Clyde Connell, sculptor-painter, was one of the artists who worked at 708 Cotton St, called At-the-Loft
Shreveport Laboratories, a 2-story brick business building at 708 Cotton St, Shreveport, was demolished this week. With its demise an era of Shreveport art history was closed.
Upstairs at the Shreveport Laboratories was At-the-Loft, once called "Shreveport's oldest continually operating studio work space and alternative gallery." Artists such as Clyde Connell, Jerry Wray, Flo Duval, Jean Sartor and Nevelyn Brown once worked from the small studios in the building.
The story on its end by john Andrew prime of the Times:
Downtown medical building to come down / Renovations for Shreveport Laboratories building were too expensive
December 24, 2006
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com
Another of Shreveport's historic downtown buildings is falling prey to the wrecker's ball, the victim of old age and rising expenses.
The building is the old Shreveport Laboratories edifice, which is in the 700 block of Cotton Street, next to the now-unused Arlington Hotel.
"It's been in my family several generations, so tearing it down wasn't an easy decision," said Bossier City property developer Lewis Conger, whose grandfather Dr. Lewis Pirkle built the structure just after the Great Depression with a partner, fellow physician Dr. T.E. Williams. "But we could not rent it out, sell it or get insurance, not until it's up to code."
Getting the old building to satisfy modern electrical and other codes for commercial use just wouldn't be economically feasible, Conger said.
Conger said the building is the second of two adjacent structures his grandfather, who died in 1948 at age 75, built, a story that is borne out by old city directories.
They show Pirkle in the first building, which no longer stands, in the late 1920s, and in the newer building with tenants that included a pharmacy and a dentist in the early 1930s.
"Shreveport Labs actually started as a pharmacy," Conger said.
There's no planned use for the property, other than to be an empty city lot for now.
"It will be a less-attractive nuisance," Conger said
Upstairs at the Shreveport Laboratories was At-the-Loft, once called "Shreveport's oldest continually operating studio work space and alternative gallery." Artists such as Clyde Connell, Jerry Wray, Flo Duval, Jean Sartor and Nevelyn Brown once worked from the small studios in the building.
The story on its end by john Andrew prime of the Times:
Downtown medical building to come down / Renovations for Shreveport Laboratories building were too expensive
December 24, 2006
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com
Another of Shreveport's historic downtown buildings is falling prey to the wrecker's ball, the victim of old age and rising expenses.
The building is the old Shreveport Laboratories edifice, which is in the 700 block of Cotton Street, next to the now-unused Arlington Hotel.
"It's been in my family several generations, so tearing it down wasn't an easy decision," said Bossier City property developer Lewis Conger, whose grandfather Dr. Lewis Pirkle built the structure just after the Great Depression with a partner, fellow physician Dr. T.E. Williams. "But we could not rent it out, sell it or get insurance, not until it's up to code."
Getting the old building to satisfy modern electrical and other codes for commercial use just wouldn't be economically feasible, Conger said.
Conger said the building is the second of two adjacent structures his grandfather, who died in 1948 at age 75, built, a story that is borne out by old city directories.
They show Pirkle in the first building, which no longer stands, in the late 1920s, and in the newer building with tenants that included a pharmacy and a dentist in the early 1930s.
"Shreveport Labs actually started as a pharmacy," Conger said.
There's no planned use for the property, other than to be an empty city lot for now.
"It will be a less-attractive nuisance," Conger said
posted by Robert E Trudeau at 2:52 AM
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