Ken Stickney

kstickney@theadvertiser.com

It the walls could talk, they might say much about what was stolen a week back from an historic house on North Sterling: an original exit door, some fluted door casing, French doors, pocket doors, banister and rail.

Now those treasured pieces of the 1899 home built by the family of C.J. McNaspy, first athletic director and the “Father of Southwest Louisiana athletics” at what is now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, have been returned, courtesy of an honest antique dealer who bought the pieces earlier and learned later that they had been stolen from a home rehabilitation effort at the corner of North Sterling and Chopin streets.

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'Last House' under rehab since October

Architect Stephen Juan Ortego said he’s been working since last autumn on the home — it is known locally as “The Last House” because for years it marked the edge of town — which was purchased in 2016 by Leigh Hennessy and her husband Mark Robson, both former UL athletes. Hennessy, daughter of legendary local trampoline coach Jeff Hennessy, is a former world champion in that sport who later made her mark in Hollywood, where she was a movie stunt woman. Her husband played soccer.

“We’ve been peeling back the layers,” said Ortego, trained as an architect at Tulane, who said he likes to take on one historic project a year. “You have to let the house talk to you.”

That means an architect and crew must determine what is original and what was added to the home over a century-plus. Walls were built or moved; a portion of a wrap-around porch was enclosed; plumbing was added. Ortego said the two-story home — eventually it included three apartments — was built without indoor plumbing but with electricity, which was available in Lafayette at the time of its construction.

The rehab work is painstaking, intended to meet the U.S. Interior Department standards for historic homes and the guidelines of the state Historic Preservation Office. The home is located in the Sterling Grove National Historic District. Although the burglary occurred last weekend, it was not known until midweek that the pieces were pilfered.

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Word spread on social media

After the loss of the material was discovered, Ortego and Hennessy both took to Facebook in an effort to spread the word. They got a combined 70,000 hits, including about 700 shares.

“So sad, one of my projects was robbed this past weekend and all of the original doors, transoms, casings and stair bannister were stolen,” Ortego wrote. “If you know anything related to this crime against Lafayette History please let me know or contact Lafayette PD.”

Word got around, even as Hennessy visited antique dealers around the area to see if anyone had tried to sell the pieces. In fact, she said, sometimes antique dealers knew about the missing items before she even arrived with printed fliers about the missing items. It was a hot local topic.

Good fortune arrived when a local antique dealer heard about the theft and checked some materials he’d purchased earlier. They were the missing items.

Hennessy said additional security measures have been added at the home. The project should be completed by summer, she said.

Ortego returned to Facebook to thank those who passed the word and displayed a photo of Hennessy and him holding some of the returned materials.

“You all helped us save a piece of Lafayette history!” he wrote.