The Krauss Building is a landmark building in

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, at the downtown lake corner of Canal Street and

Basin Street Basin Street or Rue Bassin in French, is a street in New Orleans, Louisiana. It parallels Rampart Street one block lakeside, or inland, from the boundary of the French Quarter, running from Canal Street down 5 blocks past Saint Louis Cemetery. It c ...

. It housed one of the city's leading

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s for over 90 years. In 2009 it was redeveloped into condominia by Elie Khoury. In 1903, Krauss Department Store was opened at 1201

Canal Street, New Orleans Canal Street (french: rue du canal) is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter or ''Vieux Carré'', it served historically as the dividing line between the ...

by Leon Fellman and his nephews, the Krauss brothers—Max, Alfred, Leopold, and Fritz. The building cost $25,000. Because of its location—right on the edge of Storyville—the store sold satin and lace to the ladies of the "District," as it was known. Of course, women from all over the city shopped there, as well. Krauss was the first department store to install air conditioning in 1925 and also the first to have escalators—then known as mechanical stairs. The store survived into the 1990s by stocking obscure items not available at large chains and by refusing to reduce service to its loyal New Orleans customers. It was a monument to the old-fashioned way of doing business, and proud of it. During its 94 years of existence it expanded from to , all on a real estate parcel of fronting on Canal Street. Krauss closed in 1997.Sources: Gambit Weekly (December 28, 2004); "Louisiana Timeline: 1903," http://www.enlou.com/time/year1903.htm#january1903 From the long Formica lunch counter with the round red stools, to the madams and ladies of nearby Storyville who once shopped within the store, the Krauss building enjoys a unique and storied place in New Orleans history.

Current use

This historic building remained vacant for nearly 11 years prior to its resurgence as the first luxury condominium development post-Katrina. Now name
1201 Canal
it houses an upscale community of 233 luxury residences and over of street-front retail.

Recent Articles

$60m Krauss Building Project in New Orleans
https://web.archive.org/web/20111103001320/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20070430/ai_n19066310/ Historic Krauss Building - Good News in New Orleans
http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2008/todays-news/good-news-in-new-orleans.html Krauss Building New Orleans set for Fall Occupancy (2008)
http://www.allbusiness.com/safety-accidents-disasters/disasters-tropical/11485911-1.html

References

{{Commons category, Krauss Building, New Orleans Landmarks in Louisiana