Public Buildings

Public Property and Public Buildings

Department History

The management of public buildings has undergone several department shifts throughout the City’s history. The Department of Police and Public Buildings operated from 1882-1912 when it was replaced by the Division of Public Buildings, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Property. Further department reorganizations continued with the 1954 City Charter and the establishment of the Department of Property Management.

Municipal Auditorium Photo Collection

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Records of Individual Public Buildings

Civic Center Appraisals

Delgado-Albania Plantation Commission

House of Detention

Municipal Auditorium

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal

Theatre of the Performing Arts

Upper Pontalba Building Commission

Department of Waterworks and Public Buildings, 1870-1882

Correspondence and ledgers regarding expenditures, budgets, and repairs to public buildings.
Department of Police and Public Buildings, Correspondence, 1882-1910

From 1882-1912, the Commissioner of Police and Public Buildings was in charge of Houses of Refuge and Corrections, pounds, and cemeteries and lighting of the city and "such other functions and duties as may be prescribed by the Council." He also had general superintendence of the school houses, markets, slaughterhouses, prisons, police stations, jails, work-house, asylums, hospitals and all courts and public buildings except the City Hall (which fell under the control of the Mayor and executive officers).
Records of Correctional Institutions, 1820-1954

Records from the House of Refuge, House of Detention, Police Jails, and Workhouses under the purview of the Commissioner of Police and Public Buildings.

Department of Public Property, 1912-1947

The Commissioner of the Department of Public Property was responsible for streets & alleys, parks & playgrounds, public buildings, public baths, and all other public property. The new Department assumed the tasks formerly assigned to the Department of Public Works, the Department of Police & Public Buildings, and the City Engineer. The Department of Public Property operated from 1912-1950, and was then replaced by four new agencies: Department of Public Streets, Department of Public Sanitation, Department of Public Buildings & Parks, and Department of Institutions & Public Health.
Division of Public Buildings, 1914-1922

A subdivision of the Department of Public Property, it continued the work of the earlier Department of Police and Public Buildings. It was responsible for maintenance of City Hall and other municipal structures, including the House of Detention, Parish Prison and the various courthouses. Public squares also came under the jurisdiction of the Division, as did the City Archives. In the 1948 reorganization of city government, the duties of the Division of Public Buildings were transferred to the Department of Public Buildings & Parks and the Department of Institutions & Public Health.
Property Management

The Property Management department is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of municipal buildings, the preservation of real estate records of the City, and the maintenance of municipal cemeteries. The City Archives holds records from the Property Management Director's Office, the Delgado-Albania Plantation Commission, scrapbooks from the Theater of Performing Arts, and burial records from municipal cemeteries.