Tulane School of Architecture Historic Preservation

02/10/2026

Did you know that Tulane has the largest collection of post larval fish in the world? More than 8 million specimens are held within a landscape of WWII era ammunition storage bunkers in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. This semester’s Graduate Preservation Research Studio, led by Professor Aarthi Janakiraman, traveled there yesterday for the architecture but left with a new-found love of pocket sharks and preservation that reaches beyond the built environment.

The studio’s focus is on WWII era bunkers, specifically in the Caribbean, and they will be traveling to St. Thomas this March to document and explore Water Island and its aging military architecture. Tulane Biodiversity Research Institute’s site contains approximately 22 bunkers, constructed in the early 1940s with heavily-reinforced concrete and built into earthen berms, they mainly stored munitions for U.S. ships during WWII and the Korean War. The students measured sections of the site and documented exteriors through photogrammetry.��

Many thanks to Collections Manager Justin Mann for this enthusiasm and time! To learn more about their work visit: https://www.tubri.org/index.html and for an amazing open-access database containing information from fish collections in natural history museums, universities and other institutions around the world visit: https://www.fishnet2.net/

Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute

01/07/2026

📣 Project Update from the Town of Grand Isle 📣
We’re excited to share that a professional historic preservation team is on Grand Isle this week as part of a newly awarded grant from the Louisiana State Preservation Office.
Through this grant, approximately 2,400 Louisiana Historic Resource Inventory (LHRI) architectural survey forms will be completed throughout the Town of Grand Isle. This important work will help create a strong baseline of documentation that can support future grant opportunities, make it easier to access historic preservation funding, and assist with long-term planning efforts.
The project team includes staff from CICADA, a New Orleans–based architecture and planning firm, and Gambrel & Peak – Historic Preservation Consulting, along with graduate students from Tulane University’s School of Architecture and Built Environment Historic Preservation Program. The project will continue into the summer, with much of the on-the-ground documentation taking place during the next few months.
We appreciate the community’s cooperation as the team works throughout the island, and we look forward to the benefits this project will bring to Grand Isle’s historic and cultural resources. We will keep you updated on this project as it continues.
Tulane School of Architecture Historic Preservation, Louisiana History

11/17/2025

Program alumna, Mia Kaplan featured in the latest edition of Preservation in Print!

Mia Kaplan has made a name for herself as an architect and architectural historian.

⁠In the latest I’m a Preservationist feature in Preservation in Print magazine, Mia shares what drew her to historic preservation, her work to recognize West End Park on the New Orleans lakefront and the latest on the efforts to bring back Lincoln Beach in New Orleans east.⁠

🔗 Read the full interview at https://prcno.org/im-a-preservationist-mia-kaplan/

📸 Photo by Bryan Tarnowski

10/28/2025

Tulane University News and Press Releases

10/24/2025

09/12/2025

07/11/2025

06/04/2025

At Tulane School of Architecture Historic Preservation, our Historic Preservation program offers students an interdisciplinary opportunity to study urban preservation in one of America's most historically rich cities. Recent projects include collaborating with the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation to create a comprehensive database of the state's historic cemeteries

Ready to become a steward of cultural heritage? Explore the Master of Science in Historic Preservation, Graduate Certificate, or undergraduate Minor in Preservation Studies at https://bit.ly/4jZcVhW.

05/08/2025

GRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT | TuSABE and Historic Preservation congratulate Spring 2025 Graduate Allyson Hinz on her assistance with submitting and listing the Oleander Hotel on the National Register of Historic Places!

Located in Grand Isle, Louisiana, the Oleander Hotel was constructed in 1929 and served as the city’s premier lodging destination. The property was influential in the city’s modernity, featuring fine dining and 29 guest rooms with screened porches. While construction was completed at the same time as the highway in 1931, this island attraction exemplified progress by bringing people and various modes of technology, like radios and telephones. 

Allyson’s assistance with the nomination came after the community of Grand Isle reached out to TuSABE’s historic preservation program. “As a small coastal island community with limited resources, their determination to preserve the Oleander Hotel — and in turn, their local history — was incredibly inspiring.” Allyson further states that the overall resilience and commitment “to holding on to what history they can”, despite tropical storms and hurricanes, left a deep impression on her. 

Having the National Register Nomination can help secure funding and resources to restore this great Coastal Vernacular architecture and preserve the communal history within the Grand Isle.  

Congratulations, Allyson! This is a job well done!