A 7th Ward cradle of jazz is now one of the country's 11 most endangered historic sites

Back in August, word spread that an old, pale-blue church building on North Villere Street had finally given up the ghost and collapsed during a summer downpour. The structure was once a social club where some of the founding fathers of jazz — Sidney Bechet, King Oliver and Buddy Bolden himself — performed.

Many onlookers probably wrote the place off. After all, the 142-year-old wooden building had partially toppled during Hurricane Ida the year before. After last August’s rains, its roof lay mostly on the ground, supported only by the face of the structure and the 8-foot vestibule, which was still miraculously standing.

The building may be on life support, but there’s hope. On Tuesday, the Holy Aid and Comfort Spiritual Church of Eternal Life was named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the 11 most endangered historic places in the country. The listing could inspire the rebuilding of the church. At least that’s the prayer.

The hall was erected in 1880 by La Société de la Perseverance, a mutual aid association founded by free Black people before the Civil War. Such social clubs were common in the Crescent City back then, providing health and burial insurance for members, as well as camaraderie and entertainment.

In the early 20th century, Perseverance Hall became an incubator for a raucus new all-American style of music that would soon spread around the globe. Some of the first jazz bands played from a raised area at the back of the building.

From social club to church

Times change. In 1949, the old social club building was sold for $6,000 to the Holy Aid and Comfort Church, according to the Orleans Parish assessor’s office.

The Rev. Harold Lewis has been working to keep the nondenominational church afloat since 2006, the year after Hurricane Katrina. And it hasn’t been easy. The population of the neighborhood had been scattered by the flood that accompanied the storm, and not everybody came back.

As the years went by, the congregation dwindled further as older folks passed away. These days, Lewis said, he preaches to about 12 church members each Saturday and Sunday. By telephone.

The old building may have been an early jazz landmark, and Lewis welcomes the attention that provides, but basically, he said he wants the church to return to its role as a church. It might be nice to host small-scale concerts for, say, 100 people from time to time. But he’s not into some “crazy rock ‘n’ roll” scene.

Lewis, 72, was an NOPD officer for 35 years, so he’s witnessed society’s ills. He believes a certain kind of burden often befalls older people who are called on to raise children whose parents die or are incarcerated because of the drug plague.

“Society forgets the older people,” he said.

A place for elders

Lewis envisions a place where graying neighborhood residents can gather, maybe have breakfast, maybe dinner, maybe watch a little TV and just relax together. He’d like to see them spend some of their time passing on old-fashioned skills to kids who don’t know how to sew, or set a table.

That’s his vision for the place.

Ironically, it may have been an effort to restore the building that accidentally led to its collapse. Before Ida, Lewis said he’d gotten a grant to preserve the structure. Work had begun on the back of the church and the rear wall had been removed in the process. Unfortunately, hurricane wind exploited the building’s vulnerability and wrecked the supporting walls.

Lewis said that after the rain caused the roof to cave in a year later, City Hall came to consider the ruined church a hazard. But he managed to get the roof and other debris hauled away and avoided being fined. According to online records, another hearing to discuss the state of the building is scheduled for May 18.

The church recently received a grant of $100,000 from the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund through the new Preserving Black Churches program to help rebuild. It’s a good start. But not enough.

“I’m not looking for a $1 million building,” Lewis said. But he estimates that the building will need $300,000 to $400,000 to be restored.

Spotlight on a landmark

Nathan Lott is the policy and research director of the Preservation Resource Center, a non-profit organization that fosters the survival of New Orleans’ unique, antique architecture. The PRC, he said, recommended the Perseverance Hall building – or what’s left of it – to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s most endangered list.

Hopefully, Lott said, what the list does, “is bring more attention to their (the church’s) needs.”

Lott said that in areas where environmental hazards such as wildfires or tropical storms are routine, it may be increasingly necessary to rebuild as well as restore historic structures. “We, as preservationists, are seeing this (Perseverance Hall) as a place, not just a building.”

Lott said that thanks to the fact that the hall had been put on the National Registry of Historic Places in 2018, it had been well studied and photographed, so “the reconstruction can be something very faithful.” The Cushing Terrell architecture firm has offered to guide the rebuilding free of charge and the PRC’s website includes a place to donate to the project.

Lott said he’s optimistic that the money can be raised. During the recent Jazz Fest, he pointed out, “people just traveled from around the world to a place with these jazz associations.”

The privately funded National Trust for Historic Preservation also named the West Bank of St. John the Baptist Parish, a stretch along the Mississippi River that includes historic villages, age-old agricultural fields, and two plantations, among its 11 most endangered sites. The non-profit organization settled on an annual list of 11 sites when a past director couldn’t bring himself to trim the list down to 10.