This small house is thought to be Louisiana’s only surviving original example of poteaux-en-terre construction (unbraced vertical posts sunk into the earth), a method of building prevalent in the Mississippi Valley in the late eighteenth century. The walls are bousillage. The house has the typical Creole plan of two rooms with two rear cabinets flanking a loggia; the single asymmetrically placed interior chimney reveals that the rooms are of a different size. The house has a dirt floor. A free man of color named Pascale built the house. In the 1850s, the house was occupied by nuns and used as a school for Cane River free people of color.
Badin-Roque House
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.