Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana

Date added: March 18, 2024 Categories:
Northeast (1987)

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The origin of Audubon is obscure. Attempts to establish a chain of title from before the late nineteenth century have thus far not been successful. The plantation is identified as Audubon in the Statement of the Sugar Crop for 1892. At that time it was owned by Octavius Bullion and the house was rented to a Dixon family. An 1890s photograph reveals that the house was in poor condition. For much of the twentieth century Audubon remained a rural rent house.

Audubon is a rare and important example of a Greek Revival plantation house within the parishes of Ascension and East Baton Rouge. Audubon was originally in Ascension Parish, but the land was subsequently annexed into East Baton Rouge Parish.

These two parishes were once known for their sugar production, and their economy boomed in the thirty or so years before the Civil War. As a result, a good number of Greek Revival plantation houses were built, representing something of an architectural "flowering." But the area is now within the orbit of the expanding greater Baton Rouge metroplex, and in recent decades has lost much of its antebellum building stock due to decay and urbanization.

It is impossible to determine with certainty the exact number of Greek Revival plantation houses built in the two parishes in the three decades before the Civil War. But a reliable clue can be found in the 1860 census, which lists sixty-two large slaveholdings (fifty or more slaves) in Ascension and East Baton Rouge. In addition, there were numerous holdings of less than fifty. Given the foregoing, it would be safe to conclude that there were scores of Greek Revival plantation houses and cottages in the two parishes on the eve of the Civil War. However, there are only about ten remaining.

Building Description

Audubon Plantation House (c.1850) is a one-and-a-half-story frame Greek Revival residence located in a rural setting in eastern East Baton Rouge Parish.

Audubon has a central hall plan, two rooms deep, with a front and rear gallery. The front and rear parlors are linked by a set of pocket doors that still function. Each room has direct access to the galleries through French doors. The detailing is Greek Revival throughout. Both the front and rear galleries feature fully articulated entablatures. The front gallery posts are very elaborately treated with astragals and bolection molded panels. The front gallery also features a bolection molded paneled dado and clapboard sheathing. This clapboard treatment is unusual for the period, but it appears to be original. (Normally antebellum houses have flush board siding under the galleries.) The large pitched roof culminates in three front pedimented. dormers. Noteworthy interior features include the staircase with its massive turned newel post, the elaborately molded baseboards, and the single aedicule style mantel. At one time there were three others.

Around the turn of the century, much of the rear gallery was enclosed for a bathroom and service spaces. Later still the area under the staircase was enclosed for a closet. In addition, it appears that the two small windows on the side gables were added. Except for the previously mentioned pocket doors, all of the doors presently in the house are period salvaged replacements. Finally, all four of the chimneys have been rebuilt.

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana Northeast (1987)
Northeast (1987)

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana North-Northwest (1987)
North-Northwest (1987)

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana Southwest (1987)
Southwest (1987)

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana Paneled dado on front gallery (1987)
Paneled dado on front gallery (1987)

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana Gallery detail (1987)
Gallery detail (1987)

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana Front Door Detail (1987)
Front Door Detail (1987)

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana Column Detail (1987)
Column Detail (1987)

Audubon Plantation House, Baton Rouge Louisiana Interior (1987)
Interior (1987)