Ardoyne Plantation House, Houma Louisiana

Date added: February 09, 2024

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The exact date of Ardoyne's construction is somewhat of a mystery. According to information passed down through the family, it was begun in 1897 and completed in 1900. However, a book printed in 1894 contains a picture of Ardoyne. Since the builder, John D. Shaffer, acquired the property in 1888, it must have been built sometime between then and 1894. According to family tradition, the architect designed Ardoyne from a picture of a Scottish castle that Shaffer had seen in a magazine. The house has remained in the Shaffer family since its construction and is presently (1981) owned by Margaret Minor Shaffer, the great-great-granddaughter of the builder.

Ardoyne Plantation House is set in a cluster of live oaks in a rural area approximately 5 miles northwest of the town of Houma. The house is approached via a circular driveway. It is constructed of cypress which, according to family tradition, was cut on the place and milled in St. Louis.

Despite the house's elaborate exterior articulation, the floor plan is comparatively commonplace. It consists of a central hall on both floors with large rooms on each side. The house is 2 rooms deep, with additional rooms in a 2-story rear wing and a 1-story kitchen at the rear.

The scale of the house is enormous. Most of the 21 rooms have 16-foot ceilings. In addition, the exterior massing is dominated by a corner tower that reaches a height of 75 feet.

The only unusual aspect of the plan is the corner tower. On the first story, it is an octagonal space. On the second story, it is square, and on the attic level, it takes the form of an extremely tall and angular set of transverse gables.

The visual character of the exterior of the house is something of an anachronism. The house was built c. 1894, yet the exterior details (the elaborate bargeboards, the strongly vertical gables, the lancet galleries, and the hood molded windows) are mainly characteristic of the early Victorian period (c. 1845). Moreover, the composition of the massing, with its restless grouping of gables, its verticality, and its jarring asymmetry is mainly characteristic of the mid-Victorian period (c. 1870).

The interiors are more characteristic of their time and have remained relatively unchanged. They feature wooden, cove-molded ceilings with octagonal patterns of beaded beams. Most rooms have paneling below the chair rail. Some of the rooms connect via sliding doors, though there is no overall attempt to create spatial effects. The great staircase at the rear of the hall has elaborate Eastlake balustrades. Most of the mantels have mirrored overmantels and many are elaborately carved. The most noteworthy is the dining room mantel, which has a pair of 2 foot carved griffins. Most of the rooms retain their original gas fixtures though all have been electrified. (When it was built, the house had its own gas plant.) Finally, the central hall retains its original c. 1894 wallpaper in near perfect condition.