The former Phillis Wheatley Elementary School stood out as a modern glass-and-steel building floating above Creole cottages and Victorian shotgun houses of the Tremé/Lafitte neighborhood of New Orleans. In 1954, the architect Charles Colbert constructed an elevated cantilevered steel truss structure to provide an expansive shaded playground area, protecting the schoolchildren from the tropical climate. Progressive for a school facility at the time, the building was critically acclaimed and its design was exhibited internationally. The building was a valuable example of regional modernism in a city most noted for its 18th- and 19th-century architecture. Though the school did not flood during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Orleans Parish School Board shuttered the building, with decay and vandalism taking their toll on the striking statement of modern design. Despite a spirited public advocacy campaign to restore the building, Phillis Wheatley Elementary School was demolished in June 2011, against expressions of support for preservation from the Society of Architectural Historians and the disapproval of New Orleans’ Historic District Landmarks Commission. (Adapted from the World Monuments Fund website)