The dilapidated and historic Club Desire. Photo: Preston Lauterbach, from his book, “The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road To Rock ‘N’ Roll”.”

The Upper 9th Ward building that formerly housed the iconic Club Desire is slated to be demolished, following a city ruling that the crumbling structure is a hazard. As it has suffered extensive fire and water damage on top of decades of neglect, the renovations necessary to save the building would at this point prove to be exorbitantly expensive.

In hopes of combatting the decision, concerned citizens have organized a FEMA meeting for Tuesday, July 21st, with the campaign slogan “Save Club Desire.” Given the extent of the damage, New Orleans’ Preservation Resource Center (PRC) personnel are not too optimistic that anything can be done.

“Maybe if there were tax credits, something like this would be possible for the city,” said PRC Director of Education and Outreach Suzanne Blaum, who OffBeat talked to recently about her historically-minded Jazz Houses project. “It’s sad, [the building] is probably past the point where it can be able to be saved. But then again… who’s to know?”

The defunct club, located at 2604 Desire Street, figured hugely into the city’s jazz history and rich African American heritage.

It hasn’t been in operation since the 1970s. Three quarters of a century back, however, Club Desire was buzzing to the tunes jazz and R&B greats. Billie Holiday, Fats Domino, and Dave Bartholomew were just the tip of the iceberg.

Marguerite Doyle Johnston—a longtime neighborhood resident close since childhood with the club’s former owner, Augusta James (Johnston’s late “Ti Gusta” was a niece of club founder Charles Armstead)—spearheaded efforts back in 2008 to try and save the building. The city was ultimately unable to provide funding for the project.

“I’ve tried for years to save the building,” said Johnston. “I wanted to preserve it as a community center, or a museum. Because this is your jazz giants. Where they got their start.”

According to Johnston, the club was originally a cafe. She recounted that African American men working on the tracks of the fabled “Streetcar Named Desire” would go in for breakfast or lunch during the work day, lamenting the fact that there was nowhere downtown where black people could go to hear live music at affordable prices.

“So, what [cafe owner] Armstead did,” Johnston explained, “was he bought some land that was right next door to the coffeeshop and expanded it into the club.”

She fondly remembers Club Desire’s beautiful interior, the tables and chairs in front of a raised stage, and the lofty second-tier balcony.

She also remembers an old sign she’d glimpsed inside, before the abandoned building became condemned.

“It said ‘Club Desire’ on top, and then underneath, ‘A Downtown Club with Uptown Ideas.’ Wish I’d grabbed that sign.”

The FEMA meeting will take place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21st (tomorrow) at 1100 Robert E. Lee Boulevard. You can visit their facebook page here.