1309 Harmony Street

The following is excerpted from the National Register Registration Form which is available in full below: 

The two-story wood-frame single-family residence at 1309 Harmony Street was constructed in 1898 in the Garden District, a historic neighborhood of New Orleans. The 1,365-SF house was designed by New Orleans master architect Emile Weil for Arthur and Fanny Kastler on the rear portion of a corner lot owned and occupied by Fanny’s parents. The setting consists of low-rise nineteenth-century residential upper-class housing stock in the most important “suburban” neighborhood in the city. The irregularly shaped parcel is wide and shallow with a spacious landscaped side garden that provides a visual separation from the corner residence. The building’s exterior treatment reflects all of the houses nearby with weatherboard siding and a pitched roof. The building has a strong vertical street presence with a partial-width front porch sheltering the entrance. The garden facade incorporates bay windows that emphasize the connection between building and landscape. The building sits on short brick piers with brick chain walls on both the Harmony Street and garden façades. The hip roof is covered in standing seam metal with a central stuccoed-brick chimney. There are numerous windows, almost all of which are 2/2 wood sash with louvered shutters. The internal layout consists of two primary street-facing rooms on each floor. On the ground floor a kitchen/pantry extends behind. Each of the four principal rooms has an original coal-burning fireplace centered within the space. Most historic interior features and finishes remain intact. Outbuildings include a c. 1920s metal-frame garage and a post-World War II CMU shed on the north side of the property. This is a modest house with little ornament that nevertheless clearly exhibits design sensitivity both inside and out that is consistent with the architect’s Academic Eclectic design philosophy. It was owned by the same family until 1989, during which time almost no modifications were made. Since 1989 renovations and improvements have been undertaken with the intention that they are compatible, discernibly contemporary changes that complement the building’s historic significance. 1309 Harmony Street remains clearly recognizable as a high-quality single-family residence in a historically important nineteenth century neighborhood and is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The HDLC Staff recommends that the Commission recommend  1309 Harmony Street to the National Register of Historic Places.