Creole cottage

Madame John's Legacy in New Orleans, Louisiana. Built in 1788, it is a prototypical example of the style.

Creole cottage is a term loosely used to refer to a type of vernacular architecture indigenous to the Gulf Coast of the United States. Within this building type comes a series of variations. An expanded version of this type of building is commonly referred to as Gulf Coast cottage, with the distinctions noted below. The style was a dominant house type along the central Gulf Coast from about 1790 to 1840 in the former settlements of French Louisiana in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The style is popularly thought to have evolved from French and Spanish colonial house-forms, although the true origins are unclear. This type of house was common along the Gulf Coast and associated rivers in the 19th century with a few scattered examples found as far west as Houston, Texas and as far east as northern Florida, though the majority of structures are found in southern Louisiana eastward to Mobile, Alabama.^[1]

Architectural features

Two features of this style of house are thought to be influences from other places in France's former colonial empire. The full front porch is believed to originate from the Caribbean islands. while the high gabled roof, the ridge of which is parallel to the street, that accommodates the porch as well as the mass of the house is thought to be of French Canadian origin.^[2] In the earlier or more fundamental examples one or two main rooms may open directly onto the porch. They often feature an interior chimney that pierces the ridge line of the roof, with back-to-back fireplaces serving two rooms.^[2] In the more formal and later examples a central hall is usually present. The more formal examples began to appear in 1820s and 1830s and are sometimes referred to as Gulf Coast cottages. These are typically larger with Federal or Greek Revival architectural influences not present in the simpler version of a Creole cottage. Their central hall usually has a central entrance. End-gable chimneys are often present rather than a central one.^[2] Two common secondary characteristics of this style are a raised basement level and the front of the buildings are most often situated up to the property line.^[2]

In the city of New Orleans the term Creole cottage tends to be more narrowly defined as a 1 ¹⁄₂-story house with a gabled roof, the ridge of which is parallel to the street. The house normally has four squarish rooms with no hallways and is built up to the front property line. The primary difference between these cottages and those elsewhere is the lack of a full front porch.^[3]

Examples

The typical form for a Creole cottage in New Orleans.   Williamsburg, a Creole cottage in Natchez, Mississippi.   The Bishop Portier House, a Creole cottage with Federal style details, in Mobile, Alabama.   The Collins-Marston House, a typical mid-19th-century Gulf Coast cottage with neo-classical details and side-wings in Mobile, Alabama.

See also

• French Colonial
• Buildings and architecture of New Orleans
• South Lafayette Street Creole Cottages

Media related to Creole cottages at Wikimedia Commons

References

1. ^ Gamble, Robert Historic architecture in Alabama: a guide to styles and types, 1810-1930, page 180. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1990. ISBN 0817311343.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Gamble, Robert Historic architecture in Alabama: a guide to styles and types, 1810-1930, pages 37-41. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1990. ISBN 0817311343.
3. ^ "Creole Cottage". "Architectural Patrimony". http://bywater.org/Arch/Creole.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-12. ^{[dead link]}