ABOUT PRC

PRC has been preserving, restoring, and revitalizing New Orleans’ historic architecture and neighborhoods since 1974. Throughout its 36-year history, PRC has acted as an advocacy agent on a local, regional, and national scale, spreading the word about the city’s rich architectural heritage and the economic importance of preserving this heritage. PRC also takes a hands-on approach to preservation, with a history of successfully restoring over 1,300 properties.

We have grown in leaps and bounds since our founding in 1974. In 1988, PRC added two bricks-and-mortar programs designed to increase our impact on promoting historic preservation: Operation Comeback, to restore and resell vacant and blighted properties which were proliferating due to population decline, and Christmas in October, to organize volunteer teams to assist elderly low-income and disabled homeowners with repairs on their homes. In 2002, Christmas in October was renamed Rebuilding Together New Orleans and continued to be part of the national effort that assists qualified homeowners with quality-of-life home repairs. Both of these programs expanded PRC from advocacy to direct action and provided a concrete, tangible avenue for promoting preservation. The basis of PRC’s strategy was, and continues to be, to leverage these efforts through education, outreach and advocacy in order to attract essential private sector investment and to increase homeownership in New Orleans neighborhoods. Since Katrina, PRC has doubled in staff size and budget – and redoubled its efforts to rebuild New Orleans in a way that is sensitive to its past and its heritage.