pauger street | working-copy

Pauger Street, New Orleans

At the downriver end of Bourbon Street sits what is considered to be the first center hall, Creole Cottage built in New Orleans. Constructed in 1825, the house is significant for its original blend of Federal and Creole styles. The recessed front door and fanlight transom window showcase the emerging influence of the East Coast builders and architects immigrating to the city after statehood. The center hall form that separates two public parlors (seen above and below) - on one side from three rooms (originally bedrooms) on the opposite side of the house, was a unique development in the city of New Orleans. This layout and style fusion was used a year later by Francois Carrejolles when he designed the BK House on Chartres and Ursulines streets - a National Historic Landmark; no connection has been established between the two houses but they are less than a 10 minute walk away.

The current owners continued this blend of East Coast and Local (being from Long Island and New Orleans) by respecting the bones of the house while staying true to their eclectic and colorful visions for a new home. The result is a tailored scheme reflecting their playful natures and endurance (the entire project was undertaken during the pandemic).

Parlors

The large, twin, double parlors are separated by the original pocket doors that are in turn, topped with the original glass transom lights and flanked by an intricate carved wood trim (found on all of the first floor doors). Cypress flooring was removed, reconditioned, and replaced while the black marble fireplace surrounds were reconditioned by removing years of tar and soot, black paint, and more. The fireboxes were rebuilt as well as the foundations. Corner crown molding patterns are similar to the corners found at the BK House.

A significant discovery – original ocher colors – appeared when the drywall was removed from the parlor walls. Although most of them have currently been re-painted, the walls on either side of the pocket doors were waxed to preserve the finish to as close as original as possible. All woodwork was hand – stripped with a heat gun. Crown molding was re-cast where the original had failed, and the center medallions were painstakingly attended to with the goal of revealing decades of past color choices.

Gallery & Center Hall

Built by Antoine Boutin, a Free Person of Color, for his own residence, much of the interior has been renovated numerous times over the past nearly 200 years. The back gallery was originally open (the transom window differs from the one over the front door) and the bedrooms were all separate; over the years the gallery was closed in and the three bedrooms were reconfigured to accommodate a kitchen and a den connected by a hall and allowing a pantry and a bathroom. Dating this renovation to about 1880 was confirmed by wallpaper applied directly to bargeboard walls – the pattern is a Cabbage Rose from the Eastlake Stick era (identified by wallpaper expert Isabelle Dissard - Cooper).

Colors

A prior renovation in the center hall was confirmed in a similar way – wallpaper underneath the wainscoting dated to the mid 19th century – and had been applied on top of a new layer of plaster. When purchased in 2020, the center hall ceilings had been lowered to accommodate HVAC ductwork ruining the proportions. When the drop ceiling was removed, the original plaster crown molding was exposed and a paint analysis revealed the original colors replicated on the hall ceiling and baseboard.

Kitchen, Side Hall, Den

The new black slate floor in a typical French chevron pattern unifies the kitchen, scullery and hall. The scullery was completely renovated, an island was added, and the fridge was located in front of the original door from the hall – the molding remains in situ as a nod to the past (a technique similar to ghosting in historic preservation).

The greens and the bright blue in the kitchen and den are not original to the house but the placement of color molding on colored walls or simply one color on everything is a Colonial tradition that lasted in New Orleans. Colors chosen because the owners liked them.

Powder Room - Similar gauge slate in a different pattern from the hall chevron flooring, and (Napoleon) bees, gold, and marble.

Master Suite

All the finishes were chosen on the basis of their appropriateness to the spirit of the house and if the owners liked them. Color was the original focus; see Pauger Street in the COLOR section of this website for an historic analysis of the schemes.

Guest Room and Upper Hall

The Sheraton bed was purchased at autcion and the color scheme was inspiried by Laura Plantation as an homage to Norman Marmillon.

COLLABORATORS & SOURCES

Original architectural plans; Lacey Wotring

Electrician; Ryan Weathers at Willpower Construction, LLC

Historic wallpaper expertise; Isabelle Dissard - Cooper of Zabey Designs

Wallpaper in Master bedroom and Powder room; Timorous Beasties - Bloomsbury Gardens & Civic Bee

Wallpaper in Guest Room; House of Hackney - Indienne