When a local contractor contacted Central City Millworks about replicating existing casework as part of a hotel renovation, we knew that our CNC router would allow us to replicate the radius parts without any trouble.

Once correctly programmed by our CNC (Computer Numerical Control) programmer, Daniel Bell, the CNC router can cut each casework piece as a clone with exact precision. This technological advantage provides highly accurate production with significant time and cost savings.

As a result of our automated processes, local contractors choose Central City Millworks to fabricate items that would otherwise be technically difficult to produce or items in quantity that would otherwise be time intensive to produce.

While CCM is popular with local contractors, we regularly work with individual homeowners on their smaller projects. So, whether you are a local contractor or a homeowner…

Contact us today about replicating your existing millwork, or bring us your own design that we can help you create!

Central City Millworks provided “dirty” (rustic) custom heart pine flooring and casework for Merchant, a New Orleans wine bar and coffee shop located in the CBD.

When Ammar Eloueini of AEDS (Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio) and Edifice Builders came to Central City Millworks for help implementing  a design concept for the Merchant cafe that  focused on “dirty” top pine flooring and casework cladding, we knew that we were the perfect company for the job. And, finishing an interior space with the exterior “dirty” face of our reclaimed pine was an exciting prospect.

CCM’s reclaimed flooring department produces high quality heart pine flooring in grades varying from a premium grade quarter-sawn red, to a rustic antique yellow.

For Central City Millworks, it is not only an environmental but also a financial imperative to get the most use out of our reclaimed products. We pride ourselves in finding use for as much of the waste products of our operation as possible (saw dust, rippings, beam skins).

The black melamine casework designed by AEDS was cut with CCM’s CNC router to insure optimum material use and precision construction. The cabinets, once assembled, were clad in “dirty” top pine provided by our flooring department. The material was surfaced to thickness and jointed for a clean application in the field. The result pictured above accomplishes the juxtaposition of clean straight lines with a “dirty” rustic finish.

As a final touch, CCM fabricated a table and benches for the interior of the restaurant with the same materials.

(Quote and photo below from an article at NewOrleans.com)

“Coffee, crepes, grapes” is the tagline for Merchant, a new café in the ground floor of The Maritime building in the Central Business District. Merchant will serve beer and wine by the glass, quartino (quarter bottle), and bottle soon, but coffee may be the real star here.

Merchant is now open for business

On August 24, 2010, Central City Millworks received a Gold Medal Building of America Award for our historic renovation of Andrew Wilson Elementary School at 3617 General Pershing in New Orleans:

We are pleased to announce that from hundreds of submissions in your region, Andrew Wilson School has been selected to win a Gold Medal Building of America Award and is scheduled to be a featured case study on the Building of America homepage. Your company has been referred by HMS Architects, Inc. as one of the most reliable team members behind the project’s success….


The Building of America Network showcases the most innovative, unique and challenging new projects — projects that are particularly noteworthy and/or give back to their respective communities.

This historic school was damaged during Hurricane Katrina, and the existing structure was completely renovated by the New Orleans division of Walton Construction, ranked among the top contractors in the United States by Engineering News Record.


Central City Millworks was selected to supply the millwork (interior historic school house doors with transoms, interior windows, molding, hardware, miscellaneous millwork, and all finish installations), and proved instrumental in the completion of projects on schedule and within budget.

The images below are part of a slideshow that highlights this and other historic preservation projects that we have completed:

We mentioned in a previous post that Central City Millworks and Hal Collums Construction recently won an Award of Merit from the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Here are a few finish photos from that award winning project.  If you would like additional information about the project please feel free to read the blog post on HCC’s New Orleans Construction website.

View from the entrance

Art gallery expansion

View facing entrance of gallery

Rear office/display area

Make sure to read the post about this Chihuly on the HCC site

Custom cabinets and additional storage

Central City Millworks and Hal Collums Construction teamed up to bring the artistic vision of Wayne Troyer Architects into reality. The completed work impressed the Louisiana chapter of the American Institute of Architects sufficiently for them to present an Award of Merit for the project.

In their Fall 2009 issue of the AIALA News, the association stated:

The primary concern in the gallery design was to highlight historic elements, while providing a clean, crisp surface on which to display artwork. Retention revelation of masonry walls and wood columns provide the unique sense of time and place in New Orleans, while new materials create an understated drama in which to showcase installations.

The main gallery features floating gypsum display walls: Existing masonry is exposed along the top, bottom, and sides, adding perceived spatial depth and the impression that the gallery itself may be an installation. Concealed lighting runs above a knife-edged cove, with a recessed track below. Existing heavy timber columns—once an elevator shaft—are a focal point at the entry: stretched Dacron sail material between the columns is backlit for dramatic effect from the street.

A seamless, poured resin floor knits all programmatic elements together, flowing continuously throughout the space. At the passageway between old and new galleries, a surround of backlit resin panels signals a transition, contrasting against the weight of the exposed masonry wall and smooth gypsum. Sliding translucent panels provide privacy for support spaces (without adding visual weight to the gallery) and reinforce spatial continuity.

The Port Sulphur Government Building received significant damage during hurricane Katrina in 2005, and renovations began in 2007. The architect selected for this renovation was Yeates & Yeates Architects, LLC. and the job was awarded to DBR/ DRC General Contractors. Central City Millworks, a New Orleans millworks company, was chosen as the contractor, and began production in early 2008.

After a long shop drawing process we were finally able to capture and portray the vision of the architect.  Upon approval we were ready to begin the project.  We first removed every window sash in the building.  59 windows! We brought them back to our New Orleans mill shop, stripped, repaired, patched, primed and sometimes fabricated replacements for each window.  The sashes were then upgraded to a storm rated safety plate glass, glazed in the traditional manner, and reinstalled in full working condition.

Following the window repairs, we began making new storm shutters for every opening, including some of the doors.  We ended up fabricating 64 shutters in total.  These were made to replicate the nonstandard, yet original shutters that were previously on the building.  Unfortunately there were no shutters left to use as a sample, hence the reason for the lengthy shop drawing process.  So much is the case for most of the detail work on this project.

Other missing items that we had to replicate included the front doors and an oculus.  The front doors were especially difficult because the shop drawings came directly from the blueprints from which the building was originally built.  Typically exterior doors nowadays measure 1 ¾” in thickness, but this one measures 2 1/8” thick.  In addition, the panel edges and the rails were on different planes of the stiles.  We constructed them in a very nontraditional way so much so that we can only wonder if the original door were even built exactly like those original plans. Regardless, we figured it out and were able to please two architects in the process!

The palladium transom is right above the doors in the center of the photo

The palladium transom above the doors was originally not included in the bid, but the decision was made for us to fabricate a new transom from white oak to better match the doors.  Well, we ended up not only making a new transom, but we made it to fit the original glass sizes.  This meant that we had to include all of the imperfections of the original and truly recreate it exactly like the original. Needless to say it was very fun…. and challenging.

Please enjoy the following posts and photos of our millwork job in Port Sulphur:

White Oak Paneled Lobby

Custom Cabinet Pass Through

Attic Oculus

Custom Entry Cabinet

Central City Millworks created this custom pass through window

Additional Port Sulphur Blog Posts:

Central City Millworks Completes Port Sulphur Government Building
White Oak Paneled Lobby
Attic Oculus
Custom Entry Cabinet

We used our CNC router to create this counter

The counter from the front

Additional Port Sulphur Blog Posts:

Central City Millworks Completes Port Sulphur Government Building
White Oak Paneled Lobby
Custom Cabinet Pass Through
Attic Oculus

Additional Port Sulphur Blog Posts:

Central City Millworks Completes Port Sulphur Government Building
White Oak Paneled Lobby
Custom Cabinet Pass Through
Custom Entry Cabinet