NATCHEZ — The City of Natchez is applying for state funding to repair the city-owned Angelety House on St. Catherine Street.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen approved Tuesday Community Development Director James Johnston’s request to submit an application for grant funding to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to repair the Angelety House.

Johnston told the board the house is in “extreme danger” of falling, with the most urgent need being the roof.

On Friday, a blue tarp covered a section of the roof that was leaking, and Mayor Darryl Grennell said Tuesday outside light was visible inside the house because of the damaged roof.

Grennell said the roof is approximately 30 years old and has exceeded its life expectancy.

The project cost is approximately $215,000.

The city would be required to contribute a 25-percent cost match for the grant.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis suggested the city contact the Southwest Mississippi chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, which has historically leased the house from the city, to see if the coalition could offer assistance with the grant.

Johnston said he thinks the coalition would be open to assisting the city. Additionally, the coalition’s lease for the building has expired, Johnston said, so the city is in a position to negotiate new terms.

Johnston said the city could look at opening the house to the public for tours, so the coalition would be able to generate revenue in the future to offset costs.

The Angelety House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places historically as the Smart-Griffin House.

The house was purchased for $2,000 in 1919 by Emile Angelety from L.T. Griffin, who had inherited the house from his mother, Mary Ellen Smart Griffin.

City records indicate the Angelety family had been residing in the house prior to purchasing it.

Angelety was a black contractor and brick mason in Natchez who built the brick gutters from the cemetery into town and possibly a historic bridge near the Forks of the Road slave market site, Historic Natchez Foundation Executive Director Mimi Miller said.

The house is a “very important” and historically significant building in Natchez, especially on St. Catherine Street, Miller said.

The house is one of the only, if not the only, remaining pre-Civil War houses in its immediate vicinity, Miller said.

“St. Catherine has lost almost all of its historic properties, and it’s a great shame because it’s one of the most important and culturally diverse streets in our community,” she said. “St. Catherine was to land travelers what Silver Street was to water travelers. It was a major route into the city and an extension of the Natchez Trace.”

Most important, Miller said, St. Catherine Street embodies the story of African Americans’ struggle from slavery to freedom.

“At one end you have the Forks of the Road and at the other end you have Zion A.M.E. Church, the church of the first African American to serve in Congress,” Miller said. “The Angelety House is a part of the house, and if we lose it, we lose the only touchstone, except for Zion A.M.E., to pre-Civil War history on that street. We have Forks of the Road, but there are no buildings on the site, so the Angelety House is very important.”