Maria Puente: 'New' New Orleans Means Refurbishing Historic Districts
Lots of major American cities have historic districts; New Orleans is the only one that is almost entirely a historic district. So now what?
What happens to the scores of structures that lay submerged in a filthy, toxic soup after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the Crescent City's levees and were flooded again during Hurricane Rita? Can homes be restored, or will they have to be bulldozed for safety? Who decides? Who pays?
Let the wrangling begin.
In the days after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, government was criticized for acting too slowly to rescue people and save lives. Now, as residents return to reopened neighborhoods and teams of historians, architects, preservationists, conservators and insurance adjustors inspect the damage, there's anxiety in some quarters that government will move too quickly to bulldoze huge swaths of the city.
In any other city, this might be no big deal from an architectural standpoint; in New Orleans, it's a really big deal. And not just in the French Quarter or wealthy Uptown and the Garden District, which largely escaped the flooding.
What makes New Orleans New Orleans is le tout ensemble, the whole package, from antebellum Greek Revival mansions to humble little shotgun houses.
"This is the only place in America where the historic neighborhoods aren't the exception, it's the non-historic neighborhoods that are the exception," says Reed Kroloff, new dean of the architecture school at Tulane University.
Preserving the past
The fine details of architecture may have escaped the attention of visitors too intoxicated by the let-the-good-times-roll atmosphere in the French Quarter to notice the singular buildings around them.
"The New Orleans most people experience is Bourbon Street, which is a tragedy because the French Quarter is one of the greatest architectural legacies in America or even the world," says Susan Sully, author of New Orleans Style: Past & Present. "It's the most eloquent expression of a past and exotic way of living in America."
Even though much of the most famous architectural districts survived, there's no time to celebrate, says Patricia Gay, head of the Preservation Resource Center in New Orleans. "What we're worried about is all the houses -- people's homes -- that have been under water for so long. It's block after block of shotgun houses, and that defines New Orleans as much as any building in the French Quarter and is just as worthy of saving."
[Editor's Note: The original piece is much longer. Please see USA Today for more.]
What happens to the scores of structures that lay submerged in a filthy, toxic soup after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the Crescent City's levees and were flooded again during Hurricane Rita? Can homes be restored, or will they have to be bulldozed for safety? Who decides? Who pays?
Let the wrangling begin.
In the days after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, government was criticized for acting too slowly to rescue people and save lives. Now, as residents return to reopened neighborhoods and teams of historians, architects, preservationists, conservators and insurance adjustors inspect the damage, there's anxiety in some quarters that government will move too quickly to bulldoze huge swaths of the city.
In any other city, this might be no big deal from an architectural standpoint; in New Orleans, it's a really big deal. And not just in the French Quarter or wealthy Uptown and the Garden District, which largely escaped the flooding.
What makes New Orleans New Orleans is le tout ensemble, the whole package, from antebellum Greek Revival mansions to humble little shotgun houses.
"This is the only place in America where the historic neighborhoods aren't the exception, it's the non-historic neighborhoods that are the exception," says Reed Kroloff, new dean of the architecture school at Tulane University.
Preserving the past
The fine details of architecture may have escaped the attention of visitors too intoxicated by the let-the-good-times-roll atmosphere in the French Quarter to notice the singular buildings around them.
"The New Orleans most people experience is Bourbon Street, which is a tragedy because the French Quarter is one of the greatest architectural legacies in America or even the world," says Susan Sully, author of New Orleans Style: Past & Present. "It's the most eloquent expression of a past and exotic way of living in America."
Even though much of the most famous architectural districts survived, there's no time to celebrate, says Patricia Gay, head of the Preservation Resource Center in New Orleans. "What we're worried about is all the houses -- people's homes -- that have been under water for so long. It's block after block of shotgun houses, and that defines New Orleans as much as any building in the French Quarter and is just as worthy of saving."
[Editor's Note: The original piece is much longer. Please see USA Today for more.]