Teche landmark to get delayed facelift

ST. MARTINVILLE — A facelift starting Monday for the landmark Maison Duchamp will bring much-needed repairs to the historic home turned post office turned city building.

The roof of the 133-year-old structure has been partially covered by blue tarps since Hurricane Gustav tore through downtown more than a year ago.

Funding to restore the “Main Street gem,” roughly $200,000, is coming from FEMA and insurance money, said African Amer-ican Museum Curator-Director Danielle Fonte-nette.

Maison Duchamp is one of several St. Martinville sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

“When you’re dealing with an old building, you want it back to where it was,” said St. Martinville City Councilman Mike Fuselier. “Putting an old slate roof back on is an act of Congress and not a cheap endeavor. I’m glad we were able to keep the old building restored.”

The home was built in 1876 as a residence for Eugene and Amélie Duchamp, who then lost the home because of unpaid taxes, Fontenette said. The home was then owned by another family and eventually taken over by the federal government around 1930.

The federal government used the building to open St. Martinville’s first post office. It is the only private residence purchased by the government to be used as a post office, Fontenette said.

The city eventually ac-quired Maison Duchamp, which is used as a reception and banquet hall on the first floor and a special investigative unit for the St. Martinville Police Department on the second floor.

But the city has its sights set on bigger things for the landmark in the future, Fontenette said, with the prospect of a French International Center to coincide with the Inter-national Center in Lafayette.