Creole Architecture and Big House Tour is all about the unique Houses of New Orleans. Colorful beautiful Creole mansions downtown and the Big White houses, uptown in the American sector. 

 

We start by visiting; The Pitot House 

Located on historic Bayou St. John, the Pitot House is the only Creole colonial country house that is open to the public in New Orleans. It tells the story of life along the bayou since the earliest days of settlement. The Pitot House has had a variety of owners from prominent lawyers to austere nuns. One of the most prominent was James Pitot, the first mayor of New Orleans after the city's incorporation who lived here from 1810-1819. The Pitot House is a National Trust for Historic Preservation Partner Place.  Click here for more information on the National Trust.

 

Tour time: 2pm. Price $75 per adult.Duration 2.5 hrs. 

Incl a bottle water/juice and a snack bar. 

(Please note we do have a minimum of 6 persons,so please make your reservations in advance). 

 

Hotel pickup available,no extra charge.  

 

 

 

 

ABOUT 

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New Orleans Creole architecture, is unique in the United States. Some of the Houses are older than the Union. Going as far back as 1748... If your a Historic House & Architect lover, your going to LOVE this City. And you will enjoy, the Tours we provide. 

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The buildings and architecture of New Orleans are reflective of its history and multicultural heritage, from Creole cottages to historic mansions on St. Charles Avenue, from the balconies of the French Quarter to an Egyptian Revival U.S. Customs building and a rare example of a Moorish revival church.

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The city has fine examples of almost every architectural style, from the baroque Cabildo to modernist skyscrapers.

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Creole Cottage

Creole cottages are scattered throughout the city of New Orleans, with most being built between 1790-1850. The majority of these cottages are found in the French Quarter, the surrounding areas of Faubourg Marigny, the Bywater, and Esplanade Ridge. Creole cottages are  1 1⁄2-story, set at ground level. They have a steeply-pitched roof, with a symmetrical four-opening façade wall and a wood or stucco exterior. They are usually set close to the property line.

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American Townhouse

Many buildings in the American townhouse style were built from 1820 to 1850 and can be found in the Central Business District and Lower Garden District. American townhouses are narrow, three-story structures made of stucco or brick. An asymmetrical arrangement of the facade with a balcony on the second floor sits close to the property line.

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Creole Townhouse

Creole townhouses are perhaps the most iconic pieces of architecture in the city of New Orleans, comprising a large portion of the French Quarter and the neighboring Faubourg Marigny. Creole townhouses were built after the Great New Orleans Fire (1788), until the mid-19th century. The prior wooden buildings were replaced with structures with courtyards, thick walls, arcades, and cast-iron balconies. The facade of the building sits on the property line, with an asymmetrical arrangement of arched openings. Creole townhouses have a steeply-pitched roof with parapets, side-gabled, with several roof dormers and strongly show their French and Spanish influence. The exterior is made of brick or stucco.

 

Shotgun House

The shotgun house is a narrow domestic residence, usually no more than 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, with doors at each end. This style of architecture developed in New Orleans, and is the city's predominant house type. The earliest extant New Orleans shotgun house, at 937 St. Andrews St., was built in 1848.[citation needed] Shotguns were built through the 1920s and can be found throughout the city.

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Typically, shotgun houses are one-story, narrow rectangular homes raised on brick piers. Most have a narrow porch covered by a roof apron that is supported by columns and brackets, which are often ornamented with lacy Victorian motifs. Many variations of the shotgun house exist, including double shotguns (essentially a duplex); camel-back house, also called humpback, with a partial second floor on the end of the house; double-width shotgun, a single house twice the width of a normal shotgun; and "North shore" houses, with wide verandas on both sides, built north of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish.

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Double Gallery House

Double-gallery houses were built in New Orleans between 1820 and 1850. Double-gallery houses are two-story houses with a side-gabled or hipped roof. The house is set back from the property line, and it has a covered two-story gallery which is framed and supported by columns supporting the entablature.

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The façade has an asymmetrical arrangement of its openings. These homes were built as a variation on the American townhouses built in the Garden District, Uptown, and Esplanade Ridge, areas which in the 19th century were thought of as suburbs.

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California-Style Bungalow House

California bungalow houses were built from the early-to-mid-20th century in neighborhoods such as Mid-City, Gentilly Terrace, Broadmoor, and scattered throughout older neighborhoods as in-fill. California bungalows are noted for their low-slung appearance, being more horizontal than vertical. The exterior is often wood siding, with a brick, stucco, or stone porch with flared columns and roof overhang. Bungalows are one or one-and-a-half-story houses, with sloping roofs and eaves showing unenclosed rafters. They typically feature a gable (or an attic vent designed to look like a gable) over the main portion of the house.

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All tours leave from Louis Armstrong Park  701 N Rampart St, New Orleans, LA 70116.

We’ll see you there!