September 15, 2005
The Washington Post
By ERNEST BECK
THE National Trust for Historic Preservation plans to announce an initiative today to send damage assessment teams to the Gulf Coast region to survey neighborhoods and report on what can be saved, according to Richard Moe, president of the trust. After the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of badly damaged historic buildings on the Gulf Coast are now threatened with demolition. Some local officials are planning to bulldoze entire historic neighborhoods rather than rebuild them, Mr. Moe said in a telephone interview, citing informal reports he has received from the region.
"We want to ring alarm bells," Mr. Moe said. Based on the experience of past disasters, he said, the threat of demolition is serious.
As a first step, volunteer teams of architects and engineers will work with state and local officials, building inspectors and historic preservation groups. The goal, Mr. Moe said, is to gather facts so informed decisions can be made on rebuilding. While some buildings are probably beyond repair, he said, "many more can be saved than what most people think."
Several hundred volunteers are ready to go. The trust, a nonprofit organization in Washington dedicated to saving historic places, has raised several hundred thousand dollars to pay for the program. Part of the money is coming from the J. Paul Getty Foundation in Los Angeles.
Based on preliminary information, many historic buildings, as well as large swaths of neighborhoods with vernacular architecture in New Orleans and Biloxi, Miss., were heavily damaged by winds, floods and looting.
These include designated historic landmark districts and historic houses, as well as privately owned houses built in a traditional style.
Preservation experts agree that there is often a knee-jerk reaction after a catastrophe: level buildings and start anew.
"It's instinctive for people to be overenthusiastic about post-disaster cleaning up and rebuilding," said John Stubbs, the vice president for field projects at the World Monuments Fund, a nonprofit group in New York that works to save imperiled art and architecture.
In such cases, "buildings are lost unnecessarily in places that are famous for their architecture," Mr. Stubbs added, citing reconstruction in Bosnia after the war ended in 1995 and in Mexico City after a 1986 earthquake.
It is expensive to restore damaged buildings. While a commercial operation like a hotel or restaurant may qualify for federal preservation tax credits to rehabilitate a building, individual homeowners usually rely on their insurance. Many in the Gulf Coast did not have adequate coverage for flooding.
"Even if you live in a historic district, it's up to the homeowner," said Peg Breen, the president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private group that advocates the restoration of historic properties. "Either you have insurance or you don't." Special coverage for historic homes is available, but it is more expensive than a regular homeowners policy.
For New Orleans, Mr. Moe said, it is crucial to rebuild traditional architecture on the foundation of what was there, because "architecture represents the culture of New Orleans, more than even food."