FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — For more than a decade, people from all over the city of New Orleans came for Miss Gloria’s famous $1 breakfasts — grits, eggs, smoked sausage and a biscuit, served up with a smile and the latest news. Once the social anchor for the Gert Town neighborhood, Miss Gloria’s Kitchen has been gutted and shuttered since Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans 18 months ago. This spring, 13 architecture students from the University of Arkansas are helping to get Gloria Caulfield back in business. They have redesigned the property from foundation to rooftop and will present sketches, plans and a detailed model of the project to Caulfield and the Rev. Lois Dejean, head of the Gert Town Revival Initiative, at 2 p.m. Friday, March 16, in Vol Walker Hall.

Fifth-year architecture student James Sullivan visits with Miss Gloria outside her café.

In this photo montage, architecture students document the neighborhood context for Miss Gloria’s Kitchen.

Currently providing home care for elderly clients, Caulfield is eager to reopen her restaurant: “I just want to get back to work where I can settle my mind,” she said, adding, “I miss all my customers!”

The UA team hopes that the project will serve as a catalyst for the rebirth of Gert Town, an African American enclave located in the heart of New Orleans.

“Since Katrina, there’s little in the neighborhood to entice folks to come back home — no school, no market. It’s bereft of those things that make it a viable place to live,” said Greg Herman, as associate professor of architecture who is leading the studio. Dejean, who has devoted many years to enhancing Gert Town, agrees that the project would have major impact.

“Miss Gloria is an icon in the city of New Orleans,” she told the students last month, after greeting each of them into her home with a warm hug. “We’re rebuilding Gert Town one day, one block at a time, and you’re a part of making that happen.”

On their first visit to Gert Town the students measured and photographed every inch of the restaurant site, where tattered handwritten specials remain tacked to walls sporting multicolored layers of mold. Caulfield, energized by the army of young people ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work, led the tour of her restaurant.

“You want to go from grill to deep fryer to stove,” she said, gesturing toward the ruined remnants of a once bustling kitchen area. Though casual about aesthetic concerns such as colors and finish details, Caulfield had several functional requests, including a pass through window so that she could chat with customers while cooking, counter seating along the walls and a restroom in front to improve circulation within the restaurant.

The students hope to make Miss Gloria’s Kitchen even better than it was before.  Preliminary design ideas would open up the building’s southern exposure to flood the interior with natural light, and provide outdoor seating to amplify the restaurant’s role as a neighborhood focal point.

“We want it to be a real cornerstone for the neighborhood,” said Amanda Martinson, a fifth-year architecture student from Fayetteville.

Additional storage, storm resistant materials and an improved layout also factor into the students’ design scheme.

Though the School of Architecture has secured some funding for the project, Herman estimates that an additional $50,000 to $100,000 is needed. The school is seeking monetary and in-kind donations to make the project a reality; for more information, contact Charlotte Taylor at (479) 575-7384 or chtaylo@uark.edu.

The project to rebuild Miss Gloria’s Kitchen was inspired by the December 2005 Arkansas Summit in Vol Walker Hall. Organized by the student group Re_Vision and the architecture service organization Project Locus, the conference brought together 50 designers, engineers, historians and students from across the country to discuss how design schools could help New Orleans. Participants formed a coalition, CITYbuild, which has launched design-build projects in New Orleans by the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Tulane University and now, the University of Arkansas.

For more information on Miss Gloria’s Kitchen, visit http://www.citybuild.org/schools/glorias.html. Jared Hueter’s blog offers an in-depth student perspective on the project.