Louisiana: The State We're In; 481; Historic Preservation

[silence] Production funding for Louisiana: The State We're In is made possible in part by grants from Kaiser Aluminum and Southern Research Company Incorporated. [Speaker 1] To many people in Louisiana, the mention of historic preservation conjures up images of the French Quarter tourist attractions and historic old mansions. But preservation in Louisiana has become a big business. [Speaker 2] There is an epidemic of preservation and restoration and a desire to go back to the old neighborhoods in New Orleans. And that epidemic on the part of so many has raised the value of the properties in the older neighborhoods. [music] [Beth George] Good evening. I'm Beth George. [Ron Blome] I'm Ron Blome. Welcome to this edition of Louisiana: The State We're In.

This week we'll be taking you to the French Quarter for a look behind the scenes at a renovation project as we examine the business of historic preservation. [Beth George] We'll also introduce you to a master art conservator who's been working to save a New Orleans treasure. And finally we'll hear from a woman in charge of Louisiana's cultural establishment, Culture Recreation and Tourism Secretary Jibby Fox. [Blome] Historic preservation is a multimillion-dollar-a-year business in Louisiana and it's one that's been growing despite today's high interest rates that have crippled most other development. Tonight we take another look at a report we presented last spring on the business of preservation. To many people in Louisiana, the mention of historic preservation conjures up images of magnificent old mansions filled with ornate decorations and tourists. The tourists come by the bus and carload, making the business of historic preservation profitable for those who cater to those in search of history through Louisiana's historic structures.

[Mark Couhig] It's a great business, and it gets better every year. In the last two years, there have been seven old homes open up to take in guests. That brings a lot of people in in itself. There's now a new restaurant that serves to groups. There's another one opening. And as each new attraction opens, we get more business in. [Blome] Mark Couhig and his family been running Asphodel Plantation and restaurant since 1968, and they say that business has been getting better every year as public interest in historic preservation continues to grow. But to believe that historic rehabilitation is limited strictly to the plantation homes open for tourists is to see only a very small part of the picture. Indeed, most of the historic rehabilitation work completed or now under way in Louisiana involves business and residential development. It is development not only encouraged by the desire to preserve something old; it is an investment encouraged by good old American tax incentives. That's one reason why so many old homes are turning up as offices and why others are being made into fancy, high-priced apartments and a reason

why not all of the smart money today is just being invested in the modern towers of steel, glass and concrete that dominate the skylines of our cities. [Henry Lambert] There is an epidemic of preservation and restoration and a desire to go back to the old neighborhoods in New Orleans. And that epidemic on the part of so many has raised the value of the properties in the older neighborhoods. So the price tag has gone up because the demand has gone up, and I hope it continues. [Blome] Henry Lambert is a New Orleans developer who is taking advantage of a 1966 congressional tax law that allows generous investment write-offs in depreciation of historic rehabilitations. Lambert gets the write-offs by participating in a government program aimed at preserving historically significant buildings 50 years old or older. In order to qualify, however, he must meet strict rehabilitation guidelines that are checked by the State Office of Historic Preservation's field representative Gordon McDowell.

[Gordon McDowell] Henry, once you got into this building and started removing some of the bad stucco, did you find any structural problems in this building that you hadn't seen before? The last time I was down here, we were looking. [Lambert] Gordon, remember when we went through this building we found some interior structural problems on the second floor. [McDowell] Right. [Blome] This particular project, the conversion of three shotgun houses in the French Quarter into 12 apartments, represents a $260,000 investment for the property and $300,000 more for the rehabilitation. But since the buildings are in a historic district, the French Quarter, Lambert and his partners can choose between tax options that allow them to write off the entire cost of renovation in five years or accelerate the depreciation on another schedule while taking a 10 percent credit against other taxable income. [Lambert] As far as investors on a long-term basis, I think their investment will be returned and they will show a profit. Initially, as far as tax consequences, anyone who's got a certain amount of cash available it's to their great value that they take advantage of it. Of course, it's to the

great value of society that they do so, too, because as we were explaining, these buildings were greatly deteriorated and they .. one of them, portions of it, were in danger of collapse. They had been vandalized and vacant for years and so today you can see them as they might have been seen in 1870 or as the masonry building around 1830. [Blome] Some might ask then is this merely a rich man's game? Only the rich can get into the historic preservation business? [Henry Lambert] As far as the historic district is concerned, as far as values exist today in the Vieux Carre historic district and as far as the financial market and the cost of money is concerned, unless you find a very good deal it requires somebody who's got a great deal of investment to put down because the loan ratio is not necessarily very favorable.

[Blome] Henry Lambert also wears another hat in the preservation picture. Not only is he a developer, but he serves as the full-time director of the Vieux Carre Commission, a city agency that oversees French Quarter preservation and development. [Henry Lambert] Well, I hope what we've shown here and what twelve other people in 1980 showed by donating their facades to the city of New Orleans and the Vieux Carre Commission is that it's in their interest as well as in the interest of government to preserve these structures. Today preservation is very popular. We don't know how popular it will be in the years to come. Taking advantage of the facade donation technique in the Tax Reform Act, government can assure for all time that these buildings will be preserved and basically in the state that these buildings are here. Like I've given up forever the right for this building not to have a shutter or to have a shutter. aA shutter has to be on this building forever and that the

millwork, as it is designed now before you, has to be maintained like this even if it's been taken away and absent from the building for years. At any point the owner of the facade, namely the city of New Orleans, can come back and say, "That door has to go back on like that design is." So it is in the benefit, to the benefit of society and the city and the governments that are involved in this that they urge everyone to take advantage of these particular tax incentives which are only going to be as of right now in existence for a few more years. [Blome] But in a city like New Orleans, government programs are by no means the only reason behind the historic rehabilitations movement. [Henry Krotzer] The landmarks movement, the preservation movement started in New Orleans right after the First World War in a big, in a big way, saving the French Quarter. The French Quarter was saved first. That was the main thing then later on there were, there were projects to save individual buildings. But in the last 10 to 15 years, it's been really a,

an explosion of residential need that has happened in the city. Most of the work is basically people buying an old house and fixing it up themselves. [Blome] Henry Krotzer is a senior partner in the New Orleans architectural firm of Koch and Wilson, specialists in restoration since the 1920s. The firm has done well adapting old buildings for new uses. Krotzer and his associates approach each building like a doctor inspecting a new patient. Each one is different and clinical commonsense is needed to do the job right. [Krotzer] There is no textbook for this kind of thing that can replace the field experience. Every building, no matter how typical it is of its period, has variations and unusual things in it that make it an individual case history. [Blome] But if the challenges are enormous, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of takers to the restoration task. The trend statewide, not just in New Orleans, is toward more restoration and more recognition of historic value. McDowell, with the State Preservation Office says that across the state there are 25 historic districts and about 300 buildings listed in the

National Register and qualify for tax benefits. And while half the districts are in New Orleans, new districts are being evaluated for cities as diverse as St. Martinville, Crowley, Lake Charles and Shreveport. Why are people doing the restorations? Is it all financial motive? Do they expect to make a profit or is there a loss involved? [McDowell] I run into a myriad of different reasons why people are doing this type of work. A lot of it is image building. A lot of commercial ventures. It is very chic to rehabilitate a building now. It's basically the image. A lot of instances, it is the financial gain that can be made from going in and spending a couple of hundred thousand dollars to rehabilitate half a building, half a dozen small shotguns down the Irish Channel and make 12 units out of them. And people move into them and you can make some financial gain from them. Some of it probably originally, where it came from, is preservation-minded people that just have that civic interest to save what is from the past, and make sure that future

generations have that time with the past. [Blome] The state, the developers and the investors all seem to be quite happy with the new boom in historic preservation. But for some, the consequences are not always welcome. Historic designation of a neighborhood can triple property values and force out lower-income residents who can no longer afford the cost of living in the neighborhood. [Henry Lambert] My answer to that particular concern is that you've got to progress wherever you can. If you can make progress in bringing a substandard house back into the market as a standard house, then you should do that and solve one of the ills of a city. If that ill is not to be solved because you're compounded or confounded by the problem of what to do with the people in the neighborhood, then you're going to end up with two ills. I think there are other steps that city government and other governments are taking to solve the housing problem. But I don't think keeping people in a

substandard neighborhood in a substandard house is the solution to, you know maintaining the housing market. [Blome] Of course, not all neighborhoods that become historic districts will necessarily see property values triple, especially those districts in the smaller towns. And after all, not all of the rewards of this business are financial. [Lambert] It's an enjoyable business. It's an exciting business. It's rewarding because you can see something change before your eyes and see something physical. You can work in an office, even the Vieux Carre Commission office, and work on issues and documents and policies and so forth. But not until you get out into the streets and do something physically can you really achieve the kind of personal satisfaction that you can by doing one of these things. [Beth George] Preserving the past is also the topic of our next report. But the focus is slightly different. It involves a profession that is highly specialized: a conservator of fine art, the person who is called in when a priceless painting is damaged or when a rare artifact is ravaged by

time. The subject of this week's profile is such a person, a Louisianian who is an expert in her field. [bell chiming] A master conservator is at work on the high altar at St. Mary's Assumption Church in New Orleans. It is a tedious and time-consuming job, stripping away the layers of time. For more than a year and a half, 30-year-old Annette Breazeale has been restoring the hand-carved German altar back to its original beauty. For Annette, practicing her art means maintaining and revealing the artistic work of the past. [Breazeale] It's an enormous altar, over 45 feet high. The fact that they shipped this over and reassembled it in the church is quite incredible and it's such a..the quality of craftsmanship is so fine and it's wonderful that we've been able to

find the work of the original German craftsmen still there and safe under these layers of overpainting. In this particular niche behind the statue, we found, I had these numbered. Number four is the way the panel was when I first began. It was painted gray solidly. Underneath this layer we found a layer of goldleaf and lacquer design in red and gold. But underneath that we found the original which is a much finer layer of red lacquer and goldleaf and this is what was done by the German craftsmen in Munich here. This is one of the angels that would have gone in one of the larger niches higher up. When we started the altar, it was painted gold, all of the faces were. And as we're cleaning it we found a beautiful painted face in perfect condition. This has had no retouching. And it's really charming. It has much more life and it's very very fine craftsmanship, again done by the Germans in Munich. [George] Annette's work at St. Mary's

requires not only patience and skill but a background and experience shared by only a handful of conservators across the country. Like the medical profession, each conservator may have a specialty. Annette shares studio and work space with a fellow professional whose specialty is painting and manuscripts, while Annette's specialty is in wood and sculpture. [Annette Breazeale] We are sort of the caretakers of fine works of art, in a sense. We try to take a piece of art or an art object and return it to as close to its original condition as possible without adding too much or almost nothing and then conserve it or hold it, stabilize it in a good condition for the future. [George] What sort of training do you have to do? What was your training like to become..? [Breazeale] Well, I have an undergraduate degree in painting. And then I went to Europe and got a degree in conservation from London, and then I worked for two years in Venice in a museum, Ca' d'Oro Museum in Venice. [George] Are there very many

conservators in this country? [Annette Breazeale] Not too many. Actually there are several graduate programs in this country for conservation, and the programs are expanding and turning out very, very good people. [George] Are you finding that there is more of an interest now that the profession is growing? That people are more sensitive towards..? [Breazeale] Oh certainly, absolutely, and the standards are finally being established, before anyone could set up a shop and call themselves a conservator or restorer. And now there are the techniques of the profession have been very highly refined and the research into the techniques have been highly developed and so it's a much more professional atmosphere. [George] Does it take a lot of scientific training? You're dealing with different materials. Is it is a combination of scientific training, common sense and? [Breazeale] It is. There are three basic aspects of the

profession. You have to have an art history training to know what you're dealing with, to understand what the original artist was trying to do visually. You have to have a scientific background to understand the materials and the chemical makeup of the piece, and you have to have the experience of a crafts person. You have to know how to handle, to carve, to mold, to clean. So you have to have those three skills. [Beth George] There has been a great deal of publicity about the restoration of churches, say, after the earthquakes in Italy and artworks after the floods in Florence. But I would imagine restoring works in Louisiana is something new to a lot of people. Why did you come to Louisiana? [Breazeale] Well, I'm from Louisiana. It's my home and my roots are here. But there are so many beautiful things here: fabulous collections of not only local artwork but also collections from all over the world. Chinese, South American, Russian icons and, of course,

museums here have such fabulous things and all these things need to be maintained. [George] What are some examples of the work that you've been dealing with recently? [Breazeale] Well, I've done some work on the capitals of columns of the Hermann-Grima House in the French Quarter. I've worked on a very early Chinese wooden statue. I have 18th century chinoiserie English clocks, a Dutch Bombay commode, an 18th century American celestial globe. But the variety is incredible. Frames, many, many different types of things. [George] How important is your work? Do you have a sense of preserving a heritage for future generations, a sense of retrieving that which might be irretrievable? [Breazeale] Well, I think there really is. It's fascinating to work with objects that are so beautiful and so old, and you have a feeling of how these objects bring the past to life.

There are physical manifestations of the talents and the people who lived in that time. And it is very important to me that these things last for another 500 or 1,000 years. And it's fascinating to be able to handle pieces of that age. [George] Does it trouble you when you see something that's perhaps irretrievable? Are there things that we're losing here in Louisiana? [Breazeale] Sometimes it's heartbreaking. It's absolutely heartbreaking to see works of art that have been mistreated. Often people don't know what they have, and they don't know who to turn to for help. And it can be just a devastating experience to see some fine piece of craftsmanship or artwork that has been either abused or just simply neglected. [George] But in Louisiana an increasing number of precious artworks are being preserved. The high altar at St. Mary's Church, first viewed in 1874 will now be restored to its original beauty. But the process is not only time consuming, it is costly. And to finish the work begun by Annette Breazeale will require not only her commitment, but a commitment from the Louisianians who

cherish the past. (organ music) As we've seen this week, Louisiana is rich in cultural and architectural resources. Preserving and protecting those resources is a task that faces not just private individuals, but the government as well. In Louisiana that job belongs to the State Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. And in our final segment, we hear from the head of that agency secretary Jibby Fox. Mrs. Fox, we hear a lot about proposed budget cuts that may impact the nation and the state and, in your particular area, the arts. Does Louisiana face a real challenge for the future to uh make up the difference, if you will? What is the financial picture ahead for the arts? [Jibby Fox] Well, of course, it certainly will be a challenge to us. But I think we're good at meeting challenges.

Louisiana leads the country in, well in the top numbers really, for support of the arts with grant monies, monies out of the state general fund. So we will not feel the impact this particular year in what we call our division of the arts. We will feel it tremendously in outdoor recreation. To expand, we have monies in the pipeline that we will have to monitor. So some of the people on staff will be there, but certainly it's going to be a challenge because the demands have increased. And even if we had not felt some 15 percent cut from federal funds, the challenge would be there because the stimulus in the arts has increased. But we're going to have to begin to convince the corporations again what real need the communities have and how it will enhance the community. And it's just good business for them.

Better public relations. [George] It helps to have a few glamorous projects. And this last year, I guess, the most glamorous one was the Spanish treasure ship discovered off the coast of Louisiana. What has that meant in terms of visibility? [Fox] Oh, Beth, that was, that has just been a tremendous undertaking for the state, you know. It was our greatest marine archaeological find, and it was very successful from the publicity point of view for the state of Louisiana. We had inquiries from all over the country and even internationally. We had, we've been in national magazines, regional magazines. We have some over $400 million (billion??????????) worth of gold. And it excited the professional community, the archaeologists, and it was amazing to me that the general public was so excited about this. We just didn't know we had so many amateur archaeologists

throughout the state of Louisiana. The response has just been wonderful, very exciting. [George] Many people, when they think of the arts or certainly historic preservation in Louisiana, think of New Orleans, the French Quarter, the traditional areas that we are familiar with. But isn't there been a new awakening of interests in other parts of the state? In Monroe, in Natchitoches, and in other areas? [Fox] Well, of course, when you go up to Northeast Louisiana and you're talking about archaeology and preservation, one of the first things you think about is Poverty Point, which is a very interesting site. We have a school going on this summer for archaeologists in this state, amateur archaeologists, that is being supervised by Dr. Sharon Goad and in preservation we have any number of historical sites on the National Register there. Of course nothing to compare with some of the other areas. But in each community, we have

seen an increase in the number of nominations to the National Register. We have our program in place now in the state, and I think the last report that came across my desk indicated that there are only seven parishes out of our 64 that does not have a site on the National Register in the state of Louisiana. So this is good growth. [George] Let me ask you one final question. When we talk about the, developing a better environment, be it culturally, from an aesthetic point of view Louisianians appreciate their buildings, their surroundings, their parks. Does it disgust you sometimes when you drive down the highways and byways of Louisiana and see junked cars, litter on the road? Is this part of the ambiance of life that Louisiana citizens could do something about? [Fox] Yes, I'm glad you added that other. Louisiana citizens could do something about it. And if I wanted to shake my finger, you know, well, I feel like it.

We have had several anti-litter campaigns going on and I would like to challenge each police jury in all of our parishes, each school principal to almost make this a, you know, to make it a top priority. We need to do this. We're looking forward to the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans and Louisiana will have maybe some 11 million, or more, people visiting this state or visiting the Louisiana World's Fair and I just think Louisiana should show her best side. [George] We have that opportunity. [Fox] We have this opportunity and anyone that can help us get the litter off the street, I say, "Come on. Let me encourage you." [George] Thank you. [Blome] Well that's our program for this week. Next week we'll be back with another edition of The State We're In as we look at the two signs of the drug problem in Louisiana. I'm Ron Blome.

[George] I'm Beth George. Good night. [music] Production funding for Louisiana: The State We're In is made possible in part by grants from Kaiser Aluminum and Southern Research Company Incorporated. [music]