Digging in at Madame John’s Legacy
Madame John’s in March, 2023, before the front wall was removed.
One of New Orleans’ oldest houses will soon have a new look after years of debate, delays and historic forensics work – including a recent archeological dig.
– by Frank Perez
– photos by Ellis Anderson, historic images courtesy Library of Congress, the National Registry and THNOC
Dr. Ryan Gray is no stranger to digging in the French Quarter. Gray, who chairs the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at UNO, has previously excavated The Rising Sun Hotel site on Conti, the St. Peter Street Cemetery, Madame John’s Legacy, 810 Royal Street, St. Anthony’s Garden, and private residences on Bourbon, St. Peter, and N. Rampart streets.
This spring, he returned to Madame John’s Legacy to excavate sections of the sidewalk in front of the building. What was he and his team looking for? Evidence that the building, which dates to 1788, originally had brick piers along the front façade where the familiar white wall recently stood.
Madame John’s in April 2023 after the front wall was removed.
Dr. Ryan Gray is no stranger to digging in the French Quarter. Gray chairs the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at UNO.
Gray and his team looking for evidence of original piers.
Gray and his team looking for evidence of original piers.
This wall is at the heart of a controversy that has many local preservationists both perturbed and perplexed.
The home at 632 Dumaine Street is one of the few extant examples of French Colonial architecture and offers a rare glimpse of what New Orleans looked like prior to the Good Friday fire of 1788, which destroyed 856 buildings.
According to a 1995 Times-Picayune article, Dr. Eugene Cizek – then Professor and Founder/Director of the Tulane School of Architecture graduate program in Master of Preservation Studies – is quoted as saying: “Of all the historic houses in New Orleans, this is the only one we have that really explains first-generation urban Creole architecture. It’s important; this was the typical French Quarter house before the fire of 1788. It’s the only example we have of what the Quarter looked like in the 18th century.”
The recent controversy actually began in 2017 when the Louisiana State Museum (LSM), which owns the building, hired Ehlinger and Associates, P.C., to remediate the problem of rising damp and falling rainwater, which, along with salt, had deteriorated the building’s interior bricks.
Architects Ladd Ehlinger and his son, architect Perrin Ehlinger worked on the project together, until Ladd passed away in 2021. Back in the 1970s, Ladd had worked on the rear quarters of the building, so was very familiar with the historic structure.
But work was delayed for three years while the Ehlingers and preservationists debated remediation techniques. Then the COVID-19 shutdowns stalled the project for another two years.
When work resumed, preservation groups became alarmed at the destruction of the home’s chimney. They also learned a structural engineer had not been employed and charged that “preservation practices” were not being followed.
Most disturbingly, the contractor had secured a “change order,” which expanded the original scope of the contract. Originally, the contract was limited to structural concerns, “masonry repairs, moisture problems and a new roof.”
According to architect Robert Cangelosi, an expert on historic architecture and former member of the LSM’s Building Committee, Ehlinger proposed changing the columns on the upper front porch, replacing the front wall with piers and iron, removing a chimney, leveling the roof and relocating the stairs.
Ehlinger pointed out that with the front wall in place, rain water from the upper floor stairwell fell into the enclosed space, where it was then trapped.
The architect and his lead sub-contractor, Rob Judice, also maintain the enclosure created by the front wall exacerbated the moisture problem by preventing airflow. They suspected that the building originally had piers or columns at the lower level supporting the porch.
The front stairs leading down into the lower level enclosed by the wall.
Dr. Gray and contractor Rob Judice stand before the front staircase. Before demolition, it was enclosed behind the front wall. Judice and project architect Perrin Ehlinger say the staircase funneled rainwater behind the wall where it then caused moisture issues.
Shortly after the dig produced evidence of previous piers, Judice said, “The house is telling us how to fix itself. You just need to know how to read it.”
Replacing the front wall with piers, Ehlinger and Judice said, would permanently remediate many of the moisture problems. During the current work, it was also discovered that the current wall was hollow and structurally unsound. It had been rebuilt once in the 1940s and again in the 1970s, so nothing original remained.
However, Cangelosi also noted that Ehlinger wanted “to restore the building to its original appearance but there was no information to substantiate his claims. However, some 1820s alterations, which are older than most Quarter buildings, were being left, rendering an appearance that the building never had in its history.”
The Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), which is acting as an advisory capacity in this project, said that their recommendations were being ignored. SHPO and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties stipulate that alterations to an historic building which have accrued throughout history should be maintained.
Cangelosi argued, “You would not take the mansard roof off the Cabildo and the Presbytere, or the cast iron verandas off the buildings in the French Quarter. Well, the 1820s Madame John's Legacy alterations are older than all of these. The SHPO was concerned about the removal of the lake end chimney, changing the columns etc.”
Ehlinger responded by noting that by not expanding the scope of the contract – and simply sealing the building’s lower level back up – would be only a “quick fix” and not address the long-term moisture issues.
He added, “The guidelines also allow for restoration to a specific time period, with one of the specific allowances being termed ‘restoration as treatment.’ This is a standard the critics and SHPO are ignoring.” (https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1739/upload/treatment-guidelines-2017-part2-reconstruction-restoration.pdf, page 167).
Ehlinger continued, “The heavily deteriorated conditions at Madame John's Legacy were all pointing to restoring to earlier time periods as a treatment (or correction) of the issues the house suffers from. Rehabilitating the existing conditions would have left the later design modification problems in place, and deterioration would have continued advancing at a rapid rate. From the sole perspective of best functionality and longevity, a return to its original 1788 construction and form would be the ideal.
“That is not the sole consideration, however; there is also the architectural and historical significance of other time periods, and without a National Historic Structure Report having been performed, it left us with the very long debate over the weight of those different historical periods.”
In December of 2022, several preservation groups, including Friends of the Cabildo, Louisiana Landmarks Society, Preservation Resource Center, Vieux Carré Commission, Vieux Carré Commission Foundation, and Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents & Associates and French Quarter Citizens sent a letter to Suzie Terrell, Chairperson of the Louisiana State Museum Board of Directors requesting that work be halted and a Historic Structures Report on the building be commissioned.
Cangelosi said later, “This has grown into a restoration project, and it was never intended to be that. A Historic Structures Report should have been done prior to trying to restore the building.”
Work was stopped and the LSM Board brought in an outside expert – Laurence Wilson of New York-based MCBW Architects – to assess the condition of the building.
According to VCPORA, Wilson’s findings “validated the views of local preservationists that a Historic Structures Report should precede any significant alterations. A proper restoration requires documented evidence of a structure’s appearance during a specific date range, to which it is then restored and interpreted.
The board made no final decision on the matter, but its Architecture Committee suggested that a circa-1788 restoration would be ideal if feasible. First, a brick wall beneath the gallery that is failing would be removed to allow for archeological investigation, which may help determine if it was original or a later addition.”
The LSM appropriated the funds to implement the consultant's recommendations and the Friends of the Cabildo, a volunteer organization that raises money for the State Museum, contributed $20,000 for the archaeological excavation.
Enter Dr. Gray and his team. Digging commenced and evidence surfaced suggesting the brick wall with its white façade was, indeed, a later addition. The evidence also showed there were brick piers present.
Contractor Rob Judice and architect Perrin Ehlinger in the courtyard of Madame John’s with local historian Frank Perez in April 2023.
Madame John’s storied history
Like much of New Orleans, the history of Madame John’s Legacy (whose name is derived from a short story by George Washington Cable set there) is filled with mystery, intrigue, and debate.
The earliest sources indicate the original structure, erected sometime in the 1720s, was set further back from the street and closer to Royal Street. The first owner of the property was St. Germaine-Caijeaux in 1721. By 1726, it was owned by Jean Pascal and his wife Elizabeth Real.
Dumaine Street photo showing Madame John’s by Arnold Genthe, taken between 1920 and 1926, Library of Congress
Detail of the front with partitions on the upper level, by Arnold Genthe, taken between 1920 and 1926, Library of Congress
Shortly after Pascal died in the Natchez revolt of 1729, Elizabeth married Francois Marin, a ship captain. The couple converted the home into an inn. Francois Marin died in 1744 but his widow, Pascal Marin lived until 1777. The property then went to her grandson, Francois Goudeau, who immediately sold it to a trader named Santiago Lemelle.
Lemelle quickly flipped the property and sold it to Rene Beluche, whose son was a part of Jean Lafitte’s band of privateers. In 1783 Beluche sold the home to Manuel DeLanzos.
It was during DeLanzos’ ownership that the home was destroyed in the great fire of 1788. DeLanzos, a Spaniard, hired a British architect to rebuild the home in the French Colonial style, even though New Orleans was a Spanish city at the time.
French Quarter resident and nationally recognized photographer Francis Benjamin Johnston photographed Madame John’s Legacy in 1937, Library of Congress. Read more about Francis Benjamin Johnson here in another FQJ piece by Frank Perez.
This detail from Johnston’s shot above shows the courtyard open to visitors, but placing the date of the building at 1728.
Upon DeLanzos’ death in 1813, the home came under the ownership of a wealthy lawyer named Dominique Seghers. Seghers fell on hard times and the property was sold at auction in 1820 to retire his debts. New owners Mary Louise Patin & Maurice Prevost commissioned a major renovation in 1827.
From 1836—1847, the property had several owners. In 1847, William Claiborne (son of Louisiana’s first American governor, W.C.C. Claiborne, and ancestor of former Congresswoman Lindy Boggs) purchased the home. The Claiborne family owned the property until 1892.
By 1880, Madame John’s Legacy had been divided into a tenement. The 1880 census indicates twenty-two people living there, mostly Sicilians. The building remained apartments well into the 20th century. In 1947, Stella Hirsch Lemann sold property to the Louisiana State Museum.
A 1940 view of the attic by photographer Lester Jones, Library of Congress
Previous digs at Madame John’s
Since the LSM acquired the building, Madame John’s Legacy has been the site of four archeological excavations, including the current dig.
In 1971, Richard Shenkel of the University of New Orleans excavated the site in an effort to establish the site’s construction history. At issue was the question of whether the current building occupies the same footprint as the pre-fire structure. It does not.
In 1997, Dr. Shannon Dawdy directed the second series of excavations at Madame John’s Legacy under the auspices of the Greater New Orleans Archaeological Program. This dig focused on the rear courtyard in anticipation of the installation of a new air-conditioning system.
The third excavation occurred in the Summer of 2013 when a team from Tulane University and its Masters in Preservation Studies program undertook a long-term study of conservation issues at Madame John’s Legacy.
According to Dr. Gray, “Portions of the brick walls have undergone substantial deterioration, and the goal of the conservation effort was to determine the source of moisture and salts adversely affecting the brickwork on site. A number of techniques were utilized to this end, including infrared imagery, test coring of the walls, and the installation of sensors to monitor moisture at select locations in the walls.”
The results of the study can be found here.
Information and images of the previous archaeological excavations at Madame John’s Legacy can be found here.
Pier Approval
In a March 2023 meeting of the LSM board of directors, it was unanimously agreed to hire a structural engineer to “review the pertinent work” both already completed and proposed. The board also voted to hire an expert to produce a Historic Structures Report (HSR).
Architect Perrin Ehlinger and contractor Rob Judice in the building’s courtyard, April 2023
According to a July 19 interview with Ehlinger, the structural engineer found that “the chimney that was removed was indeed unsafe, the deflection [or sag] between the [upper] columns was excessive and restoring the brackets and original 1788 design would remove the deflections so the roof beam is structurally sound.”
Ehlinger said that although an HSR has not been completed, the remainder of the proposed work was approved by the state a few weeks ago. Construction is currently proceeding.
“What’s key to understand is if they want to go back to the 1826 or 1865 look, it’s easier to do from the full restoration,” he said. “We have a unique opportunity to do this. They can make the final decision later based on the Historic Restoration Report.”
New piers are part of that project now. At first, Ehlinger was intrigued when the archeology dig showed the original street level supports were slightly offset from the upper level ones. But extensive research revealed several examples of French Colonial architecture where the columns were also offset.
St. Rosalie Plantation House, Plaquemines Parish (gone). It was built sometime prior to 1820 when it was purchased by freedman Andrew Durnford. Photograph early 1940s by Chet S. Kellogg, courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection.
One example of offset columns that Ehlinger found is Alice Plantation, originally Baldwin, LA - 1760's-70s. Relocated in 1961 to Jeanerette. National Register photograph.
Ehlinger said the examples he found should illustrate that “the misalignment of the columns between the first and second floors in French Colonials were accepted, and were perhaps even intentional.”
The architect said the building’s roof is the highest priority now. Work is slated to begin in August. The projected date for completion of the entire project is November.
Sources
Cangelosi, Robert. Email. 18 April 2023.
Ehlinger, Perrin. Personal interview. 13 April 2023.
Ehlinger, Perrin. Email. 19 April 2023.
Gray, Ryan. “Madame John's Legacy: 2013 Excavation by Ryan Gray and UNO,” New Orleans Historical, accessed April 19, 2023, https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/1605.
Gray, Ryan. Personal interview. 13 April 2023.
Gray, Ryan. Email. 19 April 2023.
Judice, Rob. Personal interview. 13 April 2023.
Lott, Nathan. “Historic Structures Report Ordered for Madame John’s Legacy.” Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans. 14 March 2023.
Mcauley, Anthony. “Renovation of this Rare Historic French Quarter Building Has Preservationists in a Huff.” nola.com. 5 December 2022.
VCPORA Newsletter. 22 November 2022.
Ehlinger, Perrin. Personal interview, July 19, 2023
LSM Board of Directors meeting minutes, March 13, 2023
Support our creative team –become a member of our Readers’ Circle now!
