BUILDING / EAST BILOXI / A HOUSE FOR CORA

This is Cora.
Cora , 86, has lived in Biloxi for over 50 years. A mother of two grown children, Jean and Juanita, she was living in a small FEMA Trailer parked in the North corner of her property on Elmer Street. And though she has several of them, Cora says that she forgets to bring her 'walking stick' every time she leaves the house.

Her former home was decrepit before the Hurricane in 2005. After the hurricane, crooked but still standing, the home was deemed totally unsound, held up solely by the vertical siding. It was demolished in the middle of March 2006, with the promise that a new one would be built by a contractor, volunteers, and $20,000 of Ms. Reddix's money.

But at the end of April 2006, Ms. Reddix found that her $20,000 had been mishandled by the contractor and that there was nothing left-no money, no home.

Her property, bounded on the South by the railroad and to the West by a historical home, is 70ft wide by 48ft deep. The ranch proportion-wide along the street, shallow in depth-is rotated in comparison to the other properties along the narrow street and to East Biloxi where the typical lot size is approximately 50ft wide by 100ft deep. The required setbacks (20ft. front, 25ft. rear, 5ft sides) for the site do not match the character of the street. A variance provides a more confident setback of 10ft. The frequency of trains gives the site a dynamic, urban quality, but frequently and abruptly pauses conversation. The private spaces, therefore, act as a buffer to the social spaces.

The home meets the International Building Code and the Standard for Hurricane Resistant Residential Construction, and was a straightforward build for volunteer labor.

Partners: East Biloxi Coordination and Relief Center, Beaverton Four Square

08/07 - Ms. Cora at the dedication of her home.

7/07 - The ramp is being built.

3-07- Volunteers hanging drywall.

3-07- Volunteers hanging drywall.

3-07- A volunteer finishing hanging the Hardy Board

3-07 - The front of Cora's house


11-28-06 - Cora's house just got a new roof, and the siding is going up soon.


Cora has always been known for having the one of the most beautiful gardens

The windows are up and there is decking on the roof


The foundation is going in.

Cora on the porch of her FEMA trailer

Her property after her existing house was demolished

Cora's house after Katrina