Philanthropist Judah Touro was a Rhode Island-born merchant who moved to New Orleans in 1801, where he made his fortune through shipping and real estate. After his death in 1854, the original Touro Almshouse was built with money left in Judah’s will expressly to fund a facility for the city's indigent homeless. This first iteration was a three-story castle-like Gothic structure, completed in 1862 in the Bywater, which the Union army troops designated their headquarters soon thereafter. Merely three years after its construction, a fire in the army’s makeshift army destroyed it in 1865.
Joseph Shakspeare was the mayor of New Orleans from 1880-1882 and 1888-1892. Staunchly opposed to gambling but unable to make it illegal, he instituted a gambling fee, the proceeds of which went to fund the new almshouse. Shakspeare Almshouse was opened for occupancy by 1883, and in 1901, the funding from Touro’s original almshouse was enveloped, so the structure was renamed the Touro-Shakspeare Almshouse. Over the course of the next 20 years, cars became much more prevalent Uptown; as a result, the elderly residents were getting injured after wandering into traffic. Consequently, in 1927, the Uptown site was subdivided into residences. Land was purchased on the West bank in Algiers, and the old building was torn down.
Construction of the new Touro-Shakspeare Home was completed in 1933, the first residents being welcomed in 1934. Designed by William R. Burk, it combined elements of the Neo-Classical Revival and Jacobean Revival styles. The 60,000 square foot building featured a 200-seat chapel with a 20-foot domed ceiling, a 194-foot façade, and could house about 175 residents. For more than 70 years, the house remained at full occupancy and was upgraded consistently.
The Touro-Shakspeare Home was yet another victim of Hurricane Katrina. In August 2005, all 120 residents were evacuated safely but were unable to return due to the major damage the facility suffered from the storm. In the years since, plans to restore the building have been abandoned by the city, and promises by FEMA to preserve it for future use have gone unfulfilled. More recently, on June 6, 2019, the property was rezoned, putting up less barriers for potential developers. Finally, on March 5, 2021, the city of New Orleans announced it would be accepting bids to renovate and lease the historic building, as long as it remained something to be considered a modern-day almshouse – elderly housing, affordable residential housing, mixed use housing, etc.
This was definitely the most beautiful abandoned place I've explored, so it's a real shame to see it in its current state
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https://www.flickr...5818284@N03/albums *photos taken February 3, 2023*
Sunday service anyone???
(only photo taken with my phone - the disposable isn't known for its wide-angle lol)
the alter - up close and personal
is this what the kids are calling... bringing the house down?
the roof! (it came pre-raised fortunately)
I'd like to speak to Mister Shakspeare... no the OTHER one!
loving the open concept here!
we encountered the one and only TWISTED TOWER!!!! 
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