Creole cottages seem to have first appeared during the Spanish Colonial period (1762-1800) in Louisiana's history and are the most
prominent structure found in the French Quarter. The cottages were constructed as late as 1880. The Creole cottage usually consist of four
square interconnecting rooms, on one level, with relatively low ceilings. The windows and doors were most often casement with shutters.
The front of the cottage usually had four shuttered openings, of which two were doors and two were windows. Above the front wall is an
overhang called an abat-vent. Much like balconies, abat-vents provide protection to the front wall, doors, and windows, from the
sun and rain. They also provided the same protection to pedestrians who happen by.
Very few Creole cottages had dormers, and the roofs were gabled, rather than hipped.
The cottage pictured above has a straight sloop, but others are found to have a double pitched roof. Most roofs were covered with slate.
Some of the slate came over on ships where they were used as ballast. Other slate was mined in the Northern Mississippi Valley and barged
down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
The cottages were built on lots most often only 32 feet wide and had a depth of 120 feet. The cottage was built 40 - 50 feet deep, leaving an area for a rear yard (a courtyard) or another building,
usually a two story service structure containing a kitchen and bedrooms for slaves or family members.
Photo by Greg Livaudais, 1998
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
931 - 933 St. Philip Street
built 1781
Probably the most famous, and popular, cottage in the French Quarter is Lafitte's Blackshop, now a tavern enjoyed by locals as well
as tourist. It's hipped roof is especially step on the sides. The construction is brick between post, very
typical of cottages in the French Quarter. Bricks were laid between handhewn cypress post and covered with stucco. In many
French Quarter buildings the stucco has fallen off in various amounts. It is almost an architectural style in the Quarter to have a
stucco covered wall bearing sections of exposed bricks.
The dormers on Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop were not part of the original structure, and the double hung windows
probably replaced the original casement windows after 1820.
