A House For Maryann
Community Partners : East Biloxi Coordination Center
Building Partners: Hope Force International & Project Rehab
Maryann’s house on Braun Street was the home she grew up in as a child. As her family grew Maryann’s father modified and added onto their home in order to fit their changing needs. Later the home was passed onto Maryann and she continued to live there with her son and granddaughter. Unfortunately, this family home was damaged beyond repair as a result of the Katrina storm surge and had to be demolished.
Maryann’s property is across the street from a newly developed public housing complex. The scale of these neighboring two-story multi-family homes is larger than Biloxi’s typical one-story single family home. The need to elevate Maryann’s home to meet FEMA’s base flood elevation provided an increase in the structure’s height which helped address these differences in scale. Elevating the home also provided an opportunity to develop a spacious, multi-level front porch. One porch extends off the interior living spaces while the lower porch section welcomes pedestrians at the street level.
Over the years Maryann’s home had been the center for family gatherings. She enjoyed entertaining and cooking for her family and wanted her new home to accommodate these larger gatherings. For this reason the living room and dining room openly extend through the full width of the house. The kitchen also meets these rooms with an open bar counter in order to include people working in the kitchen and to provide additional work space and seating.
Maryann on the steps to her old MEMA cottage
