Southkick Historic Preservation
A core pillar of Dear Valentine’s mission is to preserve historically significant architecture using locally produced materials. This goal would not be feasible without the help of our partner in the preservation, Michelle Duhon, founder of Southkick Historic Preservation.
WHO IS SOUTHKICK?
Southkick Historic Preservation was founded by Michelle Stanard Duhon in 2016. A native of Dallas, Texas, Michelle first fell in love with historic buildings and landscapes during family trips to Mobile, Alabama. As a result, she knew she wanted to work with historic buildings from a very young age. She received her undergraduate degree in History and Art History at the University of Georgia, and then her Masters in Historic Preservation from the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture.
Michelle first came to New Orleans as a Katrina volunteer with a group of student architects and preservationists. In her early professional life, she worked for architects, general contractors, and developers — and found herself drawn back to New Orleans after her fateful first visit — before stepping out on her own with Southkick and its sister company, Bayou Preservation.
What is historic preservation, really? By Michelle’s definition, “historic preservation includes a lot of things, but the main intent is to protect a piece of the historic, built environment so that future generations live with history and culture.”
CHANGING THE MISPERCEPTION OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Michelle’s passion for historic preservation is rooted in the fact that it’s “a building practice that is sustainable, culturally relevant, and saves our country from the endless monotony of beige strip malls — giving our communities a ‘sense of place,’ while keeping really good building materials out of the landfills.”
Yet with her decades in the development world, she has experienced first-hand how preservationists are unfortunately seen as either an optional add-on service, a last-minute consult, or the introduction of a permitting nightmare.
To change that misperception, Michelle founded Southkick with the intent to move preservation “into the limelight.” Combining her skills in architectural conservation, design, project management, and historic tax credits, Southkick is a one-stop shop for historic preservation services. Southkick also writes historic tax credits, helps with permitting in historic districts, writes design guidelines, prepares National Register nominations, and represents owners on residential and commercial renovation projects.
Sister company Bayou Preservation goes a step further, providing hands-on restoration of architecture, sculpture, and monuments — particularly masonry, stone, and plaster. “It's my architectural conservation background that has made me an excellent ‘forensic scientist’ when it comes to diagnosing historic buildings,” Michelle reflects.
Rather than seeing preservation work as difficult or daunting, Michelle’s goal is for property owners to see it as an important step that, in her words, “provides direct, physical access to the past, showing us how people used to behave and how far we have evolved (or devolved). Ecologically, preservation also saves construction waste from going into landfills, embodying reduce/reuse/recycle. And finally, historic buildings are just prettier and more interesting — and as humans we need some visual beauty.”
ON JOINING DEAR VALENTINE
As a Dear Valentine partner, Southkick’s preservation efforts on the New Orleans properties have made them a crucial part of our mission to restore architecturally interesting and historically significant properties. Our commitment to preservation, to Michelle, “signifies that Dear Valentine recognizes the value of story-telling and culture.”
Learn more about Michelle and Southkick Historic Preservation here.