The Grand Palace Hotel was a 17-story building located in the Mid City area of New Orleans, Louisiana. The building became known worldwide for its implosion on 22 July 2012. [1]
Designed by William Nowland Van Powell and Henry Ehrensing [2] as the Claiborne Towers apartment building, construction started in April 1950 at a cost of $10 million. [3] The building was the largest apartment complex in the city upon opening in 1951, [4] containing 1,036 air-conditioned apartments, [3] and was built on land leased from Tulane University [3] by the developer Paul Kapelow. [4]
The lobby was particularly well finished, including terrazzo flooring, wooden panels of black walnut, and a bank of Otis elevators. [3]
By 1952, the building featured a wide range of facilities and occupants, including a team of cleaners, [3] a ground floor lounge, [3] a beauty shop, [3] a lingerie boutique, [3] offices of Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, and a Walgreens store. [5]
Perhaps the most famous story from this period of the building's history is when the Jewish-American mobster, Phillip "Dandy Phil" Kastel, was found dead in his apartment by a private nurse on 16 August 1962. He had reportedly taken his own life with a .38 caliber revolver. [4] [6]
Construction of the Interstate 10 overpass adjacent to the building in the 1960s proved detrimental to Claiborne Towers' fortunes as an apartment block [2] and it was partially converted in the early 1960s into the Sheraton Delta Motor Hotel, [5] then in 1972 converted to a senior citizens' residence called Delta Towers. [4]
During the 1980s, the elderly residents were evicted in preparation for the building's full conversion into a hotel. [4] The new hotel, the Ramada on Canal, [7] first opened, although at the time incomplete, for the 1984 Sugar Bowl. [5] The hotel was subsequently known as the Crescent on Canal [5] and the Pallas Hotel, [8] before taking on its final name, the Grand Palace Hotel.
The building, like many others, was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and never reopened. [4] During preparation works for demolition, [9] a fire broke out at the building on 5 July 2012, at the time causing speculation that plans for its demolition might have to be changed. [10] The main demolition of the building (after months of preparatory work) was by implosion on 22 July 2012, [1] a story which was covered by many worldwide news organizations due to its speed of just 10 seconds. [11] The implosion, previously scheduled for 20 November 2011, then 18 December 2011, was undertaken to make way for the new University Medical Center, a replacement for Charity Hospital, which was also damaged by Hurricane Katrina. [1]