Hands-On Preservation Workshops

Starting in November, just a few months after Hurricane Katrina, Architecture for Humanity gave a grant to Heritage Conservation Network
in an effort to help prevent the loss of Gulf Coast homes to mold. The
goal of hte project was to provide training and assistance to
homeowners and volunteers in gutting and de-molding homes in order to
ensure that the homes would be restored with an eye toward
preservation. Heritage Conservation Network began planning for hands-on
building conservation workshops in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi and New
Orleans, Louisiana in November of 2005. The workshops were in response
to requests for assistance from two areas that received massive damage
from Hurricane Katrina. Work began in Bay St. Louis on January 1, 2006
and in New Orleans on January 8. HCN held workshops throughout the
month of January and March 4-11 to assist owners of damaged historic
homes, dating from c.1890-c.1955. Many thanks to all the volunteers who
made this possible. Thanks also to Rachel Breunlin of the Neighborhood Story Project and Tracy Nelson for providing guidance and assistance throughout.

New Orleans:

In
New Orleans, seven structures were initially identified for assistance.
Thirty-five participants attended HCN workshops. An extreme effort was
made to find leaders for each workshop in order to be able to provide
technical assistance in the rebuilding. We were able to identify two
leaders for New Orleans and two for Bay St. Louis, so the majority of
work undertaken was basic gutting and cleaning out. Since this was the
type of work needed at that time, the workshops progressed well.

Of
the seven structures initially slated for work in New Orleans, three
were cleaned out by workshop participants and are largely ready for
rebuilding. Assessments were completed by Sishir Chang, from
Minneapolis, Minnesota, who volunteered his time and paid most of his
own expenses. One preservation specialist, Rob Cagnetta, was found to
lead work for a 10 day period. He led Southern Foodway Alliance
volunteers for two work-weekends at Willie Mae’s restaurant and home,
and led HCN volunteers at the Rockwood House for a five-day period. One
volunteer with construction skills, Bruce Sowalski, worked at the
Trevigne house the weekend prior to the first workshop and took on the
task of organizing the work. Other workshops were facilitated by
student leaders or by the homeowners themselves.

The exterior Rockwood House after the storm Photo: Cameron Sinclair/Architecture for Humanity	Making repairs to wood flooring Photo: Patricia Corral/Heritage Conservation Network
Preparing drawings of the Rockwood house Photo: Patricia Corral/Heritage Conservation Network	Clearing debris from Oriene house Photo: Mark LoRusso
Oriene house gutted and ready to rebuild, January 2006 Photo: Mark LoRusso	Crayfish dinner for workshop participants Photo: Mark LoRusso

Workshops
were held the second through fourth weeks of January with participants
working Monday through Friday helping with clean up and the removal of
damaged materials.
Participants numbered 10 the first week, 7 the
second week as well as Rob Cagnetta and his assistant, and 3 the third
week. They were housed at Joe & Flo’s Candlelight Hostel.

Trevigne House
– This house was completely cleaned out and all damaged materials
removed by volunteers. The interior is ready for rebuilding. The issue
of whether or not the house must be raised and by how much has not yet
been resolved.

Saloy House –
This house was gutted and cleaned by a professional crew paid for by
the owner. The interior is ready for rebuilding once the issue of
raising it on the foundation is resolved. The owner would like
assistance with the rebuilding from volunteers led by a preservation
specialist if possible.

Dobard House –
It was determined during the assessment that this house was too badly
damaged for volunteers to undertake the work of cleaning and rebuilding.

Michon House –
This house was cleaned out and damaged materials removed by volunteers
from a church group. Rob Cagnetta assessed several damaged areas of the
house and offered the owner advice. HCN connected John Abbas with the
Michon’s, and he has helped them on weekends through January.

Rockwood House –
This owner had begun the job of clean up and removal of damaged
materials on her own. Volunteers worked under the leadership of Rob
Cagnetta for one week and under the guidance of the owner for two
weeks, and clean up was completed. Rebuilding work is planned here for
March as the owner has received a Small Business Loan to cover the cost
of materials and labor.

Willie Mae’s –
This project was manned by volunteers from the Southern Foodways
Alliance, who were scheduled to work for five 3-day work-weekends. Rob
Cagnetta led work during the first two weekends, and gutting was
completed with only the basic structural elements left. It was felt
that volunteers should not work beyond this point because of the nature
of the work needed going forward, so SFA volunteers spent the remaining
weekends cleaning out D. Chase’s restaurant under the leadership of
preservation carpenter, Howard Howtz.

Bay St. Louis:

At
Heritage Conservation Network's request, assessments were completed on
the selected houses by teams under the leadership of Brian Robinson of
Savannah College of Art and Design and APTI. These teams were in the
area completing assessments on a number of structures.

Bay
St. Louis residents requested that Heritage Conservation Network
volunteers assist with salvaging valuable historic materials—such as
cypress doors, heart pine flooring, etc.—from the huge piles of debris
created by the tidal surge. David Reynolds of the Green Project directed twenty-five participants working over a five -week
period to sort and stack historic and newer materials for use in
rebuilding. For three weeks, HCN volunteers worked near the corner of
Washington and Hancock Streets where the remains of a number of houses
were deposited. The last week of January and the first week of March,
volunteers moved to nearby properties to recover materials before
bulldozers arrived to finish the demolition.

Workshops
were held each week in January with participants working Monday through
Friday salvaging architectural materials to be used in rebuilding.
Materials were both historic and modern, but the emphasis was on saving
wood products such as cypress and heart pine. For the first three
weeks, participants worked on two lots on Washington Street near the
corner of Hancock. The corner lot, owned by David Reynolds, had
materials from a number of houses deposited here. The fourth week
permission was granted to save materials from “twin” houses damaged
beyond repair on the corner of Hancock. One day several volunteers
assisted Joy Mehrten, 606 Hancock, in removing historic bead board from
interior walls. This will allow her to remove wet insulation and then
re-attach the bead board.

Participants
numbered 3 the first week, 3 the second with a group of 20 coming to
work for one day, 2 the third week, and 7 the fourth. The group the
first week was housed at Ellis Anderson’s and those in the following
weeks stayed at I Care Village in Buccaneer State Park, Waveland. Dave
Reynolds met each group on Monday morning and directed them on how to
select materials to be saved and how to stack and store them. He
returned several mornings during the week to work with participants and
answer questions.