Field Studies 03 - Evergreen and Whitney

Field StudiesEvergreen Plantation and Whitney Plantation

Anthony DelRosario

Studio in Building Preservation

Professors G. Cizek, M. Thomas, and H. Knight

Master in Preservation Studies

Tulane School of Architecture

1 PRST 6510 - Studio in Building Preservation – G. Cizek, M. Thomas, H. Knight – March 12, 2010

On March 5, Studio in Building Preservation made our third field trip of the

semester to Evergreen Plantation (Fig. 1) and Whitney Plantation (Fig. 2). Again, we

were able to compare and contrast two properties of similar age but in different stages

of preservation. The previous week we toured two Creole raised plantation houses,

Destrehan Plantation House and Homeplace Plantation House, that were built during

the same period (and likely by the same craftsmen) but differ in size and amount of

preservation work. During the first week, we were able to compare two masonry

fortifications, Fort Jefferson and Fort Pike, which differed in time period, size, and

amount of preservation work.

The first stop of the day in Wallace, Louisiana was the National Historic

Landmark, Evergreen Plantation. The extensive complex is the “most complete

plantation community along the River Road” (Sternberg 268). The property is

composed of 39 buildings (31 of which are antebellum). The complex includes the main

house (Fig. 3), pigeonniers, garçonnières (Fig. 8), a rare Greek Revival privy, kitchen,

office, overseer’s house, and an oak-lined alley of 22 slave quarters. The one building

that would complete Evergreen as a full plantation is the missing sugar mill. According

to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination form, all but two of the 39

buildings are considered contributing.

The story of Evergreen Plantation can be traced back to the early Eighteenth

Century when Ambroise Heidel emigrated from the lowlands of the German coast.

Heidel, who Francofied his name to Haydel, settled along the Mississippi River in 1760

with his family of five sons. One of the sons, Christophe, built a two story French Creole

farmhouse about 1790 on his portion of the family property. His daughter Magdelaine,

Anthony DelRosario – Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture


who had married into the Becnel Family, exchanged her late husband’s estate with her

sister for the plantation (HABS). Her grandson Pierre Becnel eventually purchased the

estate after her death. In 1832 Pierre Becnel, who had been fascinated with Greek

Revival for several years, remodeled the house in this style. Historian and architect

Samuel Wilson, Jr. speculated that Francois Correjolles, architect of the Le Carpentier-

Beauregard house, and Joseph Pilie, builder of Oak Alley, may have had a hand in the

1830’s remodeling at Evergreen (Banks 215). According to the NRHP nomination form,

John Carver led the remodeling of the original residence, which included constructing a

new roof, removing a room at each end of the house, and adding a large gallery and

portico. Pierre Becnel went bankrupt turning the French Creole farmhouse into a Greek

Revival manor and only one winding staircase had been built. The property remained in

the Becnel Family until 1893 when the Songy Family purchased it. After disasters that

included the flood of 1927, sugar cane disease in 1928, and the depression in 1929, the

Songy Family had to release ownership in 1930. The house sat vacant until 1944 when

Matilda Gray purchased the property.

Matilda Gray was the daughter of John Geddings Gray who made a fortune with

cattle and oil in Lake Charles, Louisiana. “In the way some collectors accumulate

paintings, Miss Matilda collected houses, including a hunting lodge in Lake Charles, the

mid-nineteenth-century Gauche house in the French Quarter, a rambling Spanish

Colonial house in Guatemala and, of course, Evergreen” (Banks 217). Richard Koch

served as architect for the restoration to return the house to its 1832 grandeur until he

and the owner had a disagreement over rebuilding the staircase and closing in the rear

loggia. According the Professor Cizek, Ms. Gray wanted to be able to go from room to



room without having to go outside and had the loggia enclosed (Fig. 5). According to

HABS photographs taken by Koch in 1936, the single front staircase had a square

landing platform; however, Ms. Gray wanted a pair of sweeping stairs without a landing.

While at Evergreen, we were shown some of the current work on the staircase by

Charles Lesher who works with Milton Freewater Construction. We saw several steps

taken to help preserve the staircase such as raising the base of the hand rails off of the

lower masonry steps to avoid moisture wicking up the wood from the brick (Fig. 4).

Today, Evergreen Plantation is owned by Matilda Gray Stream, the niece of

Matilda Gray. Mrs. Stream has been very involved with the restoration of Evergreen.

Due to the use of improper paint and mortar in the 1940s, many problems have arisen

over the years. According to the Preservation of Evergreen handout, major restoration

has been going on for thirteen years. Much work has addressed problems with the

failure of paint on the exterior and the interior of the main house. We saw that the use

of lime wash has been successful inside the house except and a couple of places where

exterior columns caused water to be pushed into the wall of the enclosed loggia on the

ground floor (Fig. 6). In addition to the staircase, Charles will be working on the

belvedere (or widow’s walk) which needs its railing restored. We were very fortunate to

be able to go up to the belvedere and look out over the property including the parterre

garden (Fig 7.).

Evergreen Plantation is unmatched with the number of original dependencies

that remain. The privy in the garden is uniquely Greek Revival. I found the most

extraordinary part of the site to be the row of slave quarters. The fact that these

quarters have been in the location for over 150 years is quite amazing. According to the



NRHP nomination form, a Mississippi River Commission map from 1876 shows the 22

cabins in the same location and configuration. These slave quarters (Fig. 10) are

showing quite a bit of deterioration from the elements which has been increased by not

having been painted for many years. Applying lime wash in historical colors would help

maintain the cabins. Recently, one of the cabins has been rebuilt (Fig. 9) using sunken

cypress and original building methods at cost of a quarter of a million dollars, according

to Professor Cizek. Luckily, Evergreen Plantation is owned by a wealthy family that can

afford such projects, unlike Homeplace Plantation.

The story of Whitney Plantation can also be traced back to Ambroise Heidel.

According to the NRHP nomination form, archaeological evidence suggests that the

Heidel family may have a built a house as early as 1750. Current owner on the

property, John Cummings, said that a Louisiana State University dig located the

foundation of this early house. Around 1790, Jean Jacques Heidel, another son of

Ambroise, built a raised Creole house which was expanded in 1803. The Whitney

Plantation House (Fig. 11) and the Evergreen Plantation House had identical original

plans that were modified in different degrees over the years. Marcellin Heidel, one of

Jean Jacques’ children, owned the tract after consolidating adjacent land acquired from

cousins and commissioned remodeling of the house from 1836 to 1839 (NRHP form).

During this time, Renaissance Revival ornamental painting was added to the interior

living room upstairs. These paintings have been painstakingly conserved by removing

several layers of finish and dust according to Mr. Cummings (Fig. 12). The rear loggia

features large wall murals (Fig. 13). The painting work has been attributed to

Dominique Canova, the nephew of Napoleon’s artist. The loggia at Whitney appears



today much like it would have in 1850 while the loggia at Evergreen was drastically

modified by Ms. Gray’s enclosure in the 1940s.

The plantation includes several other interesting original buildings. This includes

the lone French Creole barn (Fig. 17) in America and the oldest kitchen in Louisiana.

Adjacent to the main site is the Mialaret property (Fig. 18), former home of Yves-Louis

Hippolyte Mialaret, Napoleon’s tutor while on Elba.

Currently Whitney Plantation is owned by lawyer John Cummings, who has

amassed money as a trial lawyer. He acquired the property in 2003 from the Formosa

Chemical Corporation, whose planned rayon factory on part of the property met stiff

opposition in the 1990s. Cummings has a vision “to preserve the historic estate as a

memorial to southern slaves” (Matrana 257). When we arrived at Whitney Plantation,

Mr. Cummings took us to a church building that he had moved from Paulina, Louisiana.

Here he explained his various plans for the slave memorial which include inscribing into

granite slabs all of the names of the slaves from Louisiana, creating a Field of Angels

(Fig. 16) dedicated to the 2200 slave infants that died before reaching the age of two in

St. John the Baptist Parish, and making realistic statues of slave children (Fig. 15). I

can appreciate the fervor the Mr. Cummings has to memorialize those that were treated

so inhumanely as slaves; however, I believe that some of his ideas need to be more

polished and more focused. Also, I hope that his vision of a “living experience,” to live

like a slave in actual slave quarters (Fig. 14) and to work in the field, is presented in a

way that does not offend anyone.



Mr. Cummings also would like to donate the property to the Smithsonian when

the projects are completed. However, the site is quite a mélange of buildings that he

has collected. The site would benefit from separating the buildings that were moved to

the property. This would help present a better picture of what the plantation looked like

in the Nineteenth Century.

These two plantations offer interesting contrasts. First, we see differing ideas of

remodeling of the once identical houses in the 1800s. The change at Evergreen was

mainly on the exterior by changing the style to Greek Revival while the change at

Whitney was mainly on the interior by adding the decorative painting. Second, we see

differing ideas of preservation in the present. At Evergreen, we see an organized

restoration effort focused on traditional craftsmanship to create a picture of the mid-

Nineteenth Century. At Whitney, we see a variety of projects including conservation of

the main house and the somewhat disjoint slave memorial. However, with both

plantations, we see that these efforts require a great deal of money.


i PRST 6510 - Studio in Building Preservation – G. Cizek, M. Thomas, H. Knight – March 12, 2010

Sources

Banks, William N. "Evergreen Plantation: Harold and Matilda Stream's Antebellum

Estate in Louisiana." Architectural Digest, v.43 no.5, May 1986, pp.212-218+.

Explore the History and Culture of Southeastern Louisiana: A National Register of

Historic Places Travel Itinerary.

<http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/travel/louisiana/index.htm>

Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey Collection.

<http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/>

Evergreen Plantation documentation, <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/la0338/>

Whitney Plantation documentation, <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/la0244/>

Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation's National Register Website.

<http://crt.louisiana.gov/hp/nationalregister/historicplacesdatabase.aspx>.

Evergreen Plantation National Register document.

<http://crt.louisiana.gov/hp/nationalregister/nhl/document2.asp?

name=48005001.pdf>

Whitney Plantation Historic District National Register document.

<http://crt.louisiana.gov/hp/nationalregister/nhl/document2.asp?

name=48011001.pdf>

Matrana, Marc R. Lost Plantations of the South. Jackson: University Press of

Mississippi, 2009.

Preservation of Evergreen: June 1997-Present. Handout provided by Evergreen

Plantation.

Sternberg, Mary Ann. Along the River Road: Past and Present on Louisiana's Historic

Byway. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996.

The History of Evergreen Plantation. Handout provided by Evergreen Plantation.


ii PRST 6510 - Studio in Building Preservation – G. Cizek, M. Thomas, H. Knight – March 12, 2010

Images

Figure 1: Evergreen Plantation House Figure 2: Whitney Plantation House

Figure 3: Evergreen Plantation House Figure 4: repair work on staircase at Evergreen

Figure 5: Evergreen enclosed rear loggia Figure 6: Investigating water damage at Evergreen


iii PRST 6510 - Studio in Building Preservation – G. Cizek, M. Thomas, H. Knight – March 12, 2010

Figure 7: Evergreen parterre garden and privy Figure 8: Evergreen pigeonnier and garçonnièr

Figure 9: Evergreen rebuilt slave quarters Figure 10: Evergreen slave quarters

Figure 11: Whitney Plantation House Figure 12: conservation and memory of interior ceiling painting at Whitney


iv PRST 6510 - Studio in Building Preservation – G. Cizek, M. Thomas, H. Knight – March 12, 2010

Figure 13: Whitney rear loggia Figure 14: Whitney slave quarters

Figure 15: Statues of slave children at Whitney Figure 16: Field of Angels at Whitney

Figure 17: Creole barn at Whitney Figure 18: Mialaret House at Whitney

All photographs were taken by the author.


Field Studies 03 - Evergreen and Whitney

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Transcript of Field Studies 03 - Evergreen and Whitney