Vieux Carre Commission honors work to preserve French Quarter

Longtime French Quarter resident and activist attorney Stuart Smith received the Elizebeth T. Werlein Award, the highest honor given by the Vieux Carre Commission, when the commission presented architectural awards last week for the second time since Hurricane Katrina. The awards covered projects completed in the French Quarter from 2008 through 2011.

In presenting the Werlein award, Nathan Chapman, the 2008 recipient, described Smith as "tireless in his pro bono legal work for the French Quarter." Smith has helped create and set preservation law through his lawsuits, "some of which have gone to the state Supreme Court, setting important precedents," Chapman said.

Smith has often battled what he considered illegal commercial intrusions into residential parts of the Quarter and businesses that he said create excessive noise. In 2003 he led an effort to expand the commission's authority over changes of use in historic buildings. Previously, the commission took the position that it had no authority to authorize or block a change of use, only to regulate architectural changes.

The Werlein Award, established in 1986 as part of the commission's 50th anniversary celebration, honors individuals and groups who have made "distinguished contributions to the preservation of the Vieux Carre." It is named for Elizebeth Werlein, who in 1936 led the successful effort to amend the state Constitution to authorize creation of a body to oversee preservation of the Vieux Carre.

Commission Chairman Ralph Lupin and Director Lary Hesdorffer presented the architectural awards, which recognize excellence in restoration, renovation, reconstruction, rehabilitation and new construction.

The commission formerly presented awards every year, but since Katrina it had held only one previous ceremony, in 2008, honoring projects completed during 2004-07.

Certificates of honor, the commission's top architectural awards, went to the following properties:

1218-20 Burgundy St.: Jon Kemp and John Reed, owners; Frank Masson and Rick Fifield, architects. A certificate of honor was awarded for preservation of this c. 1810 cottage, outbuildings and double courtyards. Built for Jose Antonio La Rionda, it was later used as a school, and it was known for many years until its sale in 2006 by the city as the Cabrini Doll Museum. (Masson, an architect with Barry Fox and Associates, began work on this and two of the other award-winning projects before his death in 2009.)

618-22 Gov. Nicholls St.: 618-20 Gov. Nicholls LLC, owners; Frank Masson and Robert Cangelosi Jr. (Koch and Wilson Architects), architects; Alvarez + Basik Design Group, landscape designers; Paddison Builders & Associates, contractor. A certificate of honor was presented for restoration and renovation of two buildings as a family home: a c. 1870 Italianate building at the rear of the property and an 1828 Creole-style brick double townhouse at the street constructed for Mrs. John Clay, sister-in-law of U.S. Sen. Henry Clay. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the buildings housed the Notre Dame Academy of the Sacred Heart.

910 and 914 Toulouse St.: Tooloose LLC, owner; Trapolin-Peer Architects, architect; Rene Fransen, landscape architect; Vintage Construction, contractor. A certificate of honor was presented for restoration of two c. 1815 brick-between-posts Creole cottages, a service building and a spacious courtyard.

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Vieux Carre Commission honors work to preserve French Quarter