Environment
With Demolitions, Architectural Remnants at Risk in New Orleans
(archrecord.construction.com - 05/02/2006)
By Angelle
Bergeron
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| Photo: © Angelle
Bergeron |
About 30 years ago, when Joyce and Pat
Blaize put an addition on the Plaquemines Parish home that
had been built by Pat’s grandfather, they searched all
over Uptown New Orleans for cypress trim. Recently, the couple
looked on while a grapple hook tore apart their Katrina-ravaged
two-story, wood-frame house the area. The millwork, pine floorboards,
wallboard and lumber that formed their home are now in a landfill,
in the company of thousands of tons of hurricane debris.
Historic preservationists and salvage
workers are now fighting to keep thousands of tons of building
materials from being heaped onto landfills, stolen, or otherwise
lost. At stake are period doors and trim, floor-to-ceiling
shutters that covered countless shotgun-house windows, wood
trim, hardware, plumbing, light fixtures, and other materials.
And, because the lumber from which these homes were built
is of significantly higher quality than is available today,
it may be worth saving.
Since it is unclear whether forthcoming
legislation will address architectural salvage, it appears
most residents are taking the issue into their own hands.
Rather than wait for guidelines to protect structures and
their elements, some residents are actively pursuing preservation
before their homes are gutted, demolished or picked apart
by thieves. David Adams, spokesman for the New Orleans Police
Department, indicates that no arrests have been made in association
with theft of architectural elements, and it appears that
catching such thieves is not a high priority in a department
that is overwhelmed by much more serious problems.
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To New Orleans locals like Nathan Favaroth,
it seems like it’s a race between the debris removal
crews and the criminals to see who will get a bigger chunk
of his home first. “The guy was picking up stuff with
a bulldozer and tore that up,” he says, pointing to the
broken stoop of his 100-year old Lower Ninth Ward home. Angry
that two decorative metal registers were stolen, Favaroth
spray painted the side of his house with a message, daring
the criminal to take the remaining one. “Everybody’s
taking advantage of what they can,” he said, shaking
his head.
David Reynolds, who is the assistant
director of The Green Project, a local, non-profit that salvages
recyclable materials, says he has heard of people removing
truckloads of architectural elements from the area, even though
the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry issued
a quarantine on wood in the hurricane affected areas of the
state to prevent the spread of termites. “I think, in
fact, there are thousands and thousands of architectural elements
leaving daily but, officially, there is an embargo,”
he says.
“What really make me ill are the
well-meaning kids who are trying to help and are ripping the
souls out of these houses,” says Sue Sperry, also with
the PRC. Apparently, some volunteers have been instructed
to gut houses down to the studs. During Spring break, when
the city received an influx of volunteers from church organizations
and college campuses, tons of historic elements were placed
curbside, Sperry adds.
For its part, the PRC has been working
through neighborhood associations to educate homeowners about
the value of historic materials, and its members have been
sifting through curbside debris and storing treasures in the
PRC warehouse for future renovations. The Green Project is
working to expand its role as salvager and reclaimer to include
deconstruction, in which unsalvageable homes are taken apart
piece by piece. This alternative to demolition employs more
people, slows the waste stream to landfills and provides affordable
materials for those in the community who are rebuilding. It
also makes it possible to create visible, finished elements,
such as flooring, cabinetry and interior trim, from formerly
invisible elements like framing and roof decking, explains
Reynolds.
Katrina cost the Green Project its headquarters
building and inventory, but helped it capture the attention
of Mercy Corps, an international relief organization, which
gave them support and personnel through the Rebuilding Center,
a non-profit based in Portland, Oregon. The Rebuilding Center
employees taught Green Project employees how to dismantle
a house piece by piece, salvaging all the reusable materials,
says Preston Browning, Mercy Corps’ reclaim program manager.
To date, The Green Project has only
deconstructed a handful of buildings, Reynolds says. The agency
has five new employees and the capacity to deconstruct one
home a day, but most houses slated for demolition are still
headed for landfills. “FEMA, the Corps and the City are
all open to deconstruction but, once they schedule a demolition,
they want them done in 10 to 12 weeks,” Browning says.
“The Green Project couldn’t keep up.” Mercy
Corps is organizing a coalition of interested salvage companies
and contractors for a deconstruction training session sometime
in May.
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