Hollywood duo now Crescent City locals

Thursday, October 05, 2006

By Lynne Jensen

The Crescent City had been tugging at the Hollywood couple for five years, calling them to settle into a unique and historic New Orleans house, rather than live in a cookie-cutter mansion across the country.

Actress Jennifer Coolidge and writer-producer Banks McClintok found their dream home in the Lower Garden District, shortly before Hurricane Katrina hit the city. The storm added damage to the long-abandoned 1860s Coliseum Square mansion, designed by architect Henry Howard and built by Frederick Wing. But the couple is determined to breathe life back into the promising property.

At a time when huge houses are being carved into condos, Coolidge and McClintok have set out to keep the three-story center-hall as a single residence. They hope to call it home and travel to Los Angeles , after years of doing the opposite.

The visionary couple and other newcomers to town are invited to the fifth annual "Newest Orleanians Breakfast with the Mayor" event Oct. 12 at 8 a.m. at Gallier Hall.

A New Orleans-style breakfast will be cooked up by La Boulangerie, NO Brew and Dorignac's.

The breakfast is free to new residents and returnees who've moved back to the city since Katrina.

Reservations are limited.

" New Orleans has a looseness about it that is really to our taste," McClintok said last week, describing how he found their slice of city history while strolling the Coliseum Square neighborhood.

"I saw just a simple sign stuck on the front of the place and the gate was open," he said. "When I looked inside, I couldn't believe what I was seeing."

Fifty-foot, five-brick-thick plastered walls, the marble entry and the center-hall winding staircase "pushed every hot button that you could write down," McClintok said.

When Coolidge saw it, "she fell in love with it" he said. Only problem was, it was sold. So they bought a place in the French Quarter instead.

As luck would have it, the deal on their Uptown dream house fell through. "In a matter of four days, we got it under contract," McClintok said. "Suddenly we owned two houses, one designed by Henry Howard and another by (James) Gallier Sr."

There's little doubt about which property pulls at their heart.

Coliseum Square is their new neighborhood, McClintok said. Preserving the landmark Howard-designed house "became our personal charge . . . it's become an obsession."

While finishing work on her latest movie, Coolidge, who grew up in Boston , is frequently commuting back and forth from L.A. to New Orleans . McClintok, who also grew up on the east coast, has put writing aside to tackle the restoration project. He's also become part of a neighborhood association that's keeping the area clean and mowed as the city struggles to keep up with post-Katrina debris and chronic neglect.

"We adore this city," McClintok said. "It has a great mix of people and we're here to be part of the town."

The couple is restoring the splendor of their mansion without stripping away its heart and soul.

"I have a problem with people renovating houses and scrubbing the history out of them," McClintok said.

Coolidge agrees.

"My big thing is that I don't want it to look polished," she said about her new home. "It's almost like it's a human being."

Coolidge, whose sister has lived in New Orleans since graduating from Tulane University about 15 years ago, said she hopes the mansion will entice friends to invest in preserving the city's rich history by buying real estate.

"My big prayer for New Orleans is that its history will remain the number one priority here," she said. "I hope these developers who have ideas of cashing in at a time when people are less guarded aren't able to take that away."

Enjoying life on the Square last weekend, Coolidge said she's ready to set down Southern roots.

"I'm not going to stay in L.A. all my life," she said. "I'm an actress and I have to be there, but I want someplace to go and live a life."

Coolidge laughed and said she's looking forward to the day when she's lived in New Orleans long enough to address people as "baby."

"We are trying to change our lives and also save one of the great homes in New Orleans ," McClintok said.