1111 S Peters St.

Staff Recommendations: 

The initial application submitted in 2023 proposed limited areas of mortar tuckpointing, masonry cleaning, and application of a new water-repellent coating. The approved documents and issued CofA included clear and specific notes regarding the requirements for the work, including that new mortar must match the existing in strength, composition, and color and that joints must be neatly tooled and struck to match existing.

In addition to being under the full jurisdiction of the HDLC, the exterior of this property is also owned by the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans (PRC); therefore, PRC review and approval of the proposed scope of work, materials, and methods was also required before the work was approved.

The HDLC Design Guidelines and NPS Preservation Brief 2 note that repointing historic masonry requires a great deal of physical labor and craftsmanship, and that matching historic mortar composition, color, texture, pattern, joint size, and tooling can be challenging. Because of this, mortar repairs should generally be limited to areas of deterioration rather than extended broadly across wall surfaces. In addition to the mortar’s appearance and compatibility are important because inappropriate composition, excessive hardness, poor vapor permeability, or improper tooling can contribute to accelerated deterioration of historic masonry over time.

Unfortunately, the mortar repairs completed at the building are not consistent with the approved documents or historic preservation best practices in their application, color, texture, or tooling. The completed work is visually incompatible with the surrounding historic masonry, obscures the established joint pattern and masonry character in numerous areas, and does not appear to match the approved mortar detailing. Additionally, the areas of tuckpointing work were expanded beyond the approved scope without HDLC or PRC approval in advance.

The current mortar repairs cannot be approved for acceptance at the staff level. PRC has also noted that the completed mortar repairs do not meet their expectations or the documents and details approved for the work. Based on these factors, and given that full removal and replacement of the current mortar repairs may be cost-prohibitive and difficult, Staff has no objection to the request for retention provided that all future mortar repairs at the building match the historic mortar in composition, color, texture, joint profile, and tooling, rather than these recently completed repairs.