Early French Canadian Architectural Types Of The French Colonial Period 5g1560

Early French Canadian Architectural Types of the French Colonial Period

Anthony DelRosario History of the Architecture in the Americas I Professor Ann Masson Master in Preservation Studies Tulane School of Architecture

1

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

The French Colonial empire in North America lasted for over two centuries, from the founding of Port Royal, Nova Scotia in 1605 to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. During this period, New grew from an outpost on the North Atlantic seaboard, to the St. Lawrence River valley, across the Great Lakes, and down the Mississippi River valley. Despite the immense expanse of the area, very few French Colonial buildings outside of Canada remain. However, one can trace the lasting impact of early French Canadian architecture of the French Colonial period to several buildings throughout Louisiana. The architectural types of French Colonial Canada will be explored via the history of the colony and these types will be compared to the architecture of Louisiana.

Short History of the French Colonial Empire in Canada Exploration and Failed Beginnings By the end of the fifteenth century, Europeans were seeking a route to the Orient by going west. One of the first explorers was John Cabot who was dispatched by Henry the VII of England in 1497. King Francis I of sent an Italian, Giovanni da Verrazzano, to scout the Atlantic seaboard in 1524. Ten years later, during the first of three expeditions, Jacques Cartier planted the flag of at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. In 1541, Cartier returned to North America for a third time with the Sieur de Roberval and attempted to establish the first permanent European settlement in North America at Charlesbourg-Royal. By 1543, Charlesbourg-Royal was abandoned due to poor weather conditions, disease, and unfriendly relations with the native Iroquoians. For the next sixty years, (and Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

2

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

all other European nations) did not attempt to establish another permanent settlement in what is now Canada. During this period, the French mainly used the North Atlantic seaboard for fishing and beaver hunting. (Bowerman)

New Takes Hold and Construction Begins More extensive fur trading led to new efforts of French colonization in North America. Samuel de Champlain was hired by Pierre du Gaust, Sieur de monts, who had acquired the exclusive trading rights in Canada from the king of , Henry IV. (Reps 47) After a failed attempt the previous year at Ste. Croix Island (or Douchet Island) in what is now Maine, in 1605 Champlain established Port Royal on the western coast of Nova Scotia in a harbor off the Bay of Fundy. (Reps 48-49) The Port Royal Habitation was a very basic fortification layout of a simple rectangle of buildings around a central courtyard with two bastions for protection – “a French post-medieval fortified farm dwelling, translated to North America in the era of the early attempts at French colonization of the continent.” (Rosinski 4) In the courtyard, the settlers created the first European seed garden in North America. (Marsh) At this site, the French constructed their buildings with a process of hewn horizontal logs laid atop of one another called “pièce-sur-pièce”. According to Edwards and Kariouk in A Creole Lexicon, pièce-sur-pièce is an abbreviation of pièce de bois sur pièce de bois (piece of wood on piece of wood), a “method originated in New , probably in 1605 at the military site of l’Habitation at Port Royal in Acadie (Nova Scotia), where military engineers constructed a small fort at the first permanent North American French settlement.” The method was adopted

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

3

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

into vernacular construction that spread throughout Canada and the Mississippi Valley. (153) The style of the buildings of Port Royal with steep roof forms (Figs. 1 and 2) imitated that of buildings found in the cold regions of . (Moogk 23) The pièce-sur-pièce construction method created a good insulation, while the steep roof kept snow and water from collecting.

Fig. 1: Reconstruction of Port Royal

Fig. 2: Champlain’s sketch of Port Royal

Samuel de Champlain returned to Canada in 1608 to establish a trading post farther inland up the St. Lawrence River. He reached the site of Quebec and claimed it for and built a massive, wooden fortification called “L’Habitation” (Fig. 3) on a narrow shelf by the St. Lawrence River. During the early years, the town grew around l’Habitation in a medieval fashion with the fortress as a radial endpoint. By 1615 early residents of the town included traders and missionaries who created the beginning of town life with houses and a chapel. (Reps 49)

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

4

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 3: L’Habitation, Quebec

Montreal was established in 1642 by Paul Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, and became the third major French settlement along the St. Lawrence River (eight years after Trois-Rivières). As with Quebec, early residents of the town included traders and missionaries. Churches and chapels (Fig. 4) were often among the earliest buildings of these settlements. Many buildings were built with a method often found in called colombage pierroté, a half-timber construction with stone rubble and plaster of lime in-fill. This method was “a substitute for solid wooden walls at a time when wood was increasingly expensive in western . Nevertheless, the French builders perpetuated the technique in New (and) Upper Louisiana…where wood was abundant.” (Edwards and Kariouk 65) However, with a nearly limitless supply of timber, builders in New often utilized the pièce-sur-pièce method that originated at Port Royal to create better insulation.

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

5

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 4: sketch of early church at the site of Montreal

Expansion In the second half of the seventeenth century, New saw a period of significant growth. In 1663, Quebec officially became a royal province of . To populate this area of invigorated interest, King Louis XIV sent a shipload of women for the settlers in the province (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5: Men of New welcome women sent by King Louis XIV

After setting up missions in the western Great Lakes area and learning of a great river from the local native tribes, French missionary Father Jacques Marquette was ed by Louis Joliet, a French Canadian explorer, in 1673 to search for the Mississippi River. Marquette and Joliet found and traveled the river to the mouth of

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

6

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

the Arkansas River and turned back for fear of encountering Spanish explorers further downriver. Nine years later Robert de LaSalle canoed down to the mouth of the Mississippi and laid claim to entire Mississippi River basin for King Louis XIV. In the following decades, these explorations lead to the founding of settlements along the Mississippi River at such sites as Ste. Genevieve, Missouri (1735), Cahokia, Illinois (1696), and New Orleans, Louisiana (1718).

Fig. 6: extent of the French Colonial empire in North America

As the colony grew in size (Fig. 6), the original settlements along the St. Lawrence River also grew. A metropolitan vision began to take shape after Quebec became a royal province. City planning became more regularized. The first three major settlements (Québec City, Montréal and Trois-Rivières) were established in a medieval conception of aristocratic ‘bourg’ (town) was marked off from the ‘faux bourg’ (suburb or ‘false town’) (Marsh). New gridded plans were drawn up for these cities as well as new fortifications based on concepts from Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban, the great French military engineer (Figs. 7, 8 & 9). Vauban’s

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

7

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

influence on fortification design would also be seen in the designs of New Orleans, Mobile, and Biloxi.

Fig. 7: Montreal

Fig. 8: Louisbourg

Fig. 9: Quebec

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

8

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

While the builders in the rural settlements continued to use the familiar halftimbered colombage construction method, more permanent methods were being used in the cities. Monumental architecture in the metropolis had an early impact on the cityscape of the new provincial capital: the Château Saint-Louis (1647, 1692), the Church and College of the Jesuits (1666, 1725), the Cathedral of Québec City (1684) and the Episcopal Palace (1692) imposingly embodied the principles of French classicism, which religious communities and orders adopted in their turn. In Québec City, Montréal and Trois-Rivières monumental structures were built whose scale and formal expression, seemingly at odds with the vast uncleared tracts round about, left an imprint on the built landscape as a whole. (Marsh) The two versions of the Château Saint-Louis greatly influenced the style of rural dwellings throughout the following century. (Marsh) The first Château SaintLouis (Fig. 10) built in 1647 by Charles Jacques Huault de Montmagny, the governor of New after Champlain, was a larger version of the double pitched roof houses found in with a slight modification. The houses in often had a roof-to-living space height ratio of two-to-one; the first Château Saint-Louis and the houses influenced by it design had a roof-to-living space height ratio of closer to one-to-one. A prime example of a house in this style is the Boucher-deNiverville Manor (Fig. 11) in Trois-Rivières built in 1729. This style continued to be built in Louisiana, as seen in Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop (1772) found in the French Quarter of New Orleans (Fig. 12). The second Château Saint-Louis (Fig. 13) built in 1692 by Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau, another governor of

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

9

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

New , was also double pitched, but in addition, was also hipped. The influence of this style was found in buildings throughout Quebec (Fig. 14) and down the Mississippi River in New Orleans (Fig. 15).

Fig. 10: first Château Saint-Louis, Quebec, 1683

Fig. 11: Boucher-de- Niverville Manor, Trois-Rivières

Fig. 12: Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, New Orleans

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

10

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 13: second Château Saint-Louis, Quebec, 1683

Fig. 14: Manoir Mauvide-Genest, Ile d’Orleans, 1750

Fig. 15: Faubourg Marigny, New Orleans, ~1820

Fig. 16: Jesuits’ College and Church, Quebec, 1666

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

11

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

The Church of the Jesuits (Fig. 16) in Quebec City was a large version of the simple chapels and churches that had been and continued to be built in New . The exterior form of these buildings was usually quite plain – a gabled roof with a single tall spire at one of the gabled ends that also had the main entrance. Between 1669 and 1680, Mgr de Laval, first Bishop of Quebec, commissioned a series of churches for the parishes around Quebec. According to Alan Gowans: They were small, and from a world viewpoint hardly significant; but to the history of architecture in Canada they are very important, for it was in them that the first distinctively Canadian architectural forms appeared. Not that any of their individual features were new – any one of them could have been found, in one place or another, in French architecture of the period. What made them distinctive was the peculiar way these features were combined. Nowhere in is there precisely the same combination of high-pitched roof and transept, splayed eaves, niches, quoins, oculus, spire, as here. (Looking at Architecture in Canada, 41) This design continued to dominate the construction style of churches in Quebec through the eighteenth century (Fig. 17) as Laval’s successor, Bishop Saint-Vallier, “strove to maintain standardization in church design” after he created eighty-two parishes in 1721. (Kalman 71) On the outside, these parish churches were diametrically opposite of the twin towered ornate churches found throughout Colonial Spain. However, the Canadian and Mexican churches often shared a Baroque lavishness on the inside.

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

12

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 17: Example of an eighteenth century parish church

A sketch of Montreal (Fig. 4) when first settled shows a simple church in this style built in the pièce-sur-pièce method. Often the church would have small extensions from the sides to create a cross-shaped building. Most rural churches that survive today in the province of Quebec are the third or fourth built on the site as the earliest churches were framed in wood that deteriorated and the use of stone was uncommon until about 1730. (Traquair 135) In addition to the pièce-sur-pièce method, colombage construction was commonly utilized for churches throughout Quebec. Along the Mississippi River, churches were also built with the colombage method, for example the chapel at Fort St. Jean Baptiste, Louisiana built around 1730 and the Holy Family Log Church in Cahokia, Illinois built in 1799. These two churches were built using two different post methods that were common in New . The chapel at Fort St. Jean Baptiste was constructed with the poteaux-en-

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

13

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

terre method in which the timber frame of the wall was created by posts set in the ground. While at Cahokia, the poteaux-sur-solle method was used in which the timber frame of the wall was created by posts mounted onto a heavy sill which was either set on the ground or raised off the ground. In Louisiana, very few churches influenced by this simple style remain and they are in rural areas.

Conflict and Loss From the late seventeenth century until the late eighteenth century, was in almost constant conflict with England over North American territory. During this period, the two countries engaged in four conflicts called the Intercolonial Wars in Quebec and called the French and Indian Wars in America. In 1702, the second of these wars, also known as Queen Anne’s War, began as a fight for Acadia. In 1710, the British took control of ’s first permanent settle in North America, Port Royal. The Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713 and gave Britain possession all of Hudson Bay, all of Newfoundland, and Acadia (which was renamed Nova Scotia) except for except l'Ie- Royale (Cape Breton Island). still held possession of Quebec and in 1717 constructed Fort Louisbourg (Fig. 20) on l'IeRoyale to keep the British from invading the St. Lawrence River. By 1755 the fourth and final conflict had begun and the British expelled all French Canadians (Acadians) from Nova Scotia that would not pledge allegiance to Britain (Fig. 18). This scattered the Acadians throughout the American colonies including Louisiana where their ancestors became known as Cajuns.

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

14

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 18: The Great Expulsion – le Grand Dérangement, 1755

From 1758 to 1760, the major French fortifications of Louisbourg, Quebec, and Montreal fall to British possession. In 1763 ceded Louisiana to Spain and its remaining possessions to Britain by way of the Treaty of Paris. (The British abandoned Louisbourg after the Treaty of Paris and the site was left for ruins (Fig. 19) like Panama La Vieja in Panama.)

Fig. 19: The ruins of Fort Louisbourg

Fig. 20: Reconstruction of Fort Louisbourg

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

15

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

In 1801 a Franco-Spanish alliance returned Louisiana to , but two years later the French colony was sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase (Fig. 21) and ended the two centuries of the French Colonial empire in North America.

Fig. 21: Louisiana Purchase

Architecture of the French Colonial Empire in Canada and Its Influence in Louisiana The influence of French Colonial Canadian architecture upon the architecture found in the Mississippi River valley and basin, especially in Louisiana, can be traced through style and method of construction of dwellings. Despite being the dominant style of church construction throughout the eighteenth century in Quebec, the style influenced by Laval’s parishes of the late seventeenth century did not leave a lasting impression on church design in Louisiana. However, the impact of French Colonial Canadian architecture in Louisiana is found in a variety of buildings from homes in the French Quarter of New Orleans, to cottages on the bayou, to Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

16

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

plantations along the Mississippi River. Alan Gowans states that “New ’s principal impact and legacy on the North American landscape has been the rural homestead.” (Styles and Types of North American Architecture, 30)

Styles and Methods Found in French Colonial Canada The style and method of construction of homes in French Colonial Canada have roots going back to designs found in similarly cold regions of . A parallel in steep, hipped roof forms can be seen. Peter Moogk writes: Confirmation of the relationship of climate and roof structure came from Louis Savot’s L’Architecture Françoise, a book that was written in the 1630s when the farms of the first French colonists were being cleared around Quebec. Savot observed that a steep roof which readily shed rain and snow, was desirable in ‘cold regions’ because ‘if it were too low, the snow would accumulate on it and when it melted, it would form ridges of ice on the eaves; these ridges would cause the water to back up and to leak into the garret or attic.’ It appears that the roof of the Canadien farmhouse during the French regime, with a slope of around 55 degrees from the horizontal and whose height ed for nearly two-thirds of the building’s elevation, was a seventeenth century response to the climate of the St. Lawrence valley. The same form was likewise employed in the cold and rainy areas of contemporary . (22-23) In addition to the gabled roof houses of this French origin, houses with double pitched roofs were commonly found in New (Fig. 22).

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

17

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 22: Double pitched roof building in

Fig. 23: Marcotte House, Cap-Sante, 1750

Fig. 24: French Quarter, New Orleans

In addition to the steep roof style (Fig. 23), the houses of Canada and shared a construction method from the medieval period known as colombage, a half-timber wood frame (Fig. 26). The colonists in Canada employed two versions of the colombage method – colombage pierroté and colombage bousillé. The difference between the two was the material used as in-fill between the wooden

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

18

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

posts. Colombage pierroté used stone and mortar and colombage bousillé (Fig. 25) used bousillage, a mixture of mud and/or clay with a “vegetable binder such as straw and (optionally) lime.” (Edwards and Kariouk 33)

Fig. 25: colombage bousillé construction

“In comparison with the full timber house, half-timber dwellings made little sense in New .” (Moogk 28) In Europe, the colombage method evolved from entirely wood framed buildings due to rising costs of lumber whose supply was declining. The availability of timber, the belief that wood was a better insulator, and the extreme temperature changes that destroyed the bonding of the fill contributed to the reversal of trend back to completely wooden type of construction in New . (Moogk 29) Also in some areas such as Montreal, stone was difficult to find and entire walls of vertical posts replaced the in-fill method. (Moogk 30)

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

19

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 26: colombage construction, Lamontagne House, Quebec

Eventually the transition from vertical to horizontal timbers became popular. The pièce-sur-pièce construction method (Fig. 27) first utilized at Port Royal was considered superior to colombage and walls of vertical timbers. Moogk writes that vertical timbers “provided good insulation and water would drain easily from a wall of upright posts. However, when the timbers were laid upon one another horizontally, the chinking of moss, cedar bark, clay or plaster was less likely to fall out and the building would remain weathertight.” (32) “The ultimate consideration [for the pièce-sur-pièce construction method] would be that a single man with a few portable tools could do most of the work of building himself.” (Moogk 34)

Fig. 27: pièce-sur-pièce construction, Port-au-Persil, Charlevoix, Québec

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

20

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

In addition to the horizontal timber and vertical timber options for creating the walls of the house, there were two options for the placement of the timber frame, poteaux-en-

terre (posts in ground) and poteaux-sur-solle (posts on sill). The poteaux-en-terre method was often used in combination with vertical timbers (Fig. 28); the poteauxsur-solle method was often used in combination with horizontal timbers. However, these methods were not necessarily always found in these combinations. A surviving example of vertical timbers used with poteaux-sur-solle is the old courthouse in Cahokia, Illinois (Fig. 29).

Fig. 28: poteaux-en-terre

Fig. 29: poteaux sur solle, Cahokia Courthouse after restoration

French Colonial Canada Styles and Methods Transplanted to the Mississippi River Valley and Louisiana Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

21

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

These styles and methods of construction in French Colonial Canada were transplanted along the Mississippi River Valley and throughout Louisiana. “In French America, only among the Mississippi and Great Lakes settlements did vertical construction long remain popular. In Canada it gave way generally to horizontal construction or stone.” (Kniffen and Glassie 164) “The earliest form of construction in French Canada was poteaux en terre, which was introduced into Louisiana by the Canadian Iberville.” (165)

Cahokia and Colombage Church Cahokia, Illinois was one of the first French settlements along the Mississippi River after Lasalle claimed the basin for King Louis XIV. The town was established by Father Francois Pinet in 1696 as the site for a mission and home of the Church of the Holy Family (Fig. 30). The church building that currently stands (with 80% of its original wood) was erected in 1799 but was built of the same vertical-log construction method of the original church built a hundred years earlier. The form of the church is the same as the late seventeenth century parish church found in Quebec, the simple cruciform shape which Laval and Saint-Vallier proliferated. As the existing seventeenth and eighteenth century parish churches in Quebec are of stone, the Holy Family log church is the remaining example of a French Colonial cruciform shaped church constructed with the vertical timber method.

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

22

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Fig. 30: Holy Family log church, Cahokia, Illinois, 1799

Adapting to the Climate The earliest houses built by the French in Louisiana utilized the colombage pierroté method in combination with the poteaux-en-terre form. These methods went through a metamorphosis in order to adapt to a drastically different climate of the heat and humidity found in the bayous of Louisiana. The use of colombage pierroté was converted to the use of colombage bousillé as the French learned from the local natives that a bousillage mixture of mud and Spanish moss better suited the climate. An alternate in-fill method was briquette-entré-poteaux which utilized bricks (Fig. 31). This method was more popular in cities or near brick plants. The French also soon recognized that poteaux-en-terre construction was not the most appropriate method for Louisiana where there was much rain, flooding, and high temperatures. To counter these factors, the French supplanted poteaux en terre construction with raised poteaux-sur-solle construction. This change helped in two

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

23

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

ways. First, with the frame raised off the ground, decomposition due to wet wood on wet ground would not occur. Second, a raised frame allowed air to circulate under the house to keep the house cooler. (Cazayoux 364)

Fig. 31: briquette-entré-poteaux construction method, Marigny, New Orleans

The hot and humid climate of Louisiana had a great impact on the style of houses that the French built along the Mississippi River and in the bayous. To stay cool in the much warmer climate, the French added porches and verandas or galleries around the houses. In addition to creating shade to keep the house cool, the covered verandas also protected the walls of the structures from the abundant rainfall. (Cazayoux 365) By adding a gallery with a differently angled roof, the roof of the houses became double pitched. Two existing examples of a double pitched roof, galleried house in the upper Mississippi River valley are the Saucier House, also known as

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

24

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

the Old Courthouse, (Fig. 32) in Cahokia, Illinois (1737) and the Louis Buldoc House (Fig. 33) in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri (1770).

Fig. 32: Cahokia Courthouse before restoration

Fig. 33: Buldoc House, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri

The Unique Outcome of French Colonial Types from Canada and the Climate of Louisiana By raising these galleried houses an entire story above the ground and enclosing the newly created bottom floor to create a raised basement, a structure type unique to Louisiana was created, the Louisiana Raised Cottage. This type of building is also known by the following names: Louisiana Plantation House, Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

25

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Louisiana Planter Raised Cottage, Louisiana Raised French Planter, Louisiana French Colonial, Creole Cottage, Colonial French Planter, and French Louisiana Planter. One reason that the combination of raised house and bousillage construction was so successful was that it created a natural air conditioning system. The walls soaked up moisture from the ground which was evaporated by breezes and thus became cooler. (Cazayoux 366) One of the finest examples this vernacular type is Destrehan Plantation (Fig. 34), built in 1787 outside of New Orleans. Although enlarged and renovated in the Greek Revival style around 1840, the core of the building retains its French Colonial qualities.

Fig. 34: Destrehan Plantation

Across the Ocean and Down the River Over the course of two centuries, the French held and eventually relinquished some of the largest amounts of land in North America during the Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

26

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

colonial period. The French empire stretched from the North Atlantic down the Mississippi River valley to the Gulf Coast and across to the Rocky Mountains. During these two hundred years, the evolution of a unique house style can be traced. A simple house plan from the northern part of was brought to North America in the early seventeenth century where French Canadians slowly populated the new land and adapted building styles to the conditions. As the French expanded their territory south, the buildings continued to evolve as warmer climate conditions were encountered down the Mississippi River. After settling Louisiana’s wet and hot territory, the French builders out of necessity created the unique house style known as the raised creole cottage.

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

i

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Sources Bowerman, Lon. "Canadian Time Line." 2006. . Cazayoux, Edward J. “The Climatic Adaptation of French Colonial Architecture into the Louisiana Raised Cottage.” Proceedings of the 11th National ive Solar Conference. Boulder, Co., June 7-11, 1986: 364-367. Edwards, Jay Dearborn, and Kariouk Pecquet du Bellay de Verton,Nicolas. A Creole Lexicon: Architecture, Landscape, People. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004. Gowans, Alan. Looking at Architecture in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1958. ---. Styles and Types of North American Architecture: Social Function and Cultural Expression. New York, N.Y.: Icon Editions, 1991. Kalman, Harold D. A History of Canadian Architecture. Toronto; New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Kniffen, Fred B., and Henry Glassie. “Building in Wood in the Eastern United States: A Time-Place Perspective.” Ed. Dell Upton and John Michael Vlach. Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986. 159-181. Marsh, James H. "The Canadian Encyclopedia." Historical Foundation of Canada. 2004. . Moogk, Peter N. Building a House in New : An of the Perplexities of Client and Craftsmen in Early Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977.

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

ii

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Reps, John William. Town Planning in Frontier America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Rosinski, Maud. Architects of Nova Scotia: A Biographical Dictionary, 1605-1950. [Halifax, N.S.]: Dept. of Municipal Affairs, Heritage Section, 1994. Traquair, Ramsay. The Old Architecture of Quebec; a Study of the Buildings Erected in New from the Earliest Explorers to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century. Toronto: Macmillan Co. of Canada, 1947.

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

iii

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Images Figure 1 – Danielle Langlois, Wikimedia Commons, Figure 2 – Samuel de Champlain's drawing of the habitation of Port-Royal, from his Les Voyages, 1613, National Library of Canada, Figure 3 – Samuel de Champlain, reproduced in Town Planning in Frontier America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Figure 4 – After W. Décary, National Archives of Canada, C-7885, Figure 5 – Historical Narratives of Early Canada, Figure 6 – Wikipedia, Figure 7 – Thomas Jefferys, “A Plan of the City of Quebec,” The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America, reproduced in Town Planning in Frontier America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Pg. 55 Figure 8 – Thomas Jefferys, “A Plan of the City and Fortifications of Louisiburg,” The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America, reproduced in Town Planning in Frontier America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Pg. 54 Figure 9 – Thomas Jefferys, “A Plan of the Town and Fortifications of Montreal or Ville Marie,” The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America, reproduced in Town Planning in Frontier America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Pg. 52 Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

iv

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Figure 10 – Jean-Baptiste Franquelin, 1683, Library and Archives Canada, H4/350, Figure 11 – Margaret Marcil-Lafontaine, Figure 12 – Louisiana Studies in Historic Preservation, Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation, Figure 13 – Anonymous, 1700, Library and Archives Canada, C-4696, Figure 14 – Mauvide-Genest Manor, Figure 15 – Friends of the Cabildo. New Orleans Architecture Volume IV: The Creole Faubourgs. Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing, 1974. Pg. 96 Figure 16 – Richard Short, watercolour, circa 1761, Library and Archives Canada/C354, Figure 17 – Livemois, Ltd., A History of Canadian Architecture. Toronto; New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pg. 69 Figure 18 – Lewis Parker, Expulsion of the Acadians, Figure 19 – M. O. Hammond, Archives of Ontario,

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

v

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Figure 20 – Dennis MacDonald, Figure 21 – Louisiana101, Figure 22 – Building a House in New : An of the Perplexities of Client and Craftsmen in Early Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977. Pg. 67 Figure 23 – Styles and Types of North American Architecture: Social Function and Cultural Expression. New York, N.Y.: Icon Editions, 1991. Pg. 32 Figure 24 – Wikipedia, Figure 25 – Louisiana Studies in Historic Preservation, Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation, Figure 26 – Jean Bélanger, Figure 27 – Denis Angers, Figure 28 – JMZ2007, Figure 29 – Kevin Stewart, Figure 30 – Mark Scott Abeln, Figure 31 – Alex,

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

vi

PRST 6610 - History of Architecture in the Americas I – Professor Ann Masson – December 3, 2008

Figure 32 – French Colonies in America, Figure 33 - Waymarking.com, Figure 34 - Louisiana Studies in Historic Preservation, Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation,

Anthony DelRosario – Masters of Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture