The Bring Back Eagle Saloon Initiative has announced that is has raised enough funds to begin stabilizing the historic Eagle Saloon building at 401 S. Rampart Street.

The organization, which recently launched an effort to raise awareness about the venue and money for its restoration, will assist the non-profit New Orleans Music Hall of Fame with the project.

The New Orleans Music Hall of Fame has also confirmed that is has approved a contract with Palmisano Design-Build to complete the first phase of its stabilization effort. Additionally, the non-profit’s board will hire a preservationist to independently oversee the construction project.

The first phase of the stabilizatiopn effort will include floor and roof joist/decking repair, lintel and sill replacement, steelwork to repair the existing third floor balcony and anchors, historic stair repair, wood shoring, replacement of wood decking and roof repair.

Now that the project can begin in earnest, the Chair of the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors–Rita Gue–has announced that she will step down from the board and leave the organization. The news was posted on the Eagle Saloon’s Facebook pages, along with a statement from Gue.

Originally built in 1850, the Eagle Saloon eventually became a hotspot in the early jazz age, frequently playing host to jazz pioneers like Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. Many of the equally historic buildings around the bar came down as the neighborhood was redeveloped over the course of the 20th century, but the Eagle Saloon still stands, albeit in disrepair, along with the Iroquois Theater and the historic Karnofsky family building.

John Haase, curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution, was quoted in a May 2011 Times-Picayune article as saying: “There is probably no other block in America with buildings bearing so much significance to the history of our country’s great art form, jazz. It would be a terrible shame if these structures were allowed to disintegrate. They hold the potential to tell remarkable stories about the culture of New Orleans and the music of America.”

In order to help realize its vision, the Eagle Saloon Initiative has recruited a number of local “cultural ambassadors” to champion the resurrection of the building. Participants include musicians like Porter, Big Sam, Ivan and Ian Neville, Dave Torkanowsky, DJ Soul Sister, Deacon John Moore, PJ Morton and Eric Krasno, as well as former WWOZ programming director Dwayne Breashears, music journalist Alison Fensterstock, music historian Holly Hobbs, author Louis Maistros, writer Brett Michael Dykes and OffBeat’s own Jan Ramsey.

The Eagle Saloon Initiative has come under recent fire via social media, primarily from photographer and jazz historian John McCusker, who alleges that the Meraux Foundation has deliberately let the historic jazz properties deteriorate from benign neglect.  (Rita Gue and her husband Floyd both sit on the board of this private family Foundation). The Foundation owns the block of downtown property where the historic jazz buildings are situated. The Meraux Foundation was formed to contribute to the welfare of St. Bernard Parish and over the years has donated millions to St. Bernard projects (history of the Foundation and its issues with its board and donations was detailed in a 2010 article in the Times-Picayune).

McCusker, along with other preservationists, has questioned why the Meraux Foundation had not taken steps to preserve the properties in all the years that the Foundation has owned them. It’s notable that the Gues moved to the city and took their place on the Meraux Foundation Board less than 10 years ago. Rita Gue’s aunt, Arlene Meraux, sold Jerome “PopAgee” Johnson the Eagle Saloon to him in 2007, and Johnson planned to restore the properties via the non-profit New Orleans Music Hall of Fame before the Gues became involved in the Meraux Foundation. Johnson could not put the project re-development together and  nothing was done; he died in 2014. But before his death, Johnson appointed Rita and Floyd Gue to the board of the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame to “steward” the development of the properties. Mike Sherman, an attorney who is also on the board of the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame, said the Gues have stepped up and have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to insure that the historic properties are preserved. “If anyone wants to keep these buildings alive, it’s the Gues,” he said.