In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration oversaw a massive construction/renovation/repair program at Jackson Barracks. In addition to Hufft Hall and Fleming Hall, they constructed several houses along Beauregard Drive.
Beauregard Drive 1937
Some were new construction, and some were heavily renovated hospital support buildings dating to the early 20th century.
After 2005, the damage from Hurricane Katrina was considered too significant to simply repair, but the residences were considered historically significant, so many were rebuilt on the same footprint in the same style, with slight modifications for modern infrastructure and ADA requirements.
Beauregard Drive is named in honor of Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard, a military figure of major importance in Louisiana.
A veteran of the Mexican War, he became the US Army’s chief engineer officer in the New Orleans area. He was involved with several big projects, which include saving the US Custom House from sinking and requiring demolition (It still stands today). He was a significant commander in the US Civil War, ordering the first shots fired at Fort Sumter and later the defense of Charleston and Richmond. He was notably moderate during the tense Reconstruction era, advocating for equal rights and integration while opposing the official Reconstruction government of the state. When local rule returned to Louisiana in 1877, Governor Francis T Nicholls appointed him the 19th adjutant general of Louisiana. This was after Beauregard refused offers to command of the armies of Egypt and Romania. Having lost most of his wealth in the war, Beauregard made his living by working for the state lottery until just before his death. Despite the exposed corruption of lottery officials in the 1890s, he was never implicated in any wrongdoing.