Chauvin House

The circa 1830 Chauvin House is exemplary of Louisiana’s French Creole building tradition. As explained below, it grew at the rear and received at least two major modifications, estimated circa 1840 with expanding the size of the house by 1/3 its size and in 1870 b adding two symmetrical wings, thereby increasing the size size of the affected rooms on either side–none of which detract from its resolutely French Creole character. The one and a half story galleried cottage is located on a small parcel of land facing the Mississippi River levee in upper St. James Parish. Immediately adjacent on the up-river side is a convenience store and a modern church. Three lots down-river is St. Mary's, a Catholic Chapel designed and built by one of the home's former occupants, Louis II and Pierre Chauvin. Little (other than deterioration) has happened to the house since the c.1870 work. A descendant of the original occupants will soon be restoring the house.

The original portion of the Chauvin House has a mortise and tenon frame with bousillage entre poteaux (mud & moss between post) infill. The mud and moss was eventually replaced in the 1840 addition with bricks (briquette entre poteaux). The roof is gable end with a gallery spanning the façade. As built circa 1830, the house had one room at the front and a rear range of two rooms of equal size. The original rear range was incorporated into new construction circa 1840 and 1870. Please refer to attached floor plan. The five rooms in the enlarged rear range continue the Creole tradition of rooms communicating without benefit of halls, rather with one with another or by use of the gallerie (outside porch). At the very rear is a cabinet and loggia configuration which connects with a two room building that served as a kitchen. The kitchen, with its own gable end roof, is attached in the manner of an ell. (Either the house as it grew met the kitchen or the kitchen was moved up.) Although it is impossible to date the very utilitarian kitchen building, it is constructed of square nails throughout, and may have served as a building with a totally separate purpose as indicated by its formally placed window/door configuration. By use of square nails, and mortise and tenon construction, it indicates that it was probably built before 1880.

The circa 1870 construction extends beyond the sides of the old house–i.e., is wider than the original house. The front part of the expansion registers on the exterior as a small hip roof pavilion on each side. A continuous shed roof covers the rear cabinet-loggia range. Pilasters with molded capitals define the pavilions at the corners. Brackets (in the Creole manner) ornament the entablatures, appearing singly and in groups. Identical paired brackets were placed on the front gallery of the original house. And it appears from the architectural evidence that the present paneled columns with molded capitals date from the circa 1870 work as well. Their molding profiles look later than that found elsewhere in the house and they are of boxed construction and nailed in place, rather than the earlier type of column of solid wood mortised into a plate. Pilasters defining each corner of the house match the columns; so they too appear to be from the circa 1870 work. The façade is sheathed in drop (or beveled) siding, which cannot be original. (This type of siding appears in New Orleans beginning in the 1850s.) As built, the façade must have been plastered, a treatment seen on the original rear wall. The frames for the openings on the façade are presently delicate in character and reveal that they are not of the original size. The original size was somewhat smaller, approximately one meter wide.

In true French Creole fashion, there is no regard for symmetry. The front two unequally sized rooms determine the asymmetrical pattern of openings on the façade and the off-center placement of the chimney. The larger salle has two French door openings, the smaller chamber only one. Each French door leaf has 10 panes. The gallery ceiling has the typical French Creole treatment of exposed ceiling beams.

Exposed ceiling beams and random width hand-planed boards (both beams and boards beaded) are found in the front two rooms and the original portion of the second range of rooms. (One can easily see in the ceiling where the circa 1870 construction begins in the old rear range. The new construction attempts to convey the look of exposed ceiling beams but the wood is not hand planed or beaded nor is it of random size.) The off-center interior chimney (a French Creole signature) is ornamented with almost identical mantels that wrap around the flue in the French manner. Slightly splayed pilasters support a medium-weight entablature with a generous cove molding rising to the mantel shelf. The sides are paneled in the manner of a piece of furniture.

Fairly simple faux bois is found throughout the front two rooms. According to Chauvin family history, the house featured faux bois originally, but the present work was done by a family member in the early twentieth century (Francis Chauvin). Three doors in the circa 1830 house are most unusual. They feature three molded horizontal panels with three molded vertical panels below. Door and window frames are of plain boards in the chambre and feature delicate molding in the salle. Walls in the front two rooms are finished in plaster. Those in the circa 1870 reworking and expansion are sheathed in light gauge boards.

There are various early-looking doors formed of boards with horizontal battens–some in the circa 1870 construction. Windows range from 12 over 8 to 6 over 6. Some windows from the circa 1830 house (at the rear) were evidently reused in the circa 1870 construction. Most of the windows have shutters formed of beaded boards. The paneled shutters for the façade’s French doors were in storage on the property and have been restored and placed back to their original status.

Assessment of Integrity

There are no serious integrity issues for the Chauvin House. It retains all of its character-defining French Creole features. The circa 1870 construction even follows the French Creole floor plan tradition.

Contributing element

Fairly close to the rear of the house is a good-size wood frame shed of unknown original use. Nails throughout are of the square head type, indicating a date from before roughly 1880. The main body of the shed is sheathed in clapboard style weatherboard. On each side is a shed roof extension. One extension is open while the other is sheathed in vertical boards.

SIGNIFICANT DATES: c. 1828, c. 1870ARCHITECT/BUILDER: Louis Chauvin Sr.CRITERION: C

The Chauvin House is of local architectural significance as one of a limited number of French Creole residences remaining in St. James Parish, which once had many more examples. It is particularly important among the survivors for its briquette entre poteaux construction and particularly for its two French wraparound mantels.

The 1858 Persac Map of the Mississippi River shows some 111 St. James Parish plantations identified by the names of their owners. In addition, the map depicts a large number of unnamed agricultural tracts. Because French Creoles were the dominant group to settle and develop the area before the Civil War, it is reasonable to assume that many of the houses on these plantations would have been in the Creole style. Thus, one can legitimately estimate that St. James Parish had a minimum of perhaps 150 Creole style houses in 1858. Today, survey records show that only 31 remain. Eighteen of these (often Creole in form only) date from after 1870, leaving only 13 to represent the parish’s earlier Creole architecture. With its c.1830 construction date, the Chauvin House represents the French Creole building tradition in its pure form–before it was influenced by Anglo symmetry. The house’s many Creole character-defining features include the lack of symmetry, the hall-less floor plan, the interior chimney, briquette entre poteaux construction, exposed ceiling beams, and the two handsome wraparound mantels. It is one of only 9 Creole dwellings remaining in St. James with columbage construction (a braced frame with bousillage or briquette entre poteaux infill). The mantels particularly set the house apart from others. There are only three other French wraparound mantels known to survive in the parish. (The “best” of St. James’ Creole houses are on the Register, and the staff of the LA SHPO is familiar with their interiors.)

Historical Note:

The following is based upon the oral tradition within the Chauvin family and some primary sources: The land upon which the house is located was owned by Jacques LeBlanc until his death in 1830, when it was bequeathed to his two children, Caroline LeBlanc and Paul Destival LeBlanc. Caroline LeBlanc had married Jacques Martin Chauvin on January 5, 1829. Jacques Chauvin purchased Paul LeBlanc’s portion on December 24, 1833. According to Chauvin family history, Jacques’ brother, Louis Chauvin I, bought the property around 1836. Louis Chauvin II, his son, was born in the house in 1837 and lived there until his death in 1900. It is family tradition that Louis Chauvin II, a self-educated architect, made the additions at the rear after he purchased the house from his mother in 1870. Because the stylistic details could quite easily be c.1870, this date is being used for this submission. (The details, however, could just as easily be late 1850s.)

Upon Louis Chauvin II’s death, the house was left to his two daughters and two sons. In 1906, Frank Chauvin bought the property from his brother and sisters. Francis Chauvin is remembered in family history as a master craftsman/builder whose skills were used in the mid-twentieth century restoration of River Road plantation houses such as Bagatelle, Houmas House, and Bocage. He was the last person to live in the candidate. He died in 1985. Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Chauvin owned the unoccupied house until very recently. Within the last month or so they transferred ownership to their son, Spencer Chauvin, who is in the beginning stages of restoration planning.

ources

* St. James Parish Survey files, Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation
* Typescript of Chauvin family history. Copy in National Register file