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WHAT STYLE IS IT?
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Building Blocks
Of all American Colonial building traditions, the French is one of the richest. Although their houses owe a debt to their native traditions, they combined that tradition with the materials and climactic conditions found in America. From St. Genevieve, Missouri (1735), to Natchitoches, Louisiana (1714), French colonists created a diverse housing stock, including the Creole and Acadian cottage and the classic French Colonial house of the raised cottage type. The Mississippi River Valley was populated from the north by the French who settled Canada and from the south by those who settled the Gulf Coast via the West Indies. Those from the north brought their low houses with steep hipped roofs and memories of French Renaissance architecture, while those settling via the Caribbean responded to the islands hot, humid climate, building one-room-deep houses with high ceilings, aligned openings, and deep galleries shading the walls from sunlight and protecting them from rain.
Most uniquely, they brought their technique of vertical post construction. Wooden posts were placed vertically in the earth (poteaux en terre), with the 6- to 8-inch gaps filled with a mixture of mud or clay and Spanish moss or hay (bousillage) or with small rocks "mortared" with bousillage (pierrotage). Walls were bound by a top plate and protected by plaster, deep galleries, or siding. As the poteaux en terre rotted, the practice of raising a bottom sill up 2 to 8 feet on piers (poteaux sur sole) was developed. Piers were made from cypress, which could be replaced when it rotted, brick, or tapered columns coated with plaster. Raising the main floor provided an airspace, protecting the house from dampness and insects-and in flood-prone areas, having the main floor raised minimized damage.
French Colonial houses are characterized by simple forms: a rectangular house, one to two rooms deep, two to four rooms wide, one to two stories high with a steeply pitched hipped or double-hipped roof extending 8 to 12 feet beyond the walls to form deep galleries on one, two, three, or even all four sides of the house. Kitchens, pigeonniers (dovecotes), and gar¨onni¸res (small buildings for young men to cavort in) were located near the main house. One moved around the house by accessing the galleries-this included the stairways. The lack of internal hallways, along with aligned openings, allowed maximum air circulation. High ceilings from 10 to 22 feet on the main floor allowed for tall windows and doors to increase airflow. Doors opened directly onto the galleries and were often designed with the lowest sash being two-hinged wooden panels and the middle sash sliding up over the upper sash.
Casement windows, French doors, and transoms were also used. The French Colonial house also owes its appearance to available materials. Trees were abundant, and brick could be made out of soil. Bald cypress provided an excellent building material of great strength, easy workability, and high rot resistance.
As with all architecture of the classical tradition, both beauty and utility were met in equal measure by the French Colonial house. Over time, it was rendered in Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, and Victorian-era styles. Well suited as this tradition was to the locale, it inspires to this day, most notably in the work of A. Hayes Town. An excellent book is Mississippi Valley Architecture by Stanley Schuler.
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