Voices of New Orleans
The Ones Who Returned Are Giving the City its Second Chance.
By Jennifer Farwell | Online Only | Sept. 1, 2006
Alyson Elder's double-shotgun house retains many of its original features, including stained-glass windows, and she is committed to restoring it.
Credit: Jennifer Farwell
In a city that measures history in centuries rather than decades, Alyson Elder's house isn't "old." At 90-something years, her home on Vincennes Place is a baby by New Orleans' standards, but that didn't affect her determination to save it. "Ten days after the storm, we snuck in. I came and sat down in the muck, and I said, 'I am not leaving you,'" Elder says of the house she loves. "I told her, 'You haven't been abandoned. Just hold on. Stay with me.'"
When Elder speaks, she sounds more like a woman recalling a dear friend's illness than a homeowner recounting a disaster of historic proportions. And she's not alone. Across New Orleans, homeowners are restoring and renovating their homes, showing a passion and pride of place that surprised even dedicated preservationists. "We have been so inspired by the determination of homeowners to restore these houses and bring back their neighborhoods," says Patricia Gay, director of the Preservation Resource Center (PRC), New Orleans' nonprofit historic preservation society and a National Trust partner.
Some of New Orleans' most beautiful houses, like this one in Central City, are in blighted areas with little hope of recovery.
Credit: Jennifer Farwell
According to recent PRC estimates, homeowner return rates in some of the badly flooded areas may eventually be as high as 85 percent. Such is the case in Elder's neighborhood, just outside Broadmoor. This center-city district, traditionally considered New Orleans' "bottom of the bowl" for its low-lying ground, began rebounding rapidly after city officials told residents they would have to prove their neighborhood's viability or it would become greenspace.
"We did it with our blood, sweat, and tears," says Elder, "because every one of them has hit the ground at some point." To date, Elder and her husband have spent $210,000—far more than their insurance settlement—shoring, replacing, and renovating everything "right this time." They have discovered and preserved unknown architectural details, such as arched windows and a brick fireplace surround, that had been covered during subsequent modernizations. "Many times, I have said, 'What am I doing?'" Elder says. "But then I ask myself, 'What am I going to show my grandchildren about New Orleans, a bunch of modular houses?"
A New Education
Elder's story is replicated throughout the city, where saws and hammers are sometimes the loudest noises. Nevertheless, says Sarah Bonnette, spokeswoman for the PRC's Operation Comeback (a pre-existing neighborhood restoration program), some rebuilding can cause more damage than floods. "We've seen far too much architectural integrity taken out of homes by people who were well-intentioned," she says. "We've tried to educate homeowners and volunteers that they do not always need to gut to the bare studs. A lot of this old plaster and wood can survive the water."
The PRC is also working to remove from the city's "red-tag" list all of the historic houses in National Register Historic Districts (which represents the majority of the New Orleans' area, some 38,000 properties). "When we started this process, we surveyed 370 red-tagged buildings-those the city deemed posed a public safety threat," Bonnette says. "So far, we've succeeded in moving about a dozen off the list, and we are currently working on about 50 more that the state historic office has identified as eligible [still able to contribute historically or architecturally to the district]. Anyone we can get off the list, we celebrate the victory."
The National Trust is partnering with the PRC to rehabilitate houses like this Creole in New Marigny.
Credit: Jennifer Farwell
When the PRC cannot move a house off the list, it tries to obtain an order for deconstruction, which means someone can dismantle the house to salvage architectural elements, or at minimum, for pictorial documentation. "It's not as much as we would like, but it's better than nothing," she laments. "The fight in terms of preventing demolitions is far, far from over."
The PRC is also working to reduce the number of voluntary demolitions (homeowners' requests for FEMA funds). "A lot of them don't know they can repair rather than tear down," says Bonnette, "so the PRC is educating them." In conjunction with the National Trust's New Orleans Field Office, Bonnette says, the PRC sends volunteer architects and structural engineers to inspect houses to determine whether or not they can be rehabilitated.
Saving a Neighborhood
Those inspections have proved a boon to preservationists throughout the city. Citizens and neighborhood groups are also using the services of city-provided architects and planners to fight on behalf of their neighborhoods. Beth and Carl Bergman, who live in the Mid-City area close to downtown, say these services may save their home.
The Bermans are fighting to save their house—and their whole neighborhood—from the onslaugt of post-Katrina progress.
Credit: Jennifer Farwell
Their elevated house at 216 S. Prieur did not flood, and insurance covered re-roofing, rewiring, and other repairs. The threat arose after Katrina, when they learned on the news that LSU (Louisiana State University) and the VA (Veteran's Administration) planned to build new facilities in an area that included their block.
"Once we got over the shock," says Beth Bergman, she called a school official. "When I asked him, 'Is it true?' he said, 'I would repair your house to live in, but I wouldn't do any capital improvements.'"
Bergman and their neighborhood group, Phoenix of New Orleans, joined other local civic groups to challenge the school's plans. The new group, Tulane-Gravier Planning Council, used the services of city-provided architects to develop an alternate plan for LSU that spares their neighborhood, and they are employing information from PRC-provided architects (along with city maps and directories) to prove the area's historic value. (The Bergmans say their home dates to at least 1908 and that a school nearby—possibly one of the earliest in the area—dates to 1879). They have presented their plan to—and gotten support from—representatives of other medical organizations involved in rebuilding decisions, and at press time were meeting with school officials.
Unnecessary Losses
The Bergmans' problem is not unique, and it is far from the last threat New Orleans will see in the next few years. Thanks to strong local historic districts, demolitions on the city's high ground have been practically non-existent, and the Historic Districts Landmarks Commission (HDLC) reports it has issued 2,000 so-called certificates of appropriateness, indicating a flurry of post-Katrina activity.
Furthermore, publicity surrounding New Orleans' plight has increased awareness of and support for the city's history. Perhaps the biggest victory came recently when developers scuttled plans to build a large hotel on the edge of the French Quarter. The Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents and Associates, Inc. (VC-PORA), the preservation group that in the 1930s was the impetus for saving the French Quarter, had previously lost two bouts with city council in its fight against the proposal. However, a new cadre of more preservation-minded councilpersons saved the day.
Nevertheless, residents of areas without local historic district status are worried about demolition abuses. Approval is required for work on or demolition of houses in local historic districts, but most flooded neighborhoods, including the Bergmans' and Elder's, are not within these districts. Elliott Perkins, the HDLC's acting executive director, is sympathetic to these resident's plight but helpless. "The only way we are adding any new districts right now is if they come with their own staff," he says.
This former French Quarter Victorian, which is being rebuilt, fell prey to an unauthorized demolition.
Credit: Jennifer Farwell
Even in the venerable French Quarter, damage has occurred. Recently, a Victorian-era house at 1025 Orleans was demolished without permission before anyone realized what was happening. "Even before they slashed the budgets after Katrina, these commissions were understaffed," says Nathan Chapman, president of VC-PORA. "Now we depend on volunteers to keep an eye out for abuses. If we had more inspectors, we might have been able to do something."
Some could take advantage of the city as it rebuilds. "My biggest fear is that developers will dangle million-dollar projects as long as they can have all the rules rescinded," Chapman says. "And the city will be so desperate that it will go along with it." When asked how a city that by all estimates will contract in size can support so many historic structures (some of which were blighted before the storm), Chapman, Gay, and others are unflaggingly optimistic. "I am hoping since we are losing a lot of housing, maybe we will take another look at these old empty buildings and look at them as a resource," Gay says.
Back in Mid-City, Paul Bergman has the same hope. "It's a wonderful opportunity for young people who are willing to work and fix up things. You can have your old house and this fantastic city." Elder, who is hoping to finish her renovation by Christmas, says that despite the some frustrations, she is committed to her home, her neighborhood, and her city. "This place has seen so many people come and go," Elder says. "It has so much soul. It deserves a second chance."
Jennifer Farwell is an expatriate New Orleanian currently living in Athens, Ga. She hopes to return to her city to help with the restoration efforts next year.
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