House Styles in New Orleans and the Mississippi Valley

By Jackie Craven, About.com Guide

During the early 1700s, French colonists settled in the Mississippi Valley, especially in Louisiana. They learned building practices from the Caribbean and the West Indies to design practical dwellings for a territory prone to flooding.

The Destrehan Plantation House near New Orleans illustrates the French Colonial style.

French Colonial architecture has many of these features:

• timber frame with brick or "bousillage" (mud combined with moss and animal hair)
• wide hipped roof extends over porches
• thin wooden columns
• living quarters raised above ground level
• wide porches, called "galleries"
• no interior hallways
• porches used as passageway between rooms
• french doors (doors with many small panes of glass)

Previous

• French Colonial Architecture
• Creole Cottages
• Antebellum Plantation Homes
• Double Gallery Houses
• Shotgun Houses
• Creole Townhouses
• Victorian Era Shops and Apartments
• Creole Ironworkers in New Orleans
• Wrought Iron Balconies

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