The Home on St. Charles Avenue
Proclaimed “a Magnificent Monument to Hebrew Benevolence,” the Home on St. Charles Avenue captured the interest of many artists and photographers. Here are a few of those depictions.
Jewish Orphans’ Home architectural drawing by Thomas Sully, 1886. In addition to the building contractor, the drawing is signed in the upper right corner by Home President Edwin Kursheedt. Tulane University Libraries, Southeastern Architectural Archive.
The Home, postcard, 1907. The Rotograph Co., New York. From author’s collection.
The Home, undated postcard. F.M. Kirby & Co., New Orleans. From author’s collection.
The Home, postcard, 1907. Adolph Selige Pub. Co., St. Louis. From author’s collection.
Letterhead of the Association for the Relief of Jewish Widows and Orphans, from June 1905, showing a sketch of the Home at the corner of St. Charles and Peters (today’s Jefferson) Avenues.
This drawing, made by by Home ward Leon Folbe around 1919, was preserved by Louise Volmer, daughter of Superintendent Leon Volmer, in her scrapbook. Louise annotated young Folbe’s drawing (with the words “Our Rooms”) to indicate the location of her family’s apartment on the building’s second floor. Courtesy of Liz Crosby, daughter of Louise Volmer Sloane.
This photo, although undated, reflects the board’s 1924 decision to change the institution’s name from “Jewish Orphans’ Home” to “Jewish Children’s Home.” Photo courtesy of JCRS.
Aerial view of the Home, 1940. The boys’ and girls’ dormitory wings, respectively, paralleled Leontine Street, on the left, and Jefferson Avenue, on the right. Photo courtesy of JCRS.
In honor of the Home’s 150th anniversary celebration scheduled for November 2005, alumna Barbara Jean Friedman Wax made this quilt depicting the building in which she and her brothers lived from 1939 to 1946. Although Hurricane Katrina forced the cancellation of the event, Wax’s quilt hangs in the JCRS’s offices. Courtesy JCRS.
Home alumna Barbara Jean Friedman Wax sewed this explanatory note on the back of her quilt. Courtesy JCRS.