The Karnofsky Tailor Shop–House (also known as the Karnofsky Shop) was a historic, two-story building in the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, that played a significant role in the early promotion of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

when the neighborhood was known as "Back of Town". It was destroyed by

Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 200 ...

in 2021.

History

The building was built around 1910. The Karnofsky family lived upstairs and owned a secondhand store and later a

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

shop on the first floor. The Karnofskys took in a young

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

, gave him a job, and encouraged him to become a musician. Later, Morris Karnofsky, Armstrong's boyhood friend, opened Morris Music, the city's first jazz record store. Armstrong moved away in 1921 but continued to visit the shop. Model Tailors moved into the building after the Karnofskys moved out. The building sat abandoned for years, while several plans to restore the building and surrounding neighborhood were unsuccessful. On October 16, 2002, the building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. As of 2019, it was slated to be restored, possibly for conversion into a nightclub. However, it collapsed on August 29, 2021, when

swept through the city as a category 4 storm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karnofsky Tailor Shop-House Downtown New Orleans Louis Armstrong National Register of Historic Places in New Orleans 1910 establishments in Louisiana Buildings and structures completed in 1910 2021 disestablishments in Louisiana Buildings and structures demolished in 2021 Former buildings and structures in Louisiana

History

See also

References