Scores of Big and Little Jobs

On February 2, 1971, the ladies of The Woman’s Exchange (formerly Christian Woman’s Exchange) opened the 1831 Hermann-Grima House doors to the public as a museum. Fifty years later, the organization still owns and operates the Hermann-Grima House and now also operates the Gallier House as an historic house museum. As early as 1963, leaders of the Exchange recognized the importance of restoring and preserving the Hermann-Grima House, and over the next decade would update its mission from being a place where working women could live at modest rates to one focused on preservation, education, and interpretation of its valuable historic property. With the help of volunteers from the Exchange’s membership, the Colonial Dames, local scholars, architectural historians, and craftsmen and women, over the past half-century Hermann-Grima House and Gallier House have thrived as centers of study for preservation and life in 19th-century New Orleans.

Join PRC Executive Director, Danielle Del Sol to celebrate preservation month in April. Ms. Del Sol will open with an introduction to the preservation movement in New Orleans and Curator, Katie Burlison, will discuss the efforts of The Woman’s Exchange in preserving Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses. hgghh.org.