This & That, Ceci et Cela

From random looting to architectural theft in New Orleans:

Professional photographer Keith Calhoun is resigned to the hurricane that destroyed his studio. And he has even reconciled himself to the pilfering of negatives he had stored there. But what has him spitting nails is the recent looting of the fat cypress beams that had kept his Victorian-era building standing — and that would be key to putting it back together. The beams — or joists — long pieces of dense, 19th-century timber that support roofs and floors and are virtually impossible to purchase new, fetch about $10 a running foot at a salvage yard, Mr. Calhoun says. He reckons he lost a truckload of antique wood.

Mr. Calhoun suspects that common thieves working his neighborhood wouldn’t be going after antique building materials such as joists, mantels and Victorian shutters unless they were being directed to by someone in the know. The value, he says, is only clear to renovators and aficionados of historic design. … Police say they have begun to see evidence of architectural pilfering, and they suspect out-of-state work crews are the source of much of the looting (WSRJ).

Bookmark this article: