|
|
|
|
Twin Houses An excerpt from the book "LOUISIANA HOMES, IF WALLS COULD TALK" by Nola Mae Ross The reason is a mystery. But whatever the motive, several elaborate "twin houses" were built in Lake Charles, at the turn of the century. One set of these twins was built when the two daughters of the Rev. Cyrus King were wed. Edna married Wm. P. Dunn, and Ida married J. Harris Collette. The Collette home, built at 704 Iris Street, is now occupied by the Hector San Miguels and the Dunn house at 814 Clarence, by Susan and Steve Krous. Through the years, the porches have been changed, but the basic design is the same. Many look-a-like houses were the result of "home patterns" sold by ladies magazines like the "Delineator" published by the Butterick Pattern Company, which also made patterns for clothing. The Kreamer home on Shell Beach Drive was built from a Delineator pattern. Sears and Roebuck also sold house patterns from 1900 through 1930. They also sold complete prefabricated houses with directions for the do-it-yourself builders. There were several Sears and Roebuck homes built in Lake Charles, but it's difficult to find proof of just which ones they are. Two houses, one on the corner of Moss and Division, owned by the James Gaharans and the other on Moss and Pine, owned by Marc Pettaway, are actual mirror images. Their histories indicate they were probably built for Robert Nason, a Michigan lumber baron. These twins are one-and-a-half story Queen Anne Revival Cottages, featuring eyebrow dormers, decorative glass in the gables, and at one time, they both had tall, conical caps, often referred to as "Witches Caps". But according to legend, one of these caps was removed and sold for scrap metal during the critical shortage of copper in World War II. Although their twin features are not so obvious, there is a set of these houses at 901 and 907 South Division, built by Harry B. Milligan, who came to Lake Charles from Missouri in 1892. The house at 901 South Division, owned by Ed Nichols, was restored after major hurricane damage in 1918, with large Lake Charles columns. Mrs. Ida Winter Clark restored the other one, owned by Connie Windsor and Blane Bourgeois, with its original gingerbread ornaments, in 1927. There are twin bungalows built by Chavanne brothers at 515 and 517 Moss Street, as well as a set of twins at 1032 and 136 Kirkman Street, with a third similar house built just south of them. Many of the larger houses built in the late 1800s by the lumber barons, houses like the Ramsey-Curtis Bed and Breakfast on Broad Street, the Walter Goos home at 624 Ford Street, as well as the J.A. Bel home which was on Mill Street and now at Boys and Girls Village, all had huge galleries, dramatic columns, decorative gables, and spectacular windows and doors. Midwesterners, who came during the great Jabez Bunting Watkins land promotions in the late 1800s, built with architectural features of their background. Lake Charles also has examples of Acadian, Creole, FourSquare, Shotgun, and Craftsman houses. This vast cultural difference of the early settlers has created a unique blend of architectural heritage not found anywhere else in the world. Want
to read more ? Why not purchase a copy of the book?
|
|
|
