National Trust - Excellence in Historic Preservation

New Orleans, Louisiana

The 2014 National Trust/HUD Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation was awarded at the Richard H. Driehaus National Preservation Awards ceremony in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 13, 2014 to Redmellon Restoration and Development for the rehabilitation of 46 scattered historic homes in New Orleans’s Treme Neighborhood.

The Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation recognizes efforts that both advance the nation’s historic preservation goals and provide affordable housing and economic development opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents. The Treme neighborhood is known as the cultural home of the New Orleans’ jazz families and is reflective of the city’s racial and economic diversity. After Hurricane Katrina, many of homes in the Treme neighborhood, including Creole cottages constructed in the mid-19th century and shotgun houses from the early 20th century, became vacant and blighted, and some homes became structurally unstable. To address the blighted housing conditions and provide affordable housing, Redmellon Restoration and Development purchased 26 separate parcels of land, containing 46 homes, within the Esplanade Ridge and Mid-City National Register Historic Districts. Each parcel of land required a separate purchase contract, architectural plan, and schedule of values for the general contractor.

All of the homes included in the Iberville Offsites project were individually eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the restoration of the homes was compliant with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Rehabilitation and Enterprise Green Communities’ standards for sustainable rehabilitation. Restoration work included deconstructing and reconstructing the exterior and interior walls to remove rot and allow for the installation of new insulation. The rehabilitation also involved salvaging historic mantels, muntins, and brackets, removing and replacing hardwood floors, reconfiguring interior spaces to modern standards, and adding energy efficient appliances and features.