Reclaiming History

In early September 2005, the shotgun-style house at 1813 North Johnson Street shared a similar plight to dozens of buildings in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward: it was swamped with several feet of water from levees breached by Hurricane Katrina.

Today, the house still stands derelict, its elderly owner moved elsewhere. It’s one of several thousand reminders, stacked along New Orleans’ storied streets, of the storm and its aftermath.

By September 2008, this 110-year-old house will be gone. However, it will not meet the same fate as countless other historical houses that have been knocked down by bulldozers, carried away piece by broken piece and dumped into landfills.

Instead, its heart pine and cypress wood joists, beams and floor boards will find a new life at Mercy Corps’ Action Center to End World Hunger in New York City, where they will be prominently used in shelving and exhibit displays.

For the last couple of years, Mercy Corps has been promoting a method called deconstruction as an alternative to demolition. Simply put, deconstruction is taking a home apart piece by piece to salvage reusable materials, recover items of historic value and reclaim personal belongings if possible. If a home is demolished, the owner usually sees no financial or other benefits; it is a total loss, especially for those with little or no insurance.

Homeowners receive valuable tax credits for houses that are deconstructed - as well as being able to salvage sentimental household features or personal items. In addition, the skilled workers who dismantle the houses are paid fair wages and, frequently, construction apprentices receive valuable training and skills that can lead to a lifetime of gainful employment.

The house’s reusable materials - often up to 60 percent, even in the case of considerable flood damage - are purchased by local warehouses, who mill and restore them, then sell these often-historical architectural supplies to builders and homeowners. This injects cash into the local economy and preserves a sense of history that would otherwise be dumped in a landfill.

“The best definition I've heard comes from a local resident and client who describes deconstruction as ‘removing the house with dignity: board by board, brick by brick’,” said Rick Denhart, Mercy Corps’ New Orleans-based Director of Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery.

It all seems poetic. Three years after Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters slogged and ruined houses like it, the carefully dismantled pieces of 1813 North Johnson Street will travel 1300 miles, from New Orleans to New York, to be reassembled at a place designed to inspire people to take action against hunger and poverty. The house will continue to live.