From The Seattle Times
By Froma Harrop

A year after Katrina did her worst, the ravaging of New Orleans continues. Nowadays, the destructive force is not nature’s fury or even small-time looters. It is a kind of upscale plunder that is robbing the city of its historical heritage, piece by piece. Organized criminals are invading deserted homes and tearing out their architectural features: Victorian shutters, wrought iron fences, cornices, brackets, old doors and other antique features.

I bring this up because the people who buy these valuable old building parts tend to be educated and law-abiding. In other words, us. We can help New Orleans — and the cause of historic preservation – by asking questions, such as: Where did those fabulous cypress baseboards come from?

While the situation in New Orleans is especially grievous, the theft of architectural detailing is a nationwide problem. The creeps are ripping the soul out of old buildings, cemeteries and wherever humankind has bestowed the love of crafted plaster, woodwork or decorative metalwork.

And while the problem plagues all of New Orleans, the Holy Cross neighborhood is suffering the most direct attack. Taking up a third of the Lower 9th Ward, Holy Cross remains uninhabited and, therefore, largely unprotected. This working-class area, two-thirds African American, is home to a rich collection of shotgun houses, bungalows and Creole cottages — many dating back to the mid-19th century. Some of their owners may not even know what they have. In any case, they are not there to guard their properties.

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