130-year-old New Orleans church breaks ground on $6.2 million renovation

On Wednesday, June 7, the St. Stephen Church, located on 1025 Napoleon Avenue, held a ground breaking ceremony to celebrate its anticipated $6.2 million renovation.

First built in 1868 and redesigned in 1887, the damages of the German Gothic church includes gaps in stone celling columns, worn walls, and a roof leak. This renovation will be the Church’s first in its 130 years of existence. St. Stephen sits among the oldest places of worship in New Orleans.

Before the renovation campaign, several parishioners were concerned about the growing degradation of one of Touro’s oldest landmarks. In fact, the church did not conduct any major repairs after Hurricane Katrina.

A campaign to fund the Church’s renovation began in May of 2016, and in just over a year, the church received 85 percent of its funding through private donations. The project will also benefit from the City of New Orleans’s historic tax credits.

The Church selected Donahue-Favret as the contractor and Trapolin-Peer Architects as the architect of record.

Check out the video below to learn more about the St. Stephen Church Restoration Project.

• St. Stephen Catholic Church is set to get a $6.2 million makeover [Nola.com]
• New Orleans’ oldest churches, synagogues, chapels and cathedrals [Curbed NOLA]
• Historic St. Stephen Catholic Church To Break Ground On $6.2M Restoration, Anonymous Donor Pledges $1M [Biz New Orleans]