Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana

Date added: June 14, 2023 Categories: Louisiana House Plantations & Farms Greek Revival
North (2000)

Albania was built by Charles Francois Grevemberg, a member of a German family which had migrated to Louisiana. The house remained in his descendants' hands until 1885 when it was sold due to non-payment of debts. The new owners were brothers Isaac and Samuel Delgado. Upon the death of the surviving brother in 1912, the house and accompanying land were willed to the City of New Orleans. In 1957 the city sold the house, along with a small tract of land, at a public auction. Emily Cyr Bridges was the successful purchaser. She and her husband rehabilitated the home and, later, Mrs. Bridges opened it for tours. The home is now closed to the public.

In contrast to the rest of South Louisiana, which is known for its French Creole architecture, St. Mary Parish is renown for its many major examples of the Greek Revival style. The parish was formed in 1811, and its parish seat, Franklin, was founded in 1808 by men with English rather than French names. The booming antebellum economy was based largely upon sugarcane, and area planters were among the wealthiest of the wealthy. They built impressive residences on their plantations and within the town of Franklin. Within the Franklin city limits alone there are eleven major Greek Revival residences, all of which have the size and grandeur to be called mansions. Then there are numerous galleried Greek Revival cottages scattered throughout town, some small and some fairly substantial in size. Looking beyond Franklin, one finds an additional seven large Greek Revival plantation houses. In short, while St. Mary has at least eighteen major Greek Revival residences and countless galleried cottages, the typical older parish in the state, by contrast, is fortunate to have a half dozen, whatever the size and quality.

Building Description

Albania is an unusually large, two-and-one-half-story frame Greek Revival plantation house. It stands on the west bank of Bayou Teche in rural St. Mary Parish close to the Iberia Parish line. Although the owner believes the home's construction to have begun in 1837 and ended in 1841, the architectural evidence indicates a date of c. 1855.

Wider and deeper than the majority of its contemporaries, Albania is one of the larger plantation houses in Louisiana. Its floorplan follows the tradition of the central hall flanked by equal numbers of rooms (in this case, three). The two larger rooms on each side are oblong rather than the more typical roughly square shape. Each side's bayou-facing room is much more shallow than the others, and one of these spaces is subdivided into two smaller rooms. Albania's central hall is extremely wide. It contains a large spiral staircase that rises to the second and third-floor hallways. The stair's location is unusual because it projects into the center hall (partially dividing the hallway into two parts) approximately one-third of the way between the land and bayou side entrances. The plan's most unusual feature concerns the home's six bedrooms (two on the first floor and four on the second). Each is separated from the central hall by a tiny vestibule flanked by small dressing rooms. This floorplan is repeated on the second level. The third floor is composed of a more narrow central hall flanked by two very large rooms. All of the home's rooms have plaster walls.

In addition to its large size and unusual floorplan, Albania is distinguished by two different Greek Revival facades. The building's land side, which is raised slightly on piers, features a five-bay double gallery that extends the width of the home. Its colossal boxed columns with heavily molded capitals rise from paneled bases to support a simple entablature surmounted by a molded cornice. Surviving pilasters, also featuring paneled bases, indicate this treatment to have been part of the original column design. However, the panels have been modified over the years. The focus of the bayou side is a three-bay, colossal, flat-roofed portico centered upon the first and second-floor entrances. This portico also has boxed columns with heavily molded capitals and (now) modified paneled bases, a simple entablature and a molded cornice. A tall gable rises behind the portico's flat roof; a jib door within the gable provides access from the third-floor central hall to this roof. Although some might believe the gable to be an addition, the 1861 Adrien Persac painting of Albania clearly shows it in place. Because the land slopes downward toward Bayou Teche, the piers supporting the home's bayou side are taller than those on the land side.

Additional Greek Revival features which are part of Albania include:

1. the decorative treatment of its four entrances (two each on the land and bayou sides). All four feature identical Greek Revival surrounds composed of four pilasters with molded capitals supporting a smooth entablature surmounted by a heavily molded cornice. The two inner pilasters of each surround, which appear to be slightly narrower than those on the ends, separate each entrance's single, four-paneled door from the sidelights which flank it. Interestingly, the bottom sashes of the sidelights can be raised. Each sidelight has a transom separate from that above the adjacent door. This decorative entrance treatment is repeated on the interior.

2. colossal pilasters placed at all exterior corners (including those where the bayou side portico attaches to the house).

3. interior and exterior window treatments, as well as door surrounds, characterized by heavily molded lintels.

4. dormers featuring paneled pilasters with molded capitals supporting pediments with heavy raked cornices.

Other architectural features of interest found at Albania include:

1. a braced frame featuring pegged construction.

2. first floor shutters containing moveable louvers above recessed panels and similar second floor shutters which lack panels.

3. one set of double chimneys on each side of the home.

4. the extensive use of decorative molded wooden panels. Single molded recessed panels are located beneath each sidelight. Twin double raised molded panels are found on the exterior beneath first floor windows. Single rectangular molded panels decorate the spaces beneath most of the windows in the interior. Panels are also found on the shutters, as noted above.

5. four panel doors throughout the interior.

6. three jib doors which open from the parlor to the land side gallery.

7. an unusually wide pocket door located between the parlor and dining room.

8. numerous mantels, some in black marble and some in white. All but two are transitional Greek Revival/Gothic Revival and feature a shallow pointed arch design combined with the traditional Greek Revival pilasters and entablature. Distinguished by round arch openings, the parlor and dining room mantels are Italianate. They also feature arched panels on their shallow pilasters and decorative motifs located where a keystone would normally be found. Some of the mantels have coal burning inserts.

9. several different ceiling medallions displaying elaborate floral, acanthus leaf, and other motifs. It is these medallions; the mantels; and the heavily molded capitals found on columns, pilasters and entrances which point to the c. 1855 construction date.

At some point, a two-room outbuilding with its own gallery was attached to the rear corner of one of the narrow rooms on the bayou side of the house. This building stands on high brick piers. In addition to the changes to the column bases described above, other alterations to Albania include the conversion of the one rear room into a kitchen and utility room, the loss of a balustrade with finials above the bayou side's flat-roofed portico (clearly shown in the Persac painting), the installation of bathrooms in some of the dressing rooms accompanying the bedrooms (others are used as storerooms and display spaces for the owner's collections), and the installation of bathrooms within the small corner bayou side rooms on both floors. According to the present owner, a functional staircase connecting these rooms was enclosed as part of the latter renovation. The date of this stair is unknown.

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Painting by Marie Adrien Persac (1861)
Painting by Marie Adrien Persac (1861)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Floor Plan (2000)
Floor Plan (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana North (2000)
North (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana East (2000)
East (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Southeast (2000)
Southeast (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana North (2000)
North (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Southwest (2000)
Southwest (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Southwest (2000)
Southwest (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Southeast (2000)
Southeast (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Northwest (2000)
Northwest (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)

Albania Plantation House, Jeanerette Louisiana Interior (2000)
Interior (2000)