Visitors enter the library in the historic Ramsey home in Pass Christian for The 30th annual Pass Christian Historic Home Tour and Tea.
Posted on Mon, May. 05, 2008
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HOME TOUR SHOWS PASS ON THE MEND
Scenic Drive offers glimpse of life before storm
By MARY PEREZ
meperez@sunherald.com
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PASS CHRISTIAN --
Another sign that Pass Christian is coming back from Hurricane Katrina was Sunday's 30th annual Tour of Homes and Tea, the first held since the storm.Scenic Drive was ragged and neighboring houses still in stages of repair, but the six homes on the tour showed the strength of old construction and the determination of the owners to preserve these treasures of history.
Large crowds touring the homes were wowed by the ornate moldings, curved staircases and unusual spaces they saw.
Elisa Telford and Nancy Secrist of Long Beach said they are so grateful some of the old homes survived Katrina so people could see how beautiful the town was before the storm.
The Ramsey home is said to be the largest house in Mississippi. "Take note of the moldings. They're exquisite," said Bitsy Duggens, who welcomed visitors to the home for the Pass Christian Historical Society fundraising tour.
Over the 15-foot long Duncan Phyfe carved dining room table was a sparkling Baccarat chandelier, and the five-foot urns that stand in the foyer were brought back from Japan in 1852 by Commodore Matthew Perry. Yet amid the century-old white Italian marble fireplace with carved figures of the Muses were a wooden rocking horse in the living room and dolls in a toy car underneath the grand staircase.
Charles Ramsey said he and his wife have five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who live in the home all or part of the time.
His favorite areas of the house are the mahogany paneled library and the palm-shaded courtyard with its elegant fountain that was created with 1840 molds. "You can select pieces from these molds," he said, so probably no one else has a fountain just like it.
The Ramsey home, built in 1964 by New Orleans philanthropist J. Edgar Monroe, survived Katrina with minimal damage yet down Scenic Drive the home now owned by Margaret Loesch was so devastated that few thought it could be restored.
Loesch's family lived in the home when she was a child and she said, "For 35 years I have wanted to buy the home back." She made offers to three different owners "but it was too expensive. I could only afford it after it was destroyed."
Loesch said, "I'm restoring the kitchen the way I wanted it," and she's put back the butler's pantry that was there when she was a child but taken out during a later remodel. "The rest of the house fits the footprint that dates back to 1910."
"This one's beautiful. This one you can really feel it because there isn't any furniture," said Charri Luckett of Gulfport after touring the circa 1845 home that is still being restored. Alan Ramsay of Historic Renovations of Yazoo is doing the work and found heart pine in North Carolina for the downstairs floors that were destroyed by the storm. He said the biggest challenge was having a client who was willing to restore the home.
"Most of my friends thought I was insane," admits Loesch. "My parents would be delighted," she added. Her father was an Air Force general and when they traveled the world, "I dreamed of this house and the Gulf Coast."
She now lives in Los Angeles and said she will continue to produce shows so she can pay for the repairs to the home.
"It's just been a dream of mine," she said. "It's a fantasy," and the people who toured the home got to share for a day.
