Society tomb at St. Louis No. 2 gets facelift

By Beth Donze
Clarion Herald

As final touches were being made to the newly pristine “Society of Arts and Crafts” tomb inside St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, it was hard to remember the deplorable shape it was in just months earlier.

A tree that had taken up residence inside the tomb was sprouting some 10 feet above the structure’s partly collapsed roof, producing a root network so relentless, it took down an entire corner of the 15-vault tomb.

Now replastered and painted with white limewash, the tomb – built more than 150 years ago as an affordable and dignified place of burial for New Orleans craftsmen and their families – once again boasts its original Greek Revival look through features such as beveled moldings, doric pilasters and arched rooftop finials.

“This is a monument we’re restoring. We can’t help but feel great about it,” said Jeff Poree, contractor for the restoration and a fifth-generation master plasterer now in his 50th year of expertise in the niche trades of stucco and ornamental plasterwork.

“When I get these kinds of jobs – and my men will tell you the same thing – it’s an extreme honor to have been asked. You have the honor of doing something few people get to do,” Poree said. “Somebody had to design these tombs when they were first built, and we get to bring their dreams to fruition.”

Part of a wider effort

The restoration is the pilot project of a multi-year partnership between New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries (NOCC) and the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild, founded in 2012 to revive the trades of ornamental and specialty plastering, masonry, tile-setting and ironwork. Ultimately, NOCC hopes to complete historically sensitive overhauls of 10 deteriorating society tombs inside 1823-established St. Louis No. 2, the city’s second-oldest operating burial ground at 200 North Claiborne Ave.

The first order of business at the Society of Arts and Crafts tomb was to remove any masonry surrounding the invasive vegetation, remove the tree and stabilize the remaining walls to prevent further collapse.

“The roots expanded and broke off a big section off the back and (the wall’s internal brickwork)  fell on three tombs behind it,” Poree said.

Master mason Theodore “Teddy” Pierre Jr. consulted on the historic restoration of the tomb’s internal masonry, chipping off layers of moisture-trapping Portland cement and latex paint – mistakes of past restorations – and building back a 14-foot section of wall.

Once the masonry was completed, the tomb’s walls and ceiling received three coats of lime-based stucco and a final coat of lime wash, a painstaking process that involved specific “recipes” for each coat, varying thicknesses of application and compulsory drying times that were at the mercy of New Orleans’ weather.

In all, 16 professionals were involved in the hands-on work, undertaking tasks that included scaffolding, “flat” stucco work, mold-making, ornamental plasterwork and “hod-carrying” – the trade name for the expertise involved in mixing the stucco concoctions and conveying them to the artisans atop the scaffolding.

Fragments of history

Information is scarce on the 15-vault Society of Arts and Crafts tomb and the organization tied to it, which is no longer in operation. It likely dates to the mid-to-late 19th century, said Heather Veneziano, who is consulting on the project through her company, Gambrel & Peak Historic Preservation Consulting.

“We know about 12 of the names of the interred – there were no plaques on the tomb listing their names – but we do have some of them recorded in the burial records,” Veneziano said. To memorialize the known and unknown interred – and to stay within budgetary constraints – Poree’s crew cut 27-by-27-inch squares of Portland cement, dusted them with marble sand and applied them to the tomb’s facade.

“In every way, it appears to be – and has the strength and weight of – real Carrara marble tablets,” Poree said.

Research on the tomb’s original appearance revealed that its walls were scored to suggest large blocks.

“This would have been done historically to make it look like a stone tomb as opposed to stucco,” Veneziano said.

The original plaque that identified the tomb by its French name – “Société des Arts et Métiers” – is being replicated by Poree’s team and will be attached to the structure’s front entablature.

At work on second tomb

With work winding down on the Society of Arts and Crafts tomb, Poree’s crew is turning its attention to the project’s second challenge: the 24-vault Society of Christian Doctrine. Trees also sprouted from its interior, and its wooden roof – a replacement roof added in the 20th century – had rotted away.

“We replaced it with a slate roof,” Veneziano said. “Slate is a very durable material that we know is going to last and repel water. Historically, the roof would have either been slate or (of a) stucco-masonry construction. But the weight of brick – and the water intrusion that happens with masonry roofs – is something we wanted to avoid.”

NOCC is covering the full cost of the restorations, hoping the results will attract grants and donations to kick start restorations of a possible eight additional society tombs at St. Louis No. 2: Cazadores d’Orleans; Young Men’s Vidalia Benevolent Mutual Aid and Association; Society Fleur de Marie; Société de Bienfaisance; Société Jésus, Marie et Joseph; Société de la Poussinière Chrétienne; Société des Dames de la Branche; and Société d’Amour Éternel.

“We’re committed to making really positive changes to the cemetery landscape,” Veneziano said. “It’s going to be so beautiful when you look down from the highway a couple of years from now and hopefully see 10 beautiful, gigantic, white tombs as they were meant to be, and not the landscape it is today.”

Fell into disuse over time

Preservation architect Robert Cangelosi Jr. produced measured drawings depicting the targeted tombs’ post-restoration appearance and will continue to provide his expertise as the project unfolds.

Although society tombs are not unique to New Orleans, the “monumental scale” of the city’s inventory of them is unique, Veneziano said. Many of the tombs’ parent societies – who built the tombs to provide benefits to members of various occupations and faith-based groups – disbanded after World War II as returning veterans began receiving federal assistance and no longer needed to rely on societies to help them cover funeral and burial expenses. As a result, most of the city’s society tombs “have no owner in existence anymore,” Veneziano said.

The New Orleans Master Crafts Guild, a 501c3 tax-deductible organization, is seeking donations and apprentices interested in learning crafts-based trades. For more information, email [email protected].

The NOCC also welcomes donations to the effort at [email protected] or nolacatholiccemeteries.org.

[email protected]