Obituary:  Neil Nehrbass, 66, Cajundome Architect June 2, 1998
Lafayette County Louisiana Archives News
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
N.O.V.A. N.O.V.A. OrleansArchives@hotmail.com July 13, 2005, 10:01 pm
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************

Neil Nehrbass, 66, Cajundome Architect June 2, 1998

Times Picayune June 2, 1998

Neil Martin Nehrbass, who designed the Cajundome and other prominent buildings 
in and around Lafayette, died Sunday at his home in Lafayette. He was 66.

Mr. Nehrbass, who was an architect from 1953 until his retirement in 1991, 
designed many schools, churches and homes in the Lafayette area. Among his 
best-known buildings are the Diocese of Lafayette Chancery Building, the 
Lafayette Natural History Museum and Planetarium, Our Lady Queen of Peace 
Catholic Church and Acadian Elementary School.

He also designed a few buildings in the New Orleans area.

A 1976 article about Mr. Nehrbass in The States-Item said he had been "quietly 
practicing intelligent, humane architecture in south Louisiana" for 20 years 
but remained "practically unknown in his home state, where he is a sure 
contender for 'best architect.' "

It said he had "carved out a comfortable, somewhat eccentric professional 
niche" in Lafayette, "a town founded by his mother's family and where his 
father was the first resident architect."

"Perhaps accustomed to relative obscurity," the article said, Mr. 
Nehrbass "has survived on the personal satisfaction of accepting work he could 
control - to create careful, natural, warm buildings that people enjoy being 
in without knowing exactly why."

Mr. Nehrbass, a lifelong resident of Lafayette, graduated from Staunton 
Military Academy in Virginia and Louisiana State University. He was an Air 
Force veteran of the Korean War.

He was a visiting professor at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and 
Tulane University.

Survivors include his wife, Janet Himbert Nehrbass; two sons, Kim Martin and 
Seth Martin Nehrbass; two daughters, Heidi Nehrbass Alpha and Tanya Nehrbass 
Schulze; a brother, Douglas J. Nehrbass; and 10 grandchildren.

A Mass will be said today at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. John the 
Evangelist in Lafayette. Burial will be in St. John's Cemetery. Delhomme 
Funeral Home in Lafayette is in charge of arrangements.