NO Jazz & Heritage Foundation Headquarters

PRIME CONTRACTOR: CDW Services
TYPE: Total Renovation of a Historic Structure
VALUE: $1,700,000.00 SIZE: 7,500 SqFt
FINISH: September 2018
CONTACT: Blake E. Kidder & Peter Trapolin, Project Manager Trapolin-Peer Architects
504-293-3686
bkidder@trapolinpeer.com

A few years after the Civil War ended, Jules LeBlanc, a French-born Cuban merchant, built these two Italianate-style storehouses, located on an imposing corner in the Faubourg Tremé. Figuring prominently for decades in the life of the then fashionable Creole neighborhood, the buildings fell into disrepair in the early 20th-century. When the Foundation acquired the property in the late 1980s, many of its historic elements were gone or altered, and the rear courtyard served as a mechanical yard. Approaching the renovation with sensitivity to its historicity, while acknowledging the needs of the client, the team provided a fully updated headquarters, while maintaining its ambience in the cultural landscape. CDW did a total renovation of this historical property, adding new HVACV, electrical, and plumbing systems as well as new historic millwork throughout the building along with matching columns from the 1800s. CDW built the wood windows and doors on the project, in-house. Restoration of the antique pine floors made this project a gem. The property was funded with state and federal historic tax credits and recently won an Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation. Challenges were working high volume Rampart Street and working on an active site that was still being utilized for events at the Jazz & Heritage Foundation office.