Herbert H. Land was not an educator in the normal sense of the word, but he is a significant figure in the story of education in northeast Louisiana.
Land designed the physical environments in which learning took place. Several generations of Morehouse Parish students learned their ABC’s in the distinctive red-brick buildings that sprang from his mind and drawing board in the 1920s and ‘30s.
“My grandfather’s school buildings were very distinctive, very ornate,” said Bill Land, third-generation president of Herbert Land Architect Inc. “They had a lot of character.
“Many of the old school buildings in Morehouse were designed using the Colonial Style of architecture, with some elements borrowed from other styles.”
H.H. Land Sr. was born Sept. 28, 1889 in St. Louis and earned his degree in architecture circa 1911, when he was 22 years old.
His creative tendencies were evident before then; Bill Land keeps in his office a wooden chair of original design his grandfather built in 1907.
Land’s early career took him to San Francisco as an apprentice to his uncle, then back to St. Louis as a designer and construction supervisor for Saenger Amusement Co., a Louisiana-based cinema franchise that built grand motion picture houses throughout the South.
Land came to New Orleans in the early 1920s to supervise the company’s largest project to date, the opulent Saenger Theatre on Canal Street. Here he crossed paths with J.W. Smith, who owned a millwork shop in Monroe.
Smith hoped to expand his architectural practice in northeast Louisiana, as the development of natural gas in the region meant a population and construction boom was just around the corner. He had come to New Orleans in search of an architect who had experience in designing large structures, and he found one in H.H. Land.
Land became the chief architect for J.W. Smith & Associates based in Monroe. Among the firm’s earliest projects were Georgia Tucker Elementary School (1920) and the Ouachita Parish Courthouse (1922).
Georgia Tucker Elementary, today the oldest standing school in Monroe, was designed in the Mediterranean Revival style popular in California at the time Land has worked with his uncle there.
For the next 15 years, Smith and Land designed numerous private homes and public buildings in Monroe and Bastrop.
Many of Land’s designs drew from the California Mission style -- white stucco walls and clay tile roofs. The California influence is most notable in his design for Robinson Funeral Home in Bastrop, which later became Goldens Funeral Home.
Bill Land said his father, Herbert Land Jr., recalled riding through rural Morehouse Parish in a Model T with H.H. Land and J.W. Smith. The latter would shoot at cans and other passing targets with his pistol.
Land’s background in the theater business seems to have been a factor in his design for Mer Rouge High School, built in 1925.
His plans included a grand auditorium -- unusual for a school of this size -- with a clearspan balcony and intricate plaster work in the ceiling and around the stage. The auditorium became an important cultural venue for community church services and other events in the decades before the school closed in the 1970s.
Land seems to have designed the old Arcadia High School on the same basic plan as the Mer Rouge High School, albeit on a larger scale.
The project for which Land may be best remembered in Morehouse Parish is the old Bastrop High School, slated for renovation over the next two years.
The Morehouse Parish School Board faced a growing population and soaring enrollment in the early 1920s. A new high school was needed, and in July 1924 the board appointed a committee to select the architect. The committee chose J.W. Smith & Associates, with Land serving as chief architect for the project.
Bastrop High School was constructed on South Washington Street from 1926-27. Land also designed East Side and West Side elementary schools during this time.
The Monroe News Star takes note of Land’s accomplishments in an article about the Smith firm from the late 1920s:
“Many of North Louisiana’s finest buildings and most elaborate homes are standing today as monuments to the skill and efficiency of J.W. Smith, the architect and his associates ... H.H. Land, one of the associates, has complete charge of the office. He is an architect of undoubted ability and a gentleman of the first class. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and a man of profound learning.”
Many of Land’s blueprints from this time are preserved in the vault at Herbert Land Architect Inc. These early plans are drawn on linen pages with wax-coated backing; Bill Land said architects began using tracing paper later on.
Unrolled, the 1920s blueprints offer glimpses into the creative process behind many familiar buildings in northeast Louisiana.
Land’s design for Lieber Garage in Monroe bears a striking resemblance to the old Bastrop High School, with triangular peaks and cast stone ornamentation. His drawings for Bastrop Grade School look very much like present-day elementary schools in Morehouse Parish.
“Seeing how this profession has evolved over the past hundred years is fascinating,” said Bill Land. “An entire elementary school was designed in the 1920s with very few drawings.”
H.H. Land’s design for Bastrop Grade School comprises three linen pages; Bill Land said an elementary school he is now working on runs 40-50 pages.
A century ago, the architect only had to draw symbols for lighting and bathroom fixtures, and the electricians and plumbers took it from there. Today, blueprints are legal documents with much more intricate details required of the architect.
Bill Land said contractors took special pride in their work back then. When buildings from his grandfather’s era are torn down, the craftsmen’s initials are often found inside the walls.
Building materials have also changed. The Morehouse Parish schools of the 1920s were made of quarry tiles, mortar, real wood floors and solid bricks. Manufacturers did not start putting holes in bricks until the 1950s.
“Today everything is synthetic,” said Bill Land. “Everything is lighter.”
The solid red bricks used in Morehouse schools most likely came from regional factories. Possible sources include the Sezeal brick factory in Swartz (the ruins of which may still be standing, though inaccessible) and factories in Springhill, La. and Little Rock.
The J.W. Smith firm was called back to Bastrop in 1930 to expand the high school, which had become overcrowded in the space of just three years. The addition was completed in April 1931 and doubled the size of the campus, creating a small courtyard between the two sections.
The Morehouse Enterprise describes the expanded campus as “one of the best, largest, and most complete high school plants in the state.”
Around the same time, Land served as the architect of Ouachita Parish Junior College, that is, the buildings facing Desiard Street that would later become Brown Hall on the University of Louisiana at Monroe campus.
The Monroe Morning World reports Feb. 23, 1931 that H.H. Land attended the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new college.
The completed junior college was described as “modernistic” in design, with plastered ceilings and walls, terrazzo floors and an exterior of cream-colored brick and Indiana limestone. Land designed an auditorium to the west of the main building and a gym with maple-floored basketball court to the east.
Land is mentioned in the Morehouse Police Jury minutes from about 1929-1935 with regard to improvements and alterations to both the courthouse and parish jail. Land designed the additions to the Morehouse Parish Courthouse in 1935, the first of three renovations to the landmark building.
H.H. Land left the J.W. Smith firm to start his own practice circa 1936, as Smith’s son, Curtis, had now become an experienced architect in his own right. This was the genesis of Herbert Land Architect Inc., today the oldest architectural and planning firm in northeast Louisiana.
Records indicate the new Land firm designed Bonita High School. Built in 1937, the Bonita school was comprised of two wings connected by a long study hall, with a courtyard and fountain in between. The difference in style between Bonita High School and previous schools in Morehouse Parish may be a reflection of the changing economic times. This school burned under mysterious circumstances in Aug. 2008.
Time and space do not permit a full accounting of the schools Land designed or improved over the course of his long career. The following, partial list derives from the 1920s J.W. Smith portfolio and from a document titled “Drawings Placed in the Hands of H.H. Land” when he left Smith to start his own practice.
In Morehouse Parish, Land either designed or altered Bonita Grammar School, Jones School, Johnson School, McGinty School, Collinston School, Oak Ridge High School and Hughes Chapel School.
During his time with J.W. Smith, Land also worked on Monroe City High School (now Neville), Ouachita Parish High School, St. Matthews Parochial School and similar schools in Sterlington, Delhi, Ferriday, Ruston, Mangham, Tallulah, Grand Cane, Columbia, Jonesboro, Bienville and Harrisonburg.
Local buildings also associated with Land include Bastrop State Bank (now Hibernia), the Charles Snyder home (now the Snyder Museum), the J. Lester White home, Bastrop City Hospital (forerunner of Morehouse General), Bastrop City Hall (torn down in the 1970s), an unnamed theater for C.J. Goodwin (either the Princess or the Rose), an administrative building for the Morehouse Parish School Board and Stephenson’s Chevrolet Co.
Familiar buildings in Monroe associated with Land include the old Penn Hotel (until recently topped by the famous “little pink house”), the American Legion Hall on Forsythe Avenue and the C.E. Slagle home (now the Masur Museum) on South Grand Street.
H.H. Land Sr. retired in the late 1950s and served as president of the Monroe Rotary Club before his death in 1973.
“He was very well liked and respected,” said Bill Land.
Herbert Land Jr. had served two years in the Merchant Marine during WWII, earned his masters degree in architecture from Tulane University, and worked for Douglas Aircraft in California before returning to Monroe to assist his father in 1945.
Herbert Land Jr. designed many schools and public buildings in more than a dozen parishes in the 1950s and ‘60s. Bill Land said his father worked in the Modern Style of architecture -- his schools had flat roofs and less detail than those of H.H. Land Sr. due to post-war cost constraints.
Herbert Land’s signature accomplishments were Olin Hall dormitory (imploded in 2004) and Malone Football Stadium on the ULM campus. He passed away last January.
Bill Land earned his degree in architecture from Louisiana Tech University in 1981, with design emphasis on energy and efficiency. He became president of his grandfather’s firm upon his father’s retirement.
H.H. Land Sr. had been the architect for the first renovation of the Morehouse Parish Courthouse in 1935; Bill Land was the architect for the most recent renovation from 1997-2001. He describes it as “one of my very favorite projects, not only because of the beautiful building, but the friends that I made while working on the project.”
Bill Land has not forgotten his grandfather’s life and legacy. In addition to the 1920s blueprints, he has preserved H.H. Land’s wooden drawing board and T-square drafting tool. The antique tools present a striking contrast to the flat-screen computer monitor in the Herbert Land Architect Inc. office today.
The firm continues to serve northeast Louisiana, almost a century after its creation. Sometimes Bill Land is called to work on buildings designed by his own father and grandfather.
Sadly, time has not been kind to H.H. Land’s schools in Morehouse Parish. Many have either burned or fallen victim to the wrecker’s ball over the years.
Mer Rouge High School illustrates the principle of entropy as it applies to old buildings: Left to the elements and without regular maintenance, man-made structures will quickly deteriorate. The wooden floors have rotted through in several places and the ceilings have extensive water damage.
Land’s auditorium, however, seems frozen in time and retains much of the grandeur from the days when community events were held there.
Mer Rouge High School was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The Village of Mer Rouge purchased it from the school board last year. Mayor John McAdams said he received calls from former students who worried the village planned to tear it down, but said there are no plans to do so.
Land’s Bastrop High School stands on the threshold of a brighter future as funding was secured last year for its renovation. More than $13 million in state, federal and private funds will be used to renovate the school into an apartment complex for senior citizens.
After several years of planning, developers for the Historic Bastrop High project received final confirmation that funding had been secured in Dec. 2009.
Approximately 55 percent of the funds will come from two new programs: The Tax Credit Exchange Program (TCEP) and the Tax Assistance Program (TCAP). Both of these programs were created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law in Feb. 2009.
The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency administers these two programs, and in September awarded the funds based on a competitive application process. The Bastrop project scored high in the process and was awarded $6.4 million in TCEP funds and approximately $871,000 in TCAP funds.
Other sources of funding include $1 million in HOME funds through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a $500,000 grant from HUD’s Hope VI Main Street program and $4.1 million in state and federal Historic Tax credits. Mark Rainwater, director of City of Bastrop Development Inc., said this is the first project to tap into the Hope VI plan.
When the renovated school opens in late 2011, it will provide 68 units for senior citizens with rents ranging from below $300 to $500.
