America's First Architects... 18th Century Architecture

 

   Thomas Jefferson

    Design and built the "Monticello" (his home pictured below) in 1794.  Jefferson also designed the Virginia State    Capital, pictured above. During his presidency 1801-1809 he remodeled the White House along with Benjamin Latrobe. Jefferson's style was highly European thanks to his main influence Italian architect Andrea Palladio. His Monticello design is also printed on the two-dollar bill. I have to respect Jefferson for being an Architect and a President.

   Benjamin Latrobe

A British-American Architect born in Yorkshire, England.  Some consider Latrobe to be the first American       Architect, however, I beg to differ. Latrobe designed in a Greek Revival Style, which is the look of England. For this reason I cannot respect him to be the first American Architect. It is true that he practiced architecture here in the 18th century and worked on portions of the State Capital and the White House, but he did nothing to create an American Architecture in my opinion.

Here are two works from Latrobe, the Taft Museum and Washington Navy Yard respectively:

 

    TWO EXAMPLES OF COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE... WHAT   PURITANS LIVED IN...

HH RICHARDSON AND TWO OTHERS... WHO FORM THE TRUE TRINITY OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE

  Henry Hobson Richardson


Richardson to me should hold the title of America's first Architect. He was born in Louisiana, my hometown state, and grew up in New Orleans. Richardson became famous for his Romanesque style, that was also infused with Japanese influences. Romanesque can be described as having massive bulky exterior walls, and round arches and towers. Richardson was Louis Sullivan's big influence, and Sullivan is credited as being the first American Modern Architect who developed the "skyscraper" as well as mentored and introduced the world to Frank Lloyd Wright. It's
these three men, Richardson, Sullivan, and Wright, who pioneered real American Architecture. Below are some images of Richardson's work of the early 1800s...

 

 

 THE ABOVE THREE MEN MAKE UP THE TRUE TRINITY OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE...

18th Century Plantations

 Plantations were the Mansions of the South in this era. Mostly owned by the French, they were designed to house their families as well as all of their servants and slaves. Those built in Louisiana were mostly Sugar-plantations. As big as these plantations were, they were usually built by the slaves themselves, or by local free men of color. Material of choice for most of them was Cypress wood, huge cuts of cypress would have to be handled to expand some of the open widths of these buildings. I can only imagine the difficulty in those days of making those cypress beams. It's interesting to note that for Destrehan Plantation, it took 3 years to construct and as stated in wikipedia, "Charles Pacquet (local free man of color) was given as payment, one brute negro, a cow, a calf, 100 bushels of corn and rice, and 100 bucks upon completion! I actually lived right around the corner from Destrehan Plantation, very nice area, right off River Road. I miss my days of visiting these great architectural works, the energy you feel while at these places were something you don't soon forget. Oak Alley was a favorite of mine, mainly because of the long row of 300 year old Oaks, its just an incredible place, most of the Plantations have an amazing restaurant somewhere on the property. I can vouch for Nottoway, Oak Alley and the Myrtles, for having amazing 5 star quality dining! Here are some of the Plantations as they look today:
  
Destrehan Plantation
 

 Hampton Plantation         
   McClellanville, South Carolina

 Oak Alley Plantation     
     This row of Oaks planted over 300 years ago by the original owner are amazing, I don't think he could
have ever imagined them to grow into the beauty they have created... A must see for anybody. Several movies were filmed here, like Interview with a Vampire (Brad Pitt) and Primary Colors (John Travolta). Located Vacherie, Louisiana

  Houmas Plantation      Located in Darrow, LA

 
     Evergreen Plantation

     Located in Wallace, LA.  Recently used by Quentin Tarantino as the set of his latest film "DJango unchained"  (2012) starring Jamie Fox, Samuel L Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio.