Can You Renovate a Historic Home in New Orleans?

Can you renovate a historic home?

Yes, you can renovate a historic home. Most historic homes can be repaired, updated, and modernized both inside and out. If your home sits inside a designated historic district, though, some exterior changes may need to go through a review process before work starts.

That’s the short answer. If you’re looking into historic home renovation in New Orleans specifically, the real question is what “historic” actually means for your house, and what kind of review, if any, applies to your project. Big Easy Renovations breaks down both below, along with what to ask before you sign a contract.

What makes a home “historic” in New Orleans?

A home can be historic in two different ways, and they don’t always overlap.

First, there’s the age and style of the house itself. A century-old shotgun, a double, or a raised center-hall home with a pier-and-beam foundation and plaster walls counts as historic housing stock just because of when and how it was built.

Second, there’s whether the house sits inside a designated historic district. New Orleans has several, including areas like the French Quarter, the Garden District, and parts of Uptown and Esplanade Ridge. A house can be old without sitting inside one of these districts, and a newer house can technically fall inside district boundaries. Knowing which situation applies to your address matters, because it changes what kind of review, if any, your renovation might need.

What historic district review usually covers

Does renovating a historic home require special approval? In some cases, yes. If your home sits inside a designated historic district, exterior changes that are visible from the street, like a new roofline, altered windows, different siding, or a fence facing the sidewalk, are the changes most likely to require review before work starts. Interior work, like a kitchen remodel or an updated bathroom, typically doesn’t trigger the same review.

Requirements vary by district, so there’s no single rule that covers every historic New Orleans neighborhood. Every address is different, so build a quick check with the city into your early planning, right alongside picking finishes and a contractor.

How Big Easy Renovations works with historic homes

Big Easy Renovations has 15 years of experience working on New Orleans’ old housing stock, including shotguns, doubles, and homes with pier-and-beam foundations. We’ve worked around plaster walls that crack differently than drywall, foundations that shift with the water table, and humidity that a lot of modern materials weren’t built to handle.

When a project touches a historic district, we start by asking the same questions a homeowner should ask: is this interior or exterior work, and does this district review street-visible changes? We’ve worked on homes in these situations before, and we plan the project around what we already know, instead of guessing at what a district might or might not approve. Learn more about our hands-on experience with older New Orleans homes.

Whether it’s one room or a full home renovation, we plan around the house you actually have, not a generic template.

What to ask before you renovate (or buy) a historic home

If you own or are considering buying a historic New Orleans property, here’s what to ask first:

1. Does this address sit inside a designated historic district? Confirm this with the city rather than assuming either way.
2. Is the planned work interior, or does it change something visible from the street?
3. Has the contractor you’re considering worked in this specific district before?
4. What’s the general review process in this district, and how far ahead should you plan for it?

Skip these questions and you risk picking finishes or a layout you’ll have to redo once the district’s requirements come into focus.

FAQ

Is my house in a New Orleans historic district?

The most reliable way to confirm this is to check directly with the City of New Orleans for your specific address. Don’t assume based on your neighborhood’s reputation or your home’s age alone, since district boundaries don’t always match up with either.

Do all renovations on a historic home need approval?

No. Interior work generally doesn’t require the same review as exterior changes. Work that’s visible from the street, like a new roof, windows, or fencing, is more likely to be reviewed, but this varies by district and by the scope of the project.

Does historic district review slow down my renovation?

It can. If your project falls under historic district review, that adds a step most renovations outside a historic district never deal with. The exact impact depends on your district and the scope of your project, since exterior changes are the ones most likely to need extra back-and-forth. Loop in your contractor about this before you lock in a design, so it’s part of your plan from day one instead of a surprise midway through.

If you own an older New Orleans home, or you’re about to buy one, and you’re not sure what a renovation looks like once historic district rules are part of the picture, talk to someone who’s done this before. Big Easy Renovations works with homeowners across our service area, and you can get a free estimate to start the conversation and get a straight answer about what your project would involve.