Sometimes, old buildings die hard. Case in point are the fates of the Hurricane Katrina battered winter homes designed by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. There might be a ray of hope in the sad story of these once proud little cottages.
According to The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy website:
Thanks to the
ceaseless efforts of the Mississippi Department of Archives and
History, there is reason to hope that the Charnley Cottage in Ocean
Springs, Mississippi may have a new life.
The Mississippi
Department of Archives and History (MDAH) was not willing to easily let
go of one of the most important National Register historic sites in its
state. MDAH is the official State Historic Preservation Office in
Mississippi and is the second-oldest state department of archives and
history in the United States.
MDAH was granted the authority to
administer a new federal grant program in Mississippi, The Hurricane
Relief Grant Program for Historic Preservation, federally funded
through the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior.
Grants are available for publicly or privately owned structures listed
or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places
that were damaged by the hurricane.
Initial grants
from the fund were made to the owners of the Charnley Cottage and the
Guest Cottage for stabilization and restoration. The owners of the
Guest Cottage have put the funds to good use as they begin to rebuild
their home.
As the story goes on to state, however, the owners of the Charnley Cottage have decided to put the property and the remains up for sale, allowing some brave new people to save an architectural gem. Read the whole story by following the link, and if you have that PrairieMod spirit blazing within you and want to try your hand at restoring a piece of design history, contact the Conservancy at
312.663.5500 or preservation@savewright.org and they will do what they can to assist in the acquisition. Good luck!
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