Antebellum Homes - Architecture of Time and Place

Antebellum Homes - Architecture of Time and Place Antebellum homes refer to the large, elegant mansions - usually plantation homes - built in the American South during the 30 years or so before the American Civil War (1861-1865). Antebellum means before war in Latin. Antebellum is not a particular house style or architecture. Rather, it is a time and place in history - a period in American history that triggers great emotions even today. Antebellum Time and Place The features we associate with antebellum architecture were introduced to the American South by Anglo-Americans, outliers who moved into the area after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and during a wave of immigration from Europe. Southern architecture had been characterized by whoever lived on the land - the Spanish, the French, Creole, Native Americans - but this new wave of entrepreneurs began to dominate not only the economy, but also the architecture in the first half of the 19th century. Great numbers of Europeans seeking economic opportunities emigrated to America after Napoleans defeat and the end of the War of 1812. These immigrants became the merchants and planters of goods to trade, including tobacco, cotton, sugar, and indigo.  The great plantations of Americas south flourished, largely on the back of a slave labor force. Antebellum architecture is so intertwined with the memory of American slavery that many people believe these buildings are not worth preserving or, even, should be destroyed. Stanton Hall, for example, was built in 1859 by  Frederick Stanton, born in  County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Stanton settled in  Natchez, Mississippi to become a wealthy cotton merchant. The plantation homes of the south, like Stanton Hall built before Americas Civil War, expressed wealth and the grand revival architectural styles of the day. Typical Characteristics of Antebellum Houses Most antebellum homes are in the Greek Revival or Classical Revival, and sometimes French Colonial and Federal style - grand, symmetrical, and boxy, with center entrances in the front and rear, balconies, and columns or pillars. This opulent style of architecture was popular throughout the U.S. in the first half of the 19th century. Architectural details include hipped or gabled roof; symmetrical faà §ade; evenly-spaced windows; Greek-type pillars and columns; elaborate friezes; balconies and covered porches; central entryway with a grand staircase; formal ballroom; and often a cupola. Examples of Antebellum Architecture The term antebellum stirs thoughts of Tara, the palatial plantation home featured in in the book and movie Gone with the Wind. From grand, pillared Greek Revival mansions to stately Federal style estates, Americas antebellum-era architecture reflects the power and idealism of wealthy landowners in the American South, prior to the Civil War. Plantation homes continue to rival Gilded Age mansions as Americas grand estates. A few examples of antebellum homes include Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana; Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee; Long Branch Estate in Millwood, Virginia; and Longwood estate in Natchez, Mississippi. Much has been written and photographed of the homes of this time period. This architecture of time and place has served its original purpose, and the question now for these buildings is, Whats next? Many of these homes were ruined during the Civil War - and later by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. After the Civil War, private schools often consumed the properties. Today, many are tourist destinations and some have become part of the hospitality industry. The question of preservation is ever-present for this type of architecture. But, should this part of Americas past be saved? Boone Hall Plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, was an established plantation even before the American Revolution - in the 1600s, the Boone family became original settlers of the South Carolina colony. Today the buildings on the grounds of this tourist destination have been largely rebuilt, with an attitude of integration of the lives of all, including a slave history presentation and a Black History in America exhibit. In addition to being a working farm, Boone Hall Plantation exposes the public to a time and place in American history. After Katrina: Lost Architecture in Mississippi New Orleans was not the only area damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The storm may have made landfall in Louisiana, but its path ripped straight through the length of the state of Mississippi. Millions of trees were uprooted, snapped or severely damaged, reported the National Weather Service from Jackson. It was the fallen trees that caused just about all of the structural damage and downed power lines across this region. Hundreds of trees fell onto homes causing minor to major damage. Its impossible to calculate the full extent of Hurricane Katrinas damages. In addition to the loss of lives, homes, and jobs, towns along Americas Gulf Coast lost some of their most valuable cultural resources. As residents began to clean up the rubble, historians and museum curators began to catalog the destruction. One example is Beauvoir, a raised cottage built shortly before the Civil War in 1851. It became the final home for Confederate leader Jefferson Davis. The porch and columns were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, but the Presidential archives remained safe on the second floor. Other buildings in Mississippi were not so lucky, including these destroyed by the hurricane: The  Robinson-Maloney-Dantzler HouseBuilt in Biloxi c. 1849 by English immigrant J.G. Robinson, a wealthy cotton planter, this elegant, columned home had just been refurbished and was about to open as a Mardi Gras Museum. The Tullis Toledano ManorConstructed in 1856 by cotton broker Christoval Sebastian Toledano, the Biloxi mansion was a stately Greek Revival home with massive brick columns. Grass LawnAlso known as Milner House, this 1836 Antebellum mansion in Gulfport, Mississippi was the summer home of  Dr. Hiram Alexander Roberts, a medical doctor and sugar planter. The home was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, but in 2012 a replica was built on the same footprint. The controversial project is reported well by Jay Pridmore in Rebuilding a Historic Mississippi Plantation. Preservation of National Historic Sites Saving great architecture played second fiddle to saving lives and public safety concerns during and after Hurricane Katrina. Cleanup efforts began immediately and often without adhering to the National Historic Preservation Act.  So much damage was done by Katrina that there was a great need to clean up the debris, but little time to enter into the proper consultation required by the National Historic Preservation Act,† said Ken P’Pool of the Historic Preservation Division, Mississippi Department of Archives and History. A similar circumstance happened in New York City after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, when clean-up and rebuilding was mandated to work within what had become a national historic site. In 2015, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) completed a database of properties and archaeological sites, reviewed thousands of recovery projects and grant applications, and erected cast aluminum historic markers commemorating 29 of the hundreds of lost properties. Sources The Story of Stanton Hall, stantonhall.com/stanton-hall.php [accessed July 21, 2016]A Look Back at Hurricane Katrina, National Weather Service Jackson, MS Weather Forecast OfficeNational Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, NPS Form 10-900-a Prepared by William M. Gatlin, Architectural Historian, August 2008 (PDF)FEMA Helps Mississippi Preserve Important Architectural Properties, DR-1604-MS NR 757, August 19, 2015 [accessed August 23, 2015]