January 9, 2006

Workers begin dismantling the Hecker House. Image courtesy World Monuments Fund

Two historic Gulf Coast homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina are receiving some much-needed help from the World Monuments Fund. The New York-based preservation group launched a restoration pilot program in December with $260,000 in start-up funding from American Express, The David Berg Foundation, and The Florence Gould Foundation. The two landmark residences, the Phillips House and the Hecker House, are located in Bay St. Louis, a small waterfront community 30 miles west of Biloxi, Mississippi.

“This program is an important way to bring communities together and show them alternatives to wholesale demolition,” says Morris Hylton III, WMF's new project development manager.

The 1 1/2-story Phillips House, built in 1840, represents antebellum architecture common to the period with its distinctive wood detailing, a raised central hall, and broad gallery. The two-room Hecker House is a shotgun-type worker’s cottage, which dates back to 1780, and which was once located near an oyster factory. Both homes are situated side-by-side along North Beach Boulevard, a National Register Landmark District known for its rich residential architecture in a variety of period styles, from Greek Revival and Queen Anne to Colonial Revival and Mission.

The Phillips and Hecker houses both sustained significant wind and flood damage, and will require extensive repair and rebuilding. Their eventual resurrection is meant to call attention to the importance of preserving the area's local heritage and culture. A project timeline and budget have yet to be established. "It works on very basic level by explaining what to salvage and photograph, and who to contact to rebuild and restore,” says Hylton, of the pilot program.

The Hecker House has since been documented, disassembled, and stored in order to save the original timbers, siding, windows and doors. Charles Hecker, 86, its current owner, is planning to sell the building’s lot. But he has donated the building materials and remnants to the WMF, which is acting as project steward. The town of Bay St. Louis and the Hancock County Historic Society are now in charge of finding a new site.

The Phillips House, presently owned by Dorothy Phillips, lost its wood siding, second story, and most of its front porch during Katrina. It will be documented and rebuilt at its current site with assistance from the Mississippi Heritage Trust, The Preservation Network, and Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History.

WMF is also developing a demonstration project for a 19th century double-shotgun house in the Holy Cross neighborhood of New Orleans, which it expects to rollout in early spring 2006.

Tony Illia