Edgewood Park, a neighborhood within the larger Gentilly district of New                                                                                       Orleans, is the city’s newest addition to the National Register of Historic                                                                                         Places, having been added in 2014. It was developed, along with other sections                                                                             of Gentilly, as a middle-class streetcar suburb in 1909, and is still densely                                                                                     populated by modest cottages with ample setbacks for this urban location. The                                                                               triangular neighborhood is bordered on the north by Gentilly Boulevard, on the                                                                                 south by I-610, on the east by Peoples Avenue, and on the west by Fairmont                                                                                   Drive.

 

It was initially developed thanks to a streetcar route along Franklin Avenue that connected Edgewood Park with the downtown. Long a quiet but almost self-contained area, complete with schools, churches, banks, and more, Edgewood Park has many long-time residents. Neighborhood institutions include Bethel Lutheran Church, built in the 1920s on Franklin Avenue, and St. James Major Catholic Church, constructed in 1928. The Craftsman style is dominant amongst the neighborhood’s bungalows, shotguns, camelbacks and raised basement homes, while revival styles such as Tudor, Mediterranean and Colonial can also be found. The former Pierre A. Capdau School, located at 3821 Franklin Ave., was designed by E.A. Christy in 1922 as a landmark for the neighborhood in the Beaux Arts style.

 

The Edgewood Park Improvement Association developed the neighborhood in 1909. Its modern incarnation, the Edgewood Park Neighborhood Association, was founded in 2000, and its leadership proved invaluable in helping neighbors after Hurricane Katrina since the levee failure brought water to many rooflines of one-story homes here. Though some buildings were demolished and others were hastily repaired, the neighborhood still has its historic integrity intact.

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Many thanks to the Preservation Resource Center for providing this wonderful information! (www.prcno.org)