Judge Kaliste Saloom - 1331 Jefferson Street

Architectural Design by George Knapp 1925 1331 Jefferson St ca. 1910. Judge Kaliste Saloom House (now Women’s Center of Lafayette). This bungalow is formerly a single dwelling, now a medical building, featuring elements of the Craftsman style. It is a one-story building set on brick piers and clad in brick and stucco. 

The main roof has multiple gables and is covered in asphalt shingles. A partial-width inset porch is supported by square columns and appears to have been partially filled in, although the original porch outline is evident. There is also a porte cochere located on the left side of the façade. Craftsman elements include decorative braces, strap details in the gable ends, and heavy porch columns on low brick piers. Other architectural elements include double-hung, multi lite wood windows and original Craftsman style doors with sidelights and transoms. This building retains strong integrity of design, workmanship, setting, location, materials, association, and feeling.

Neighborhood Infirmary and sanatorium -- 1317 Jefferson St; ca. 1937. St. Anne’s Infirmary which is now part of Lafayette Community Health, is a hospital building featuring elements of the Italian Renaissance style. It is a one-story building set on a concrete slab and clad in brick and stucco details include cornice lines and quions. Dr Butler was one of the practicing physicians practicing here. The infirmary would treat all patients, Creole, Cajun, Lebanese, etc. equally.

Saloom Store

Oak Avenue is one of the oldest roads in the district, having been used initially by the
Mouton family for access from Ile Copal plantation to the St. John Cathedral, and other meeting places in Vermilionville town. Businesses and residences developed early on Oak Avenue – quite a few of them were Lebanese. During the Huey P. Long administration, decisions were made to pave Oak Avenue from the courthouse to Pinhook, and establish it as a leg of the Old Spanish Trail (Hwy 90). This decision further elevated the status of Oak Avenue into an attractive residential and business thoroughfare. Judge Kaliste Saloom, Jr., whose family was Lebanese, was born in 1918 at his parents’ house near the northeast corner of Oak and Lamar. At that time, the Kaliste Saloom, Sr., home was attached to their corner store.

In 1925, a new home was built next to the store. It was designed by the architect George Knapp (it is currently the “Women’s Center of Lafayette,” at 1331 Jefferson St). Next door to this Saloom family house is the Saint Ann's Infirmary (1317 Jefferson Street), built in 1937 by Asma Boustany Saloom, the widow of Kaliste Saloom, Sr. When it was built, this infirmary became one of the only places where African Americans could receive health care in Lafayette. In the Freetown-Port Rico district, Lebanese families like the Salooms typically crossed racial barriers to equitably serve clients and customers. Lebanese immigration, and the civic roles they played, may indeed have encouraged this district to remain unsegregated and relatively harmonious though the years.