Pitot House

	Pitot House
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	1440 Moss St., New Orleans, Louisiana
Coordinates	29°58′54″N90°5′21″W / 29.98167°N 90.08917°W Coordinates: 29°58′54″N90°5′21″W / 29.98167°N 90.08917°W
Area	0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Architectural style	Colonial
NRHP reference #	71000360 [1]
Added to NRHP	September 28, 1971

Last updated May 02, 2019

The Pitot House is a historic landmark in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.

New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With an estimated population of 393,292 in 2017, it is the most populous city in Louisiana. A major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States.

Louisiana is a state in the Deep South region of the South Central United States. It is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Louisiana is bordered by the state of Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. A large part of its eastern boundary is demarcated by the Mississippi River. Louisiana is the only U.S. state with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are equivalent to counties. The state's capital is Baton Rouge, and its largest city is New Orleans.

The Pitot House is an 18th-century Creole colonial country home located at 1440 Moss Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Pitot House is currently owned by the Louisiana Landmark Society, which uses the building as its headquarters. The house is situated on Bayou St. John and was moved several blocks from its original site in order to prevent its demolition.

Louisiana Creole people, are persons descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana during the period of both French and Spanish rule. The term creole was originally used by French settlers to distinguish persons born in Louisiana from those born in the mother country or elsewhere. As in many other colonial societies around the world, creole was a term used to mean those who were "native-born", especially native-born Europeans such as the French and Spanish. It also came to be applied to African-descended slaves and Native Americans who were born in Louisiana. Louisiana Creoles share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French and Louisiana Creole languages and predominant practice of Catholicism.

Colonialism is the policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of opening trade opportunities. The colonizing country seeks to benefit from the colonized country or land mass. In the process, colonizers imposed their religion, economics, and medicinal practices on the natives. Some argue this was a positive move toward modernization, while other scholars counter that this is an intrinsically Eurocentric rationalization, given that modernization is itself a concept introduced by Europeans. Colonialism is largely regarded as a relationship of domination of an indigenous majority by a minority of foreign invaders where the latter rule in pursuit of its interests.

A country is a region that is identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or part of a larger state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated people with distinct political characteristics. Regardless of the physical geography, in the modern internationally accepted legal definition as defined by the League of Nations in 1937 and reaffirmed by the United Nations in 1945, a resident of a country is subject to the independent exercise of legal jurisdiction. There is no hard and fast definition of what regions are countries and which are not.

History

The Pitot House was initially constructed in 1799 by Don Bartólome Bosque as a country retreat along Bayou St. John. It is speculated that Bosque's house was a raised cottage on brick pillars. Bosque was a Spanish colonial official, whose daughter Suzette married Louisiana Governor William C.C. Claiborne.

Bayou St. John is a bayou within the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

NOTE: The 1790 in architecture article states that the house was finished in 1790 and was built by Don Santiago Lorreins.

The year 1790 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

It is also believed that during the ownership of Madame Rillieux (1805–1810), Edgar Degas' great-grandmother, the ground floor was enclosed with masonry walls of soft brick. Rillieux was also responsible for adding the southern gallery and several outbuildings, which are no longer extant.

Edgar Degas was a French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. He is especially identified with the subject of dance; more than half of his works depict dancers. Regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, he rejected the term, preferring to be called a realist. He was a superb draftsman, and particularly masterly in depicting movement, as can be seen in his rendition of dancers, racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and for their portrayal of human isolation.

Veranda roofed, open-air gallery or porch

A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure.

The house is named for James Pitot, the fourth owner of the house who resided there from 1810 to 1819. Pitot is considered to be the first "American" mayor of New Orleans (1804–1805); for although he was a native of France, he became a naturalized American citizen before arriving in New Orleans in 1796. Inside are American and Louisiana antiques from the early 19th century, but the antiques are not original to the home. A portrait of Sophie Gabrielle, James Pitot's daughter, is the only artifact owned by any past resident of the house.

James Pitot (1761–1831), also known as Jacques Pitot, was the third Mayor of New Orleans, after Cavalier Petit served for a ten-day interim following Mayor Boré's resignation. Because he had already attained American citizenship, he is sometimes called New Orleans' first American mayor.

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Naturalization is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the individual, or it may involve an application or a motion and approval by legal authorities. The rules of naturalization vary from country to country but typically include a promise to obeying and upholding that country's laws, taking and subscribing to the oath of allegiance, and may specify other requirements such as a minimum legal residency and adequate knowledge of the national dominant language or culture. To counter multiple citizenship, most countries require that applicants for naturalization renounce any other citizenship that they currently hold, but whether this renunciation actually causes loss of original citizenship, as seen by the host country and by the original country, will depend on the laws of the countries involved.

Other notable owners of the house include Felix Ducayet and Mother Cabrini, America's first named saint.

House

The home is within yards of the site of the "bayou bridge" which Governor Claiborne ordered the military "to permit no Negroes to pass or repass the same"^[2] during the events known as the 1811 German Coast Uprising.^[3] This event, said by some historians to be the largest slave uprising on American soil (a theory not recognized by all)^[4] caused white families living upriver in January 1811 to stream into New Orleans along Metairie Road. That road was the "highland" road which crossed the bridge at Bayou St. John, providing access to the traditional "back of town" entrance along Bayou Road into the city.

The house was saved from destruction by the Louisiana Landmarks Society in 1964 and restored to its original splendor, showing the double-pitched hipped roof, and the plaster-covered brick-between-post (briquette-entre-poteaux) construction. The wooden posts act as structural support, the brick offers thermal insulation, and the plaster protects this medley from dampness and rot.

The style of the Pitot House is ensuite —with no hallways and an outdoor stairway. The house was designed with hot summers and insects in mind. The doors were positioned across from each other to keep cool air moving. The extended galleries on both the bottom and top levels of the house keep the sun off the walls and offer outdoor breezeways.

The Pitot House was also designed to withstand floods and was able to survive the floods of Hurricane Katrina due to brick floors on the bottom level of the house which would have originally been caulked with a dry mix of sand and lime, allowing flood waters to drain through. The gallery, back loggia, and sleeping porch were used for outdoor entertaining, dining, and sleeping; they were fitted with shutters to provide relief from the intense Louisiana sun.

Garden

The garden at the Pitot House grows plants traditional to the time period when the Pitot House was built. These plants include indigenous flowers, citrus trees, perennials, bulbs, antique roses, camellias, herbs, and vegetables. The garden is a traditional parterre garden, designed to be viewed from the above gallery, with the boxwood hedges recently restored.

A native plants garden showcases Louisiana wildflowers and shrubs along the perimeter of the parterre. Next to the house is a 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) yard, where parties and events are held.

Related Research Articles

Daniel Clark was the first Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the United States House of Representatives. Born in Sligo, Ireland, he was reportedly educated at Eton College in England.

William Charles Cole Claiborne was an American politician, best known as the first non-colonial Governor of Louisiana. He also has the distinction of possibly being the youngest Congressman in U.S. history, although reliable sources differ about his age.

In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color were people of mixed African and European descent who were not enslaved. The term arose in the French colonies, including La Louisiane and settlements on Caribbean islands, such as Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Guadeloupe, and Martinique, where a distinct group of free people of color developed. Freed African slaves were included in the term affranchis, but historically they were considered as distinct from the free people of color. In these territories and major cities, particularly New Orleans, and those cities held by the Spanish, a substantial third class of primarily mixed-race, free people developed. These colonial societies classified mixed-race people in a variety of ways, generally related to visible features and to the proportion of African ancestry. Racial classifications were numerous in Latin America.

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Uptown is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, on the east bank of the Mississippi River, encompassing a number of neighborhoods between the French Quarter and the Jefferson Parish line. It remains an area of mixed residential and small commercial properties, with a wealth of 19th-century architecture. It includes part or all of Uptown New Orleans Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Jean-Noël Destréhan de Tours was a Creole politician in Louisiana and one-time owner of St. Charles Parish's Destrehan Plantation, one of Louisiana's historic antebellum landmarks. The community of Destrehan was named for his family.

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References

↑ National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
↑ Rowland, Dunbar, Official Letter Books of Gov. W.C.C.Claiborne, vol. V, p. 93
↑ Eaton, Fernin, https://www.academia.edu/2245615/Slave_Uprisings--The_Cottage_Industry, paper presented to the Gulf South History and Humanities Conference, October 20, 2011, Pensacola, FL
↑ See, e.g., Eaton, Fernin, (7 November 2011). 1811 Slave Uprising; Governor on Trial: Claiborne in His Own Words, A salon publique, Pitot House, New Orleans. https://www.academia.edu/1910804/Gov._Claiborne_in_his_own_words--a_salon_publique_at_Pitot_House_Bayou_St._John Retrieved 06/18/2013

External links

Pitot House museum and gardens - Louisiana Landmark Society
Pitot House museum at New Orleans Museums: address, map, hours, etc.
Pitot House - Historic American Building Surveys 13 measured drawings and floor plans
Frommer's Review
HGTV Restoration Information

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[nris-1] National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.

[2] Rowland, Dunbar, Official Letter Books of Gov. W.C.C.Claiborne, vol. V, p. 93

[3] Eaton, Fernin, https://www.academia.edu/2245615/Slave_Uprisings--The_Cottage_Industry, paper presented to the Gulf South History and Humanities Conference, October 20, 2011, Pensacola, FL

[4] See, e.g., Eaton, Fernin, (7 November 2011). 1811 Slave Uprising; Governor on Trial: Claiborne in His Own Words, A salon publique, Pitot House, New Orleans. https://www.academia.edu/1910804/Gov._Claiborne_in_his_own_words--a_salon_publique_at_Pitot_House_Bayou_St._John Retrieved 06/18/2013