Crescent Plantation, Tallulah Louisiana

Date added: March 23, 2023 Categories: Louisiana House Plantations & Farms Greek Revival

Crescent Plantation is an example of Greek Revival plantation architecture. It is one of the few surviving pre-Civil War plantation residences in Madison Parish, Although 1860 census records suggest that such houses may have once been common in the parish, only three surviving Greek Revival plantation residences have been identified. In 1860, the parish is recorded as having 99 large slaveholdings (50 or more slaves). Of these 99, the average size of a slaveholding was 89.6. With an absentee ownership of 40%, 61 of these slaveholdings would have involved families who resided in Madison Parish. Given these Statistics, it would be logical to estimate that as many as 50 to 75 plantation houses may have stood in the parish just prior to the Civil War. According to local tradition, the front two-story section of Crescent was constructed for planter David Dancy in 1859, a date supported by stylistic examination. Architecturally, the front section is well detailed and elaborated with a graceful curving staircase, interesting Greek Revival millwork, significant ornamental plaster centerpieces, and decoratively painted sidelights and transom. Local historians date the rear wing, which was originally a separate distinct residence supposedly built by a Barnes family, at ca. 1832. Since the rear wing was remodeled when the front section was built, no earlier stylistic date can be assigned. However, evidence of weathering on the clapboards which have been protected since the construction of the front section suggest that the rear wing existed for a number of years before it was relocated and remodeled. This rear wing; which suffers from several periods of unsympathetic remodeling, is an architecturally interesting addition to the front section of the house. The painted Confederate flags and the stained glass figure of Robert E. Lee that adorn the transom lights of one of the two rear doorways represent a significant ornamental glass treatment from the Civil War period.

Building Description

2,134-acre Crescent Plantation is located on State Highway 602, about two miles from its intersection with Interstate 20, a few miles southeast of Tallulah, Louisiana. State Highway 602 follows the route of Brushy Bayou and Walnut Bayou. Brushy Bayou runs in front of the plantation residence at a distance of approximately 300 feet. The house is a two-story frame late Greek Revival residence with a story-and-a-half rear wing. The house rests upon brick foundation piers, and the gable roofs of the front and rear sections are perpendicular, with the roof of the front section pierced at each gable end by an inside-end brick chimney, rebuilt in the mid-twentieth century. The five-bay northeasterly facade, which is finished in horizontal tongue-and-groove boards with an unmolded baseboard, is fronted by an undercut, double-tiered gallery that features molded box columns echoed on the front wall of the house by pilasters. The pilasters and box columns are linked on only the second-story level by a railing of rectangular-sectioned balusters with molded handrail. On the first-story level, floor-length windows filled with six-over-nine double-hung sash flank a center-bay frontispiece entrance filled with a single-leaf, molded, two-panel door set within sidelights, and a transom filled with etched and painted glass. The first-story entrance is repeated on the, second-story level by a simpler center-bay doorway with matching door, having sidelights but no-transom. All windows of the house, except those on the facade, are filled with six-over-six, double-hung sash and many are closed by original shutter blinds.

The interior of the front section exhibits a single-pile plan with central passage. The window and doorway openings of the easterly front room of the first story have architrave surrounds with molded cornices, and the window and doorway openings of the westerly front room have shouldered architrave surrounds. All windows are set over molded panels, doors have two molded panels, bases are molded with two fascias, and the wooden mantel pieces are pilastered. Both first-story rooms and the central passage are adorned with well detailed plaster ceiling center-pieces. The stairway of the central passage, which is the most architecturally significant feature of the house, is entered on the westerly hall wall and gently curves, unbroken by intermediate landings, around the southerly and easterly walls to make a full half circle before terminating in the second-story hallway. The stairway has turned balusters. and a newel of clustered balusters. The second-story of the house is more plainly trimmed with the hallway side of the doorway openings having symmetrically molded surrounds. The two bedrooms have unmolded doorway and window surrounds, unmolded bases, and slightly shouldered wooden mantel pieces.

The rear story-and-a-half wing originally existed as an independent dwelling that was probably the first house constructed on Crescent Plantation. The lack of chimney bases or any evidence for such bases, despite the evidence of hearths, indicates that this building was relocated to serve as a rear wing for the two-story front section when it was built ca. 1859. The front section never existed independent of the rear wing, since no siding was ever attached to its studs at its junction with the rear wing. The rear wing cannot be dated stylistically since its was totally re-trimmed ca. 1859 to match the front section. The millwork is plain and un-molded like the upper story of the front section. The wing is fronted by an undercut gallery with crudely molded box columns on its westerly elevation, which originally had a center-bay open passage with beaded frame. This open passage is flanked by three-bay compositions of a transomed center-bay doorway flanked by windows. The transom of the southernmost doorway is decorated with painted and stained glass. The figure of Robert E. Lee on horseback is flanked by two Confederate flags. The floor plan was originally a double-pile plan with short open passage separating the front or westerly rooms and a range of three rooms across the rear. The stairway to the upper half story runs along the southerly wall of the center rear room ina straight westerly flight to terminate in the upper half story, which was totally remodeled and lighted by later dormers in the mid-twentieth century.