The New Orleans Freedman’s Bureau

Emily Levings
Monday, July 07, 2008

The Freedman’s Bureau at 1420 Euterpe Street in New Orleans was constructed in 1846 using local brick and cypress. John Thornhill bought the property in 1854. One of New Orleans wealthiest and most prominent citizens, he was evicted from the city in 1863 because he refused to sign an oath of allegiance to the Union. The house and all its fine possessions were expropriated by General Butler and occupied by Federal officers.

After the Civil War, the house became the New Orleans Freedman’s Bureau. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to this historic significance. The Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in 1865. This was the first federal social service. The goal was to provide food and medical care, assist re-settlement, administer justice, manage abandoned and confiscated property, regulate labor, and establish schools. Congress terminated the controversial Bureau in 1870, and returned the neglected property to the Thornhills.

Ms. Thornhill left the house to her niece Miss Bettie Owens, who sold it to Mr. Lambrecht in 1940. He segmented the house into apartments. In 1971 Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Strachan and Mr. Louis Costa bought the property. The Costas are the current owners. Due to damage inflicted by hurricane Katrina, they received a restoration grant from the Hurricane Recovery Grant Initiative for Historic Properties. They hired Chaux Vive Preservation Services, with the assistance of Tulane Masters in Preservation Studies students, in an ongoing attempt to restore the house as accurately as possible.

There is a wooden gallery surrounding the house, supported by elegant box pillars with simple capitals. The second level is framed with a heavy entablature. The entrances have a Greek key casing; the rear door is original and the front is a replica. Originally the house was surrounded by an elegant garden which extended to Coliseum Park.

The interior retains many of the original details, including Greek key cased openings, plaster ceiling medallions and elaborate mouldings. The first floor is the formal space, consisting of multiple parlors. The second floor is primarily bedrooms, and the third floor attic is finished into a bedroom suite. The gabled ends have large casement windows. There is a service wing to the rear of the house, which has exposed areas of red lime-washed brick.

The exterior of the house is brick covered by a unique two coat plaster. The scratch coat is a very earthen mix. It is an unusual river silt mix, including unevenly distributed hair, organic matter and aggregate. This is covered by a thin, dense lime finish coat. Lab testing revealed gypsum in the plaster, but this is inconsistent with time period of construction. It is possible the test revealed gypsum due to a later repair. Therefore the analysis will be repeated to verify the results.

To resemble masonry, the finish plaster is scored into 4’-4" by 1’-6", augmented by traditional thin grey penciling. Investigation of paint reveals many layers of lime-wash, pigmented to mimic natural stone. The wash is composed of iron oxide pigments and lime made from slaked oyster shells. In the 1950s this was covered with modern aluminum paint. The final coat is a white limewash. These are being removed with careful washing, sanding and application of Cathedral Stone strippers, which are biodegradable and low-VOC foamed emulsions. After testing the S-301, S-303, and S-305, the S-305 was the most effective. The final finish will be matched to the original with hand-pigmented warm yellow ochre limewash to create the appearance of stone.

The exterior plaster has been compromised by water. Over the years Portland cement patches, including a one foot band along the base of the house, only accelerated the damage due to the rising damp. These were removed wherever possible. The water intrusion, always an issue in New Orleans, was amplified during the hurricanes. The finish coat has given way in many areas, as the finish plaster does not adhere properly to the unstable scratch coat. The damaged areas spread underneath the finish coat, leaving patches of the wall pregnant and disintegrating. This may be salvageable with a grout, but several locations have to be replaced. Localized patching will retain as much of the original plaster as possible. But the currently available, uniform plasters do not match this vernacular undercoat. This is the current dilemma. Some of the walls, especially the Northern wall on the lower gallery, need complete removal and replacement. This will be done with a two coat lime plaster, using a hand mixed sand and hair blend.

To retain the maximum original plaster, the patching, grouting and replacement will be matched as closely as possible. Many damaged areas can be salvaged with careful conservation. The result will be a traditional two coat lime plaster, scored and limewashed to resemble natural stone. Based on documentation and analysis, this treatment aims to restore the original condition of the house of the 1840s.

While interning with professor Heather Knight, Tulane Masters in Preservation Studies students Steven Wallace and Katherine Ashwill documented the existing conditions in fall 2007. Emily Levings and Katherine Ashwill prepared the exterior plaster for preservation and repair throughout spring 2008, and Erin Edwards and Renee Bourgogne will assist with the plasterwork and limewashing over summer 2008.

References:
Coleman, John P. "Union Officers Seized it in War." Historic Houses of New Orleans. New Orleans: Tulane Southeastern Architectural Archive, 1927.

Costa, Mary Len. "Freedman’s Bureau." New Orleans: Tulane Southeastern Architectural Archive, 1976.