Catalpa Plantation House, St. Francisville Louisiana

Date added: October 08, 2023 Categories: Louisiana House Plantations & Farms

Catalpa Plantation House is one of numerous late Victorian cottages found across the state, although it is larger than most. What makes it important, however, among period residences are its false marbled mantels. During the late-nineteenth century manufactured cast-iron and slate mantels were sometimes given a marble treatment. This work was done by hand, but at the factory rather than on-site as it might have been done in earlier times. No survey exists as to how many examples remain in Louisiana or how many there were at one time. However, one assumes that there must have been a fair number of them in better-class houses across the state. But there are probably less than ten surviving period buildings in Louisiana with mantels of this type.

The mantels at Catalpa are important as examples of Victorian art because they show the Victorian fondness for elaborately contrived effects. In all cases the veining is more pronounced and intricate than real marble. Moreover, two of the mantels have stenciled leaf forms in addition to the marbling treatment.

The importance of Catalpa's mantels is further enhanced by the fact that their paintwork is all original and in excellent condition. This is not true of all of the other painted slate and iron mantels across the state.

Catalpa's alley is one of a limited number of plantation oak alleys that survive across the state. At one time there were more, but many have become victims of property division, urbanization, and river levee construction. Of those that survive, Catalpa's alley is thought to be the only one in Louisiana which has an elliptical shape. This is important because it shows more creativity than was commonly employed in laying out the plantation house grounds.

Site Description

Catalpa consists of a nineteenth-century oak alley, an antebellum dependency, and a 1885 story and a half frame main house. The grouping is located in second-growth forest about five miles north of St. Francisville.

The house is plainly massed with a large hip roof and a single forward-facing dormer. The front features a five-bay Eastlake gallery and floor-length plate glass windows. The south side of the house features a second (smaller) Eastlake gallery and the north side has a protruding bay. There is also a small rear dormer.

The rooms are large but plainly finished with standard late-nineteenth-century details. The exception to this are the four Italianate mantels in the main block of the house. Each has a cast-iron body with a slate shelf. The two on the south side of the house are almost identical, with rounded corners near the walls, heavy projecting piers, corner blocks, and entablatures. Both feature a central segmental arch which is painted in contrasting colors of false marble. The one in the front also features ceramic tiles set in the corner blocks, each of which has a female head profile in basrelief. The dining room mantel features a stilted segmental arch, a central keystone, and beveled corners near the wall. The north front parlor mantel is the most sculpturally elaborate, with a large brincade entablature and engaged columns that resemble Roman candelabra shafts. The most impressive feature of Catalpa's mantels is their use of false marbling. Their numerous panels feature contrasting red, maroon, and cream-colored marble, as well as contrasting effects with what appears to be Pavonazzo and serpentine marble. Two of the mantels also feature stenciled foliage with green and gold stylized leaves.

Since construction, the rear of the house has been fitted with two picture windows. In addition, bathrooms and a modern kitchen have been installed.

The live oak alley has a semi-elliptical shape and runs for about 1,500 feet. The main house is located at its approximate midpoint. The exact date of the alley is uncertain. Family history indicates that it dates from the early nineteenth century; however, the scale of the trees suggests that the alley is 100 or so years old. Relatively few of the trees have been lost over the years.

This deteriorated frame cottage is locally known as a "Slave cabin." It is built of pit-sawn timber, a fact which corroborates the claim for an early date. Originally the cottage had no gallery, but a new roof and a gallery were added about the turn of the century. It is Catalpa Plantation's only remaining historic outbuilding.

North-northeast of the house is a sizable pond which, according to the owner's family history, dates from the antebellum period. It is one of the surviving elements of what was once an extensive landscaped garden.

To the rear of the house are two frame sheds, one with wood siding and one with metal siding.