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building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

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overlooking <strong>the</strong> garden and <strong>the</strong> road and finally, slender columns supporting <strong>the</strong><br />

overhang, which gave shade to an old black man sitting on a rocking chair.<br />

The second architectural model was based on <strong>the</strong> new, neo‐classical, stylistic<br />

elements of American architecture, <strong>the</strong> so‐called federal‐style architecture 40 .<br />

References to this model date back to Italian Renaissance architecture and, in <strong>the</strong><br />

some cases, to <strong>the</strong> Greek model, which occasionally gave rise to questionable<br />

revivals.<br />

Used for <strong>building</strong>s which resembled more closely <strong>the</strong> cottages and <strong>the</strong> bungalows<br />

described above, this style was also used to celebrate <strong>the</strong> power and commercial<br />

achievement of <strong>the</strong> estate owner. The main feature of <strong>the</strong> <strong>building</strong>s which adopted<br />

this specific architectural style was a large loggia on <strong>the</strong> main façade, almost an<br />

archetype common to Creole architecture. Instead, <strong>the</strong> façade stood out for <strong>the</strong> use<br />

of a giant sequence of columns, which gave unity and a stereometric structure to<br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>building</strong>, nearly always designed with two storeys and a possible attic or<br />

mansard. There are numerous, widespread examples of manor houses, which are<br />

significant for <strong>the</strong>ir architectural and/or <strong>landscape</strong> value, throughout <strong>the</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>rn<br />

States. Louisiana, in particular, offers diversified situations:<br />

The Destrehan Plantation House, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana (1787‐90), <strong>the</strong><br />

Homeplace Plantation House, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana (1787) [Figure 17], Laura<br />

Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana (1820), <strong>the</strong> Uncle Sam (Constancia) Plantation, St.<br />

James Parish, Louisiana (1829‐43) 41 [Figure 19], <strong>the</strong> Houmas House Plantation and<br />

Gardens, Burnside, Louisiana (1840), <strong>the</strong> San Francisco Plantation House, Garyville,<br />

Louisiana (1849‐56), <strong>the</strong> Dunleith Mansion, Natchez, Mississippi (1858).<br />

Among <strong>the</strong> many Louisiana <strong>landscape</strong>s, one of <strong>the</strong> most important is <strong>the</strong> Rosedown<br />

Plantation’s 42 , St. Francisville, (1835) [Figure 18]. The owner’s house of this<br />

plantation was conceived as <strong>the</strong> central element of a wide park‐garden (28 acres),<br />

40 See CRAIG, Lois A., The Federal Presence: Architecture, Politics and Symbol in United States<br />

Government Building, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1978<br />

41 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Sam_Plantation , URL visited May 31, 2012<br />

42 See <strong>the</strong> bibliography and <strong>the</strong> <strong>landscape</strong> description and analysis in <strong>the</strong> National Historic Landmark<br />

nomination form by FRICKER, Donna and TURNER Suzanne: Link download:<br />

http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/01000765.pdf URL visited May 31, 2012<br />

27

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