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UNITED STATES
2009
MUSEE ROSETTE ROCHON (New Orleans, LA) $10,000
FHS and Napa Valley/Sonoma Chapter
Built in the mid-1820s, what will become the Musée was once a Creole cottage belonging to Rosette Rochon, a woman of French and Haitian ancestry. Rochon amassed a fortune over her lifetime as a New Orleans real estate speculator, landlady, and owner of several grocery stores in the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny. At the time of her death in 1860, she left an estate worth the equivalent of $1 million, and the distinction of having succeeded in a male dominated society as an illiterate Creole woman of color. The Musée Rosette Rochon is slated to be a major historic house museum and educational center for Marigny and the adjacent French Quarter, Tremé, and Bywater neighborhoods. This early antebellum home is an important early example of the transition between Creole and American styles. New Orleans has no museum devoted to the legacy of the city's antebellum free Black population, which was once by far the wealthiest in the United States. The museum will be dedicated to the study and understanding of the culture, style, and life of free people of color, and how they contributed to the development of New Orleans.
FHS’s grant will assist with the restoration of the property’s structure.
2008
CHAMPLAIN MEMORIAL LIGHTHOUSE: AUGUSTE RODIN’S BRONZE RELIEF (Crown Point, New York, USA) $ 7,500
Supported by Boston Chapter
To celebrate the 300th Anniversary of the discovery of Lake Champlain by French explorer Samuel Champlain, a delegation from France led by Guillaume Hanoteaux, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of l’Académie Française, presented the bronze relief “La France” by the great sculptor, Auguste Rodin, to the States of Vermont and New York on behalf of the French Republic. The plaque was affixed to
the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse in a ceremony on May 3, 1912. The lighthouse, an impressive Beaux-Arts structure, also features a bronze statue of Champlain by Carl Augustus Heber. The relief by Auguste Rodin, an allegorical bust of France, bears the following inscription: “Le XX. Juillet MDCXIX. le Français S. Champlain a découvert le lac qui porte son nom. Le III. Mai MCMXII. les états de New York et Vermont élevant ce monument. Une délégation française a scellé cette figure de la France.”
FHS will provide a grant to assist in cleaning and repairing the plaque (currently in storage) prior to its reinstallation on the lighthouse in July 2009 on the occasion of the 400th Anniversary of Champlain’s voyage. The plaque serves as a symbol celebrating the enduring friendship between the United States and France.
JEANNE D’ARC STATUE (Philadelphia, PA, USA) $ 15,000
Paris and Philadelphia Chapters
A monumental gilded bronze equestrian statue of Jeanne d’Arc is the masterpiece of French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910). The first version was erected in the Place des Pyramides in Paris in 1874 as a symbol of the valiant French spirit after the Franco-Prussian war. Unhappy with the proportions of horse and rider, Frémiet took advantage of a request for a replica of the statue to correct the piece. It was this second version that members of the French community in Philadelphia, with the aid of the Fairmount Park Art Association, purchased from the sculptor in 1889 and unveiled in Philadelphia in a bilingual ceremony. In 1960, the Art Association gilded the sculpture and relocated it to its more prominent current location at 25th Street and Kelly Drive in Fairmount Park.
FHS’s Paris and Philadelphia Chapters will jointly raise funds for renovation work to the statue. This includes repairing cracks in the statue, removing corrosion on the bronze surface, and replacing the gold leaf. The sculpture will be reinstalled at the current site
PASSEBON COTTAGE, AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM (New Orleans, LA, USA) $ 26,358
The Washington Regional Chapter and FHS
Continuing the important work of French Heritage Society’s Katrina Heritage Rescue Fund campaign, the organization will provide Passebon Cottage, part of the African American Museum in the Treme Quarter of New Orleans, an additional grant of $26,358. These funds will enable the continued restoration of the structure and roof of this mid-19th century Creole cottage. An initial grant of $50,000, with the support of the Gould Foundation, was awarded to Passebon Cottage in 2006, which allowed the cottage to be shored up, consolidated, and initial studies to be made by the architectural department of Tulane University.
Treme, the oldest urban African-American neighborhood in the U.S., was initially settled by free people of color. It remains an important center for African-American culture and features, in addition to the African-American Museum, Louis Armstrong Park and Congo Square. It has also been home to legendary jazz musicians and continues the modern brass band tradition. Restoration of the structures housing the African-American Museum will serve as a vital cultural impetus for this entire area of the city.
2007
FORT MIFFLIN (Pennsylvania, USA) $ 25,000
Atlanta, North Carolina, and Philadelphia Chapters
A striking example of the military engineering inspired by Vauban, Fort Mifflin
was built by the French engineer Jean Montresor in 1771. Following the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776, Benjamin Franklin organized a committee in charge of securing the city's defense. Thus began the construction of a second fort on the Delaware River, across from Fort Mifflin. When Philadelphia was retaken by the British in September 1777, the two forts were used by the Americans to stop food and munitions from reaching the city, depriving the British of supplies through the entire winter. Fort Mifflin was retaken by the British in a bloody battle on the river in November, 1777, but the insurgents held it long enough to allow George Washington to reconstitute his army and stage the final leg of his campaign to defeat the British. Fort Mifflin is known today as "the Fort that saved America" for its crucial role in the Revolutionary War.
FHS's grant will contribute to the restoration of the Commandant's House, which will serve as the centerpiece of the Fort's education programs.
FRENCH CONSULATE IN NEW YORK CITY (New York City, NY, USA) $100,000
New York Chapter
The French Consulate in New York was established in 1783 following the initial Consulate in Philadelphia, first capital of the United States. In 1942, the offices of this " House of France " at Rockefeller Center proved too small, and the French government purchased the townhouse at 934 Fifth Avenue, built in 1926 by the architects Walker and Gillette. This new site was not used until 1952 after the Second World War. For over 50 years, the style of this townhouse, inspired by Parisian decorative arts of the early 20th century, has been faithfully preserved. The new décor pays homage to its splendid tradition. The trompe-l'œil marble of the entrance hall reinforces the Italian Renaissance accent which is at its apotheosis in the pink salon, with a coffered ceiling, superb chandeliers, silk damassée fabrics, tapestries and majestic French windows looking out on to Central Park. The Consulate is thus more than just the French city hall in New York: it is a showcase for France in this vital American city.
FHS's grant will contribute to the restoration of the ceiling of the Salon Rose and to the windows of the Salon Vert.
CHATILLON-DEMENIL HOUSE (Missouri, USA) $ 12,500
Tthe Paris Chapter
Chatillon-DeMenil House is one of the most beautiful example of Neo-Greek style architecture in the Mississippi Valley. It is one of the rare houses still in existence that evokes the origins of the city of Saint Louis. Built in 1848 by Henri Chatillon, a trapper and fur trader born in France, the house was purchased by Dr Nicolas DeMenil, who owned a chain of pharmacies in Saint Louis. He was related to the Auguste Chouteau family, one of the city's founders. DeMenil employed an English architect to design the façade in the Neo-Greek style and to enlarge the house.
FHS's grant will contribute to the restoration of the columns on the front façade.
BESTHOFF SCULPTURE GARDEN, NEW ORLEANS MUSUEM OF ART (New Orleans, LA, USA) $20,000
Washington Chapter,
FHS's grant will help the New Orleans Museum of Art restore its Besthoff Sculpture Garden, which suffered $3 million in damage due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Sculpture Garden includes works by French artists, from Renoir to Magritte; and continues to serve as an important place of solace and inspiration for those citizens returning to their city, as well as to individuals who visit the Museum from all over the world.
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