User:Sarah Block-Lopinto/sandbox/Architecture La Louisiane

Architecture La Louisiane

Limited resources in the New World french colonials built their architectural structures out of practicality. Building materials in new colonies were collected from surrounding forests. The use of timber and infill systems were typically used. Initially the french built 1/2 timber buildings with vertical timbers set in the ground like fence posts. The gaps between closely spaced timbers were filled with grass and clay or stone and clay. Sometimes the wood was left bare, and sometimes plaster was applied over the wood. When the french colonists experienced wood rot because the posts were set in the ground they began to set the timbers on masonry foundations and capped them with a wooden sill. Frames were often wrapped with stucco or clapboards for weather protection. Northern European traditions were followed with steep roofs. Galeries and/or colonnades were created protecting the structures from rain and sun, helping to cool the building. The french established settlements in several places in order to controll the Missiissippi Delta inculding but not limited to Biloxi (1699), Mobile (1702), New Orleans (1727), and St. Louis (1764). Quebec controlled the North settlements. French fur traders of the Coureur der bois established settlements and built forts along the two major river routes of St.Lawrence and the Mississippi rivers.

Tropical climate and high humidity in the south, wood rot rapidly destroyed buildings in present day Louisiana. The first major public building made of brick was the Prison built in 1730. The only surviving public building in New Orleans from the original french settlement is the Ursaline convent. Ursaline convent, completed in 1734 was of timber and Infill. Humidity soon rotted the exposed timber, and the original wooden structure was replaced by plain brick in 1745.

Another feature

Another structure in current day Louisiana is the Parlange Plantation built in 1754. Parlange is the oldest surviving plantation house in Louisiana. It is a Creole style building. The Main structure is built on a brick foundation, and displays a large pitched hip roof protecting the house from sun and heavy rain. It also features a colonnaded galerie protecting all four sides from direct sunlight and walls from driving rain, and creating a useful space partly indoor, partly out, dry and cooled by breezes. The main living areas are lifted off of the ground much like the native american Chickees. There is a room at the center of the house open on both sides for cross ventilation. Creole style architecture remained the perferred house type well into the 19th century.

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