Tulane School of Architecture's Preservation Studies students are learning the dying art of touching up New Orleans' tombs

From The Times-Picayune

by Molly Reid

The Taylor family residence on Washington Avenue was crumbling. Plaster was missing, a brick wall had collapsed and daily visitors only promised more damage.

The Taylors are in no position to make repairs: Their centuries-old bones lay in a tomb in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, where tourists, weather and the tests of time have taken their toll on the family's final resting place.

So sprucing up the Taylors' tomb is in the hands of skilled preservationists and students of the art. To them, upkeep is a tribute both to the dead and to traditional building arts.

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