mortar that’s 200-something years old, you know, and it’s not as fortified as the mortar they make today,” Edwards said.
The longtime builder said contractors are usually knowledgeable of the building’s conditions, but sometimes years of issues come to a head at one moment.
“Through water incursion, hot and cold, extreme heat like we’ve had and also vibration,” Edwards said.
The partial collapse is one of many the city of New Orleans has seen in a year’s time, with buildings tumbling in Central City, the Lower Garden District and the CBD.
“It’s shocking that it doesn’t happen more often because the buildings are 150 to 200 years old,” said French Quarter resident Glade Bilby.
The New Orleans Fire Department and city inspectors regularly inspect commercial properties like bars and restaurants to ensure fire safety and code compliance, but residents said more should be done to preserve the structures.
“There are certainly challenges that the city has. I don’t think they’re paying enough attention to the architecture,” Bilby said.
In January, the New Orleans City Council discussed bringing in an expert to help address building collapses. Now, six months later, people are calling on them again, saying the issue is a dangerous trend that needs attention right now.
“The architecture is what’s going to live past all of us. It was here before us, it’s going to be here after us. That’s what we need to protect,” Bilby said.
READ MORE:Commercial builder calls partial building collapse an unfortunate trend
