Creole cottage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Creole cottage is a term used to refer to a type of vernacular architecture indigenous to the Gulf Coast of the United States. The style was a dominate house type in the former settlements of French Louisiana in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, although examples can also be found in Florida and Texas. This type of architecture is also sometimes referred to as Gulf Coast cottage and more rarely as Cajun cottage. The style is popularly thought to have evolved from French and Spanish colonial house-forms, although the true origins are unclear. The term is usually used to denote that it is a story-and-a-half gabled house in which the front or both slopes of the high-pitched roof extend over a full-length porch or gallery. This type of house was common along the Gulf Coast and associated rivers in the 19th century.[1]
[edit] 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-length 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. In the more formal and later examples a central hall is usually present.[2] Smaller examples often feature an interior chimney that pierces the ridgeline of the roof, with back-to-back fireplaces serving two rooms.[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 New Orleans the term "Creole cottage" tends to be more narrowly defined as a one and one-half 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 main difference being the lack of a porch or raised basement level.[3] Houses that match the broader description of a Creole cottage are usually referred to as "Creole townhouses" or "French Colonial" in New Orleans.[4]
[edit] Examples
 The Bishop Portier House, a Creole cottage with neoclassical details in Mobile, Alabama. |
 Williamsburg in Natchez, Mississippi. |
 "Madame John's Legacy" in New Orleans. Built in 1788. |
 Another example in Mobile. |
 The typical form for a Creole cottage in New Orleans, Louisiana. |
 A later example in New Orleans. |
[edit] References
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Creole Cottage". "Architectural Patrimony". Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
- ^ "French Creole Heritage". "Louisiana Studies in Historic Preservation". Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
