User:Hollycamelately

David Villarrubia

Birth 1952

David Villarrubia, amateur historian, Retired Delta Airlines International Pilot/ New Orleans Businessman purchased the Degas House on Esplanade ridge in 1993. Home of the maternal family of Edgar Degas the only remaining home in the world in which the artist lived; native Villarrubia knew the some of the history of the run down house, realized the significance of the property and wanted to protect for New Orleans this piece of art history.

By February 1996 the first phase of restoration completed and the House won 2 restoration awards. “The Award of Excellence In Restoration” by the Louisiana Preservation Allliance & “The City of New Orleans, Golden Hammer Award for Historic Preservation” By 1998-99 Villarrubia over saw the making of the film Degas In New Orleans: A Creole Sojourn- Awarded the “Houston WorldFest Film Festival, SILVER AWARD, 2000” and “The WorldFest Flagstaff Film Festival, GOLD AWARD, 1999” as well as the American Library Association, "Booklist" 1999 Editor’s Choice Villarrubia received the distinction of Knight of French National Order of Arts and Letters or de Chevalier des Arts et Lettres on March 21, 2009 for his contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance and its preservation Hollycamelately (talk) 18:58, 1 April 2009 (UTC)