Tear down that wreck? Not if it’s historic
The often-contentious relationship between historic preservationists and private homeowners has flared up here in recent weeks, as activists determined to save the city’s distinct architecture face off against Hurricane Katrina victims who can’t afford to repair architecturally significant homes -- and need a place to live.
On one side are Laureen Lentz and Karen Gadbois, who say it is their “duty” to safeguard the architecture that distinguishes New Orleans: The eclectic mix of ground-hugging Creole cottages with steeply pitched roofs; low-slung, horizontal Arts and Crafts bungalows; ornately trimmed narrow, rectangular “shotgun” houses.
On the other side are homeowners like Rosilyn Anderson and Linda Ireland, who want to demolish their Katrina-ravaged homes and replace them with new modular structures.
In the middle is the city government, which decides what is saved and what can go. The decisions could lead to a lingering landscape of blight.
It’s a question of preservation for the long-term good versus immediate need in the short term, said Richard Campanella, a geographer at Tulane University who has been studying building trends in the city since Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than 123,000 properties here.
“I fully understand and appreciate the predicament,” Campanella said, but his support is fully behind preservation. “Our incredible inventory of distinctive, historic, well-built structures ... form integral parts of expansive neighborhoods.
“This is an extremely valuable resource that should be preserved. This is money in the bank for New Orleans. When you tear down, it’s like a gap in a smile, a tear in a fabric.”
Preservation zeal
Such sentiments spur the preservation zeal of Lentz, a law librarian, and Gadbois, a former textile artist turned full-time community activist.
The pair met through the Internet. Gadbois was upset over the demolition of several buildings in her northwest Carrollton neighborhood that seemed to have little damage. Lentz was raising similar concerns while blogging about the feat of rebuilding her own house, which fell down during Katrina.
A friend suggested the two join forces. And that’s when the website SquanderedHeritage .com that Gadbois started early last year really took off.
Assisted by volunteers, the duo trek through the yards of notable homes that they have discovered from public notices might end up under the wrecking ball.
They peek through windows and wriggle into crawl spaces. Sometimes they trespass inside properties, where a door or window might be open.
“We know that in order to look at a house [properly], it’s best if we go inside,” Lentz said.
She is typically accompanied on her fact-finding missions by a salvage expert.
And even though Lentz acknowledged that preservationists might sometimes misjudge the worth of a building, she believes it’s “better to err on the side of letting [homeowners] appeal,” than risk losing an irreplaceable piece of architecture.
The preservationists take photographs of the properties and post them on their website, often commenting on the significance of a building. Readers can add their views after visiting sites and are encouraged to make their objections known -- as Lentz and Gadbois frequently do -- at public hearings on potential demolitions.
The pair said they hoped readers of their website might help find buyers for properties destined for destruction, offer assistance to homeowners to repair the structures, or salvage material from them.
They say some homeowners are using hurricane damage as an excuse to tear down distinguished properties that they wanted to get rid of even before the storm.
“Some of the demolitions are not related to Katrina,” Lentz said. “They just have a crappy house, and they want to get rid of it.”
“And some of the houses aren’t even crappy,” Gadbois chimed in.
The New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits, the Housing Conservation District Review Committee and the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission can all grant or deny permission for demolition depending on the structure’s location.
The city could not readily provide the total number of demolition permits granted, but it has allocated funds to demolish 10,000 homes by the end of the year.
Some homeowners use private companies to demolish their buildings. Others -- a total of 2,451 since Dec. 1 --have requested help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s free demolition program. So far, FEMA has completed 1,300 such teardowns, according to agency officials.
‘Just get rid of it’
For Gadbois and Lentz, that is too many, and they accuse the city of embracing an unspoken rule that “if a structure is a hindrance to recovery, then just get rid of it.”
C. Elliot Perkins, acting executive director for the Historic District Landmarks Commission, which oversees 16,000 buildings in 13 historic districts of the city, acknowledged that his agency usually encouraged homeowners to repair.
“To act in haste to tear down is irreversible,” Perkins said. “Our buildings define the character of our city. The city relies heavily on tourism for the economy. You can get good food and hear good music in other places. What sets us apart is our architecture.
“It can’t be duplicated.”
Property owners denied permission to demolish can appeal to the City Council, and if necessary file suit in civil district court.
But that’s just more hassle for homeowners like Rosilyn Anderson and Linda Ireland.
Standing on the rickety porch of her green two-story Arts and Crafts-style home in the city’s northwest Carrollton neighborhood one recent afternoon, an exasperated Anderson pointed to the rotted wood siding of the slightly lopsided structure.
Interior walls have separated from windows, floorboards have buckled, and the center of the structure has no support. Rain gushes through holes in the roof.
City building inspectors have condemned the house as unsafe for entry or occupation; the orange notice is still stuck to a front window.
Anderson said she wanted to replace the house with a new modular home because it would cost her less than the $150,000 that several contractors had told her would be the price tag for repairing her old home. Two weeks ago, the Housing Conservation District Review Committee denied Anderson’s request to demolish the house. She plans to appeal.
“We’ve been through enough,” Anderson said. “If there’s anything [historically significant] in there, they can have it.... Just get this trash away from here, and let me get on with my life.”
Sue Taylor, a project manager for New Orleans Demolition Services, which has helped scores of homeowners with their demolitions, said there is “a general feeling of frustration because the city is pressuring people to do something with their property, but then they keep throwing roadblocks.”
Plans derailed
Such obstacles have worn down Linda Ireland.
She said “preservation zealots” helped derail her plans to demolish her storm-damaged shotgun house and replace it with a modular home on the lot.
A resident of the city’s Broadmoor neighborhood for 30 years, Ireland said she would give away the structure to anyone who was willing to remove it.
Failing that, she had planned to tear it down and reuse some of the material in her new home.
But when the activists of Squandered Heritage learned of Ireland’s plans to demolish what Lentz called “a very unique house” in a neighborhood “dominated by modern bungalow style homes,” they quickly took action, posting photos of the structure on their website and encouraging readers to help find a buyer for the property.
Ireland said contractors had told her it would cost about $300,000 to repair the house.
Lentz said desperate homeowners often exaggerate the cost of repairing a building.
But after she lost the fight for a demolition permit, Ireland said she was deflated, humiliated and on the verge of “a nervous breakdown.” She said she was too intimidated to appeal.
But Lentz and Gadbois believe that New Orleanians will thank them in the future.
Historic architecture, said Gadbois, is “an economic generator. It’s why visitors come to New Orleans.”
Added Lentz: “We don’t really want to drive around a bunch of new bungalows.”
