The Preservation Resource Center recently spent $20,000 of its own money to help stabilize several city-owned historic buildings in Armstrong Park that have sat vacant for years and were damaged during Hurricane Ida in 2021.

The nonprofit organization took on the project, raising the necessary money from its donor base, after the city failed to make basic repairs to protect the 200-year-old buildings from additional damage due to weather exposure.

Now, the group is hoping the city will pick up where they left off, completing repairs and fully restoring the Creole-era structures. But a spokesman for the city of New Orleans said there are “no immediate plans” to continue the work on the buildings.

The project comes as the city is trying to figure out a long-term plan for Armstrong Park, centered on future uses for the Morris F.X. Jeff Municipal Auditorium, which sits on the edge of the property. Earlier this fall, city spokesman Gregory Joseph said Mayor LaToya Cantrell planned to seek proposals before the end of the year for a master developer who could turn the auditorium and surrounding grounds into a multi-use entertainment, educational, commercial and cultural venue.

But that solicitation has yet to be issued and Joseph cannot say what’s behind the delay. He did say the city hopes the historic buildings can be included in discussions about the future of auditorium and the park.

Historic significance

The four buildings are clustered near the St. Philip Street entrance to Armstrong Park and, for a time after Hurricane Katrina, were the site of a planned Jazz National Park that never materialized.

They include Perseverance Hall No. 4, which was built in the 1820s as a Masonic Lodge for Creoles of Color and later became a jazz hall, and a kitchen dependency built a decade later. Known as the Kitchen Building, the structure served as WWOZ’s Treehouse Studio from 1980-2005.

Two other Creole-era homes–the dePouilly-Rabassa House and the Reinman House–were relocated to the park in the 1970s to create a walled cluster of historic buildings, according to the PRC.

“The buildings are very historically significant,” PRC Executive Director Danielle del Sol said. “Perseverence Hall and the Kitchen Building are the only two buildings left in the original Treme footprint.”

All four buildings were already suffering from neglect when Hurricane Ida hit in September 2021. But the Kitchen Building sustained the most significant damage in the storm. A large window shattered, which caused an entire section of wall to collapse, leaving the second floor and attic exposed to the elements.

Damage to the other three buildings was less severe, including broken windows and broken or missing weatherboards.

When the PRC became aware of the damage, the organization asked city officials if they had plans to mitigate the damage or make further repairs. The city said no, so the PRC asked if they could step in.

 “We didn’t get any pushback but there was a lot of bureaucracy,” del Sol said. “Ultimately, I think they were grateful. We just hope our interest in fixing the site underscores that people care – it’s not just the residents of Treme, but many people want to see the building restored. By investing our own money and stabilizing the kitchen I hope we made a statement to the city that these buildings matter.”

Visions for the auditorium

Treme activist Jackie Harris, who heads the Save Our Souls neighborhood coalition, said her organization is pleased the PRC took on the project and would ultimately like to work with the group. At the moment, however, S.O.S. is more focused on the city’s future plans for the auditorium.

Since S.O.S. helped torpedo Cantrell’s plans to relocate City Hall to the auditorium in 2021, the group has been working with the administration on the broad outlines of its vision for the auditorium, Harris said.

It has also been meeting with the city to develop a cooperative endeavor agreement that would essentially guarantee the coalition a seat at the table in any future planning efforts.

So far, however, that agreement and a call for proposals has yet to materialize. Neither Harris nor Joseph in the mayor’s office could say what is behind the delay or when the project might move forward.

Separately, the city asked contractors to submit qualifications in October for $37 million of remediation work on the long-shuttered auditorium. That work will include things like roof repairs, replacing windows, weatherization and installing a new heating and air conditioning system. The contract will be paid for with $37 million in post-Katrina FEMA funds that were tied up in litigation for years.