the salon on thora Catholic Women Educating and Entertaining Their Community in the Early 20th Century On any given day in the early 1930s, the society page of The Shreveport Journal and The Shreveport Times would be lined with announcements advising the public of the time and location of various club, organizational, and society meetings. The Y.W.C.A., American Legion, Junior League, and Women’s Department Club posted notices about luncheons and fund-raising, but among these ubiquitous socializing-as-charity events, one location would stand out for years as a hub for something more progressive. The house on the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Thora Boulevard is remarkable in design and curbappeal; fitting in with while simultaneously standing out among the flat-front colonials, pitched-roof Tudors, and massive Greek revival manors with which South Highland’s cup – then and now – runeth-over. In a popular section of The Times in the early 20th century entitled,“Shreveport: See It Grow Day By Day,” construction on the house was publicly announced, listing $18,571.00 [roughly $301,079.42 in today’s money] as the cost for permits and building supplies 16
CATHOLIC CONNECTION
and now-famed Shreveporter D. A. Somdal as the architect. The Haddads were faithful practicing Catholics of Marionite descent, but being from “Assyria” or present-day Lebanon, they would have been culturally influenced by Islamic architecture. Undoubtedly, this blend of influences resulted in a home designed to honor the Haddad’s lineage and assimilate to the functional and stylistic design of surrounding homes. There are no grand statues or garish exterior fixtures. The façade resembles Mission Revival architectural design, popular during the time, with its front-facing arcade or corredor featuring a series of contiguous arches. Blending that with the Louisiana style Spanish Colonial architecture, [think LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge or A.C. Steere Elementary in Shreveport] the home is topped with rounded clay roof tiles. The middle-eastern influence is gracefully displayed; each of the three arches forming the arcade are pointed into a sinuous ogee arch, popular in Islamic architecture. Smaller trefoil keyhole arches along the second story add to the structure’s distinctive quality.
