City Hall
1300 block of Poydras New Orleans, Louisiana

The nine-story City Hall building in New Orleans appeared to have suffered no significant damage during the hurricane. The structural framing appeared to be made of steel. The building was in service at the time of the investigation as indicated by the high traffic of city employees using the south entrance. Potable water was not available, thus occupants were cautioned against coming in contact with the water. Electric power and phone service was currently available in this and surrounding buildings. There were no apparent watermarks above the street level to indicate flooding in the area. Figure 1 shows the north side of the building with several open windows at the top level. The only noticeable damage was concentrated on the south side and included a one-third row of broken windows on the top story. Daylight was visible through a few of these windows indicating that this section of the building was probably used to house mechanical equipment. If room damage had occurred, the building would have had extensive water damage and likely be out of service. The building is located just north of the Amoco building which suffered extensive glazing damage. New Orleans City Hall is located on the 1300 block of Poydras, in the central business district.

Submitted by Gilberto Mosqueda and Keith Porter
October 4, 2005

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