A Historic Home, A Lasting Legacy
Professor Emeritus John Klingman has arranged to leave his architecturally significant New Orleans home to Tulane through his estate plans, creating a lasting resource for the Tulane University School of Architecture and Built Environment.
Through a planned gift arranged with Tulane’s Office of Gift Planning, Klingman will leave his 1898 Garden District home at 1309 Harmony Street to the school. The first house designed by renowned New Orleans architect Emile Weil and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the home will serve future generations of students, visiting faculty and guest lecturers.
After retiring in 2018, Klingman began thinking about how his own home and the architectural legacy it represents could continue serving the school long after his lifetime.
In addition to the home itself, Klingman’s estate plans include resources for its ongoing care, helping ensure the university can preserve and maintain the historic property for the future.
For Klingman, the decision was a natural extension of the more than thirty-five years he has spent teaching architecture students to view New Orleans itself as a living laboratory.
He began considering the possibility after fellow faculty member Stephen Paul Jacobs arranged a similar estate gift of his Carrollton-area home to Tulane. “I noticed that it’s worked out really well for the school,” Klingman said. “The school uses it for events. Visiting faculty stay there; sometimes lecturers stay there.”
After retiring in 2018, Klingman began thinking about how his own home and the architectural legacy it represents could continue serving the school long after his lifetime.
Working closely with Debbie Marx, Associate Vice President of Advancement, Klingman developed an estate plan that reflects both his personal wishes and his commitment to Tulane.
Klingman will continue to own and enjoy his home during his lifetime. Through his estate plans, ownership will transfer to Tulane after his passing, allowing him to preserve the home’s future while continuing to live there.
He posits that the Harmony Street home will provide an authentic New Orleans experience for visiting faculty and scholars.
For a school that recruits faculty and scholars from around the world, the experience for visitors would be memorable, Klingman believes.
“It’s two and a half blocks from St. Charles, so even if you didn’t have a car, you could ride the streetcar up to campus and ride the streetcar back,” he said. “What could be more New Orleans?”
His planned gift illustrates how thoughtful estate planning can preserve places that matter while advancing the mission of the university. By working with Tulane’s Office of Gift Planning, Klingman was able to ensure that his home will continue inspiring architects, students and visitors for generations.