Handle: 1320 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, 70130
Proprietor: Baptist Neighborhood Ministries
Architect: EskewDumezRipple
Contractor: Ryan Gootee Normal Contractors
Collaborators: EskewDumezRipple – Architect and Inside Design; Fox-Nesbit Engineering – Structural Engineer; Huseman & Associates – MEP Engineer; Ryan Gootee Normal Contractors – Contractor; Procella Design – Panorama Architect; Gilbert, Kelly & Couterie – Surveyor
Sq. Footage: 11,000 sq. ft
Begin Date: January 2023
Completion Date: November 2023

A brand new headquarters on St. Charles Avenue is an early birthday current for Baptist Neighborhood Ministries, which turns 30 years outdated in 2025. BCM, beforehand positioned within the Poydras Tower on the twenty ninth ground, has formally moved most of its workplace employees into 1320 St. Charles Ave.
The transfer to the two-story, historic constructing was preceded by a $5 million renovation led by EskewDumezRipple and Ryan Gootee Normal Contractors. The renovation included the preservation and restoration of mid-century architectural particulars, mixed with a redesign and reimagining of the 11,000 sq. foot house that was previously a Hancock Whitney Financial institution department.
BCM is among the largest personal foundations in Louisiana and a philanthropic group serving greater than 250 neighborhood companions.
“At its core, BCM has at all times prioritized our basic worth of full engagement with and connectivity to our neighborhood companions,” stated Inman J. Houston, BCM President and CEO. “Our new community-focused house serves as a metaphorical and bodily alternative to attach carefully with our neighborhood, be extra seen, present simpler entry to our companions, and be within the thick of our neighborhoods to convene, join, and proceed to make a distinction.”
“Connection to neighborhood” and the contemporary chapter of engagement and outreach are felt straight away when guests enter the primary ground of BCM’s new house. The entrance home windows and open foyer house present views of St. Charles Ave., the Decrease Backyard District, and the streetcar line.
“All of our workplaces for workers are on the second ground. We prioritized the primary ground as a heat and welcoming house for our guests. We even have a well-intentioned open-floor plan and versatile house on the primary ground for a lot of functions, resembling occasions, instructing areas, displays, and assembly house with our companions,” stated Houston.
The wall behind the reception desk is authentic to the constructing. The design maintains present wooden paneling and terrazzo flooring, as a nod to the unique character of the Hancock Whitney department. The foyer required a light-weight contact all through, with some added millwork and remediation of the terrazzo flooring and travertine columns from the Nineteen Fifties. Foyer furnishings spotlight mid-century fashionable components and authentic particulars, whereas offering most performance. There’s a seating space by the reception desk and a high-top, desk seating space to the opposite facet of reception.
Houston stated “collaboration” is the theme of the second ground for BCM staff. The highest story was reworked from many company workplaces to extra open workspaces with fashionable finishes and effectivity. Workplace house was created by reworking the white field of the Nineteen Fifties workplace period to quite a lot of semi-private workspace and assembly areas, and solely a handful of workplaces. One fascinating function on the second ground was that EDR and RGGC reutilized the unique financial institution secure deposit field vaults, turning them into convention areas.
Personal workplaces on the perimeter have been closed with glazed storefront methods, permitting mild from exterior home windows to penetrate the communal workstation house. Lighting options have been essential in establishing a shiny and uplifting workplace, stated Houston.
“When our individuals come to work, I need them to be inspired to collaborate, but in addition have selections up and down the ground to work in privateness and luxury when wanted. Our workspace accomplishes that,” Houston stated. “We now have open workstations, personal cubicles for lounging or consuming, loads of seating areas, some by the home windows the place you hear and see the streetcar, or you possibly can take a break on the outside balcony that wraps round three sides of the constructing.”
The car parking zone within the rear of the constructing acquired a revamp to adjust to metropolis storm water administration rules. The courtyard has been reimagined to function a gathering house. Impervious concrete was changed with pervious pavers to handle stormwater runoff.
“I like the outside house and exquisite courtyard,” stated Houston. “You get good shade within the afternoon. It’s expansive and welcoming, and we’re going to get lots of use out of it when the climate will get cooler, and we will have social, interactive gatherings.”
The renovation development started in January 2023 with RGGC concluding work round November 2023. BCM staff started working within the constructing in early 2024. Houston stated he enormously appreciated the partnership on the venture with EDR, RGGC, and all collaborators.
“From begin to end, we felt like companions with EDR and RGGC,” stated Houston. “We’re not solely happy with our superb new house and the eye to element of what we envisioned, but in addition happy by the method. They valued the significance of what we wished in our new house, and so they delivered in a well timed, skilled method.”