A historic Opelousas home hangs in the balance as preservationist membership declines

A small group of preservationists is seeking funding and perhaps additional community assistance to help with their continued effort for restoring what many historians think could be the oldest house in St. Landry Parish.

Reduced to just a handful of aging and active members, the nonprofit St. Landry Preservationists Inc. has practically no money remaining to help perform a number of significant and overdue maintenance projects for the Michel Prudhomme Home in Opelousas, according to organization president James Douget.

“There are quite a number of things that need to be addressed that, at this point, will help us continue to preserve the home that is really one of the recognized major architectural treasures in the parish and statewide,” Douget said following a meeting of the preservationist group at the Prudhomme Home Wednesday night.

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An article published in the Daily World five years ago outlined the ongoing financial difficulties for the preservationist group in attending to the number of projects needed then to help keep the home preserved.

Nothing has changed since then with regard to the problematic funding issue for the home. If anything, Douget said, there is considerably less money available now.

Paying out of pocket

The membership in the preservationist group created 46 years ago has dwindled to fewer than 10 active members today. The group works to preserve and provide revenue for the Prudhomme Home, tucked away at 1152 Prudhomme Circle, which was placed on the National Register of Historic places nearly 50 years ago.

Revenue for general upkeep for the home has normally been collected from annual membership dues and private donations.

Douget admits that there is practically no money left in the preservationist treasury to make any of the necessary routine repairs for the house that is generally considered to have been constructed by Michel Prudhomme, who emigrated to the parish from France sometime during the late 18th century.

For the last several years, Douget said, he has paid the monthly insurance costs for the home out of his own pocket, a considerable expense for the cypress and mud brick two-story home, which has been unoccupied for more than half a century.

“Our biggest expense right now is going to be the air conditioning and heating unit. That expense could run as much as $10,000,” Douget said. "There are a number of other things that are smaller in nature but are very important and need to be done in order to protect the integrity of the house."

Douget said the home needs cypress shingle roof replacement, paint and ongoing repairs for a second-story porch, which is supported by several of the original brick columns in the French Creole style.

In the past, the preservationist group has been reluctant to venture outside of their own private funding and occasional fundraising projects to obtain money for capital outlay projects.

That might have to change, however, as the immediate concerns for repairs might require a new strategy, Douget told the preservationist group at the meeting.

Douget is suggesting the possibility of establishing a GoFundMe account that would attract more outside capital and possibly younger members who could perhaps become more active in securing funds.

Pandemic hit preservation efforts hard

Preservationist board member Lucius Doucet remembers when the house hosted Halloween haunted house events and sold dinners for fund-raising efforts.

The house has always available for private tours and events, but Douget points out that since 2020 those potential funding events have been canceled lately due to COVID-19 concerns.

Douget convened a meeting of the preservationists for the first time in three years on Wednesday night.

“Not having an air conditioning unit that is functioning makes it almost impossible right now to schedule any events that would provide revenue for us. We have our general membership event usually on the first Sunday in November where we collect our annual dues and accept donations, but even that has been canceled the past two years due to COVID,” said Douget.

Prudhomme house is important to parish history

An article published on the waymaking.com website describes the Prudhomme Home as the oldest domestic structure remaining in St. Landry.

“(The home) is an excellent example of the 18th-century French-influenced building tradition, as it began to be affected by the classicism of the first half of the 19th century,” the article said.

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Another published article on lcweb.gov indicates that the Prudhomme Home is “architecturally significant,” since it is one of the few both 18th and 19th century French Creole cottages remaining today in unaltered condition.”

Douget says the home is also important to parish history, since it was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War and was used as a meeting place when the Opelousas post was turned over by the French to American authorities following the completion of the Louisiana purchase.

“There is documentation at the (St. Landry) courthouse, which indicates that the Prudhomme Home was where the French and Americans met to hand over this area of Louisiana,” said Douget. “Juan Gradnigo acted as the mediator for the transition. Governor Claiborne was threatening to imprison some of the local people if they did not submit to American authority at the time.”

Douget said the original pigeonnier, on the southwest corner of the half acre of property where the home sits, is one of the few remaining in Louisiana.

This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: St. Landry Parish historic Prudhomme house funding in decline