Contributions of the Early German Settlers to the Creole Vernacular Architecture of Southern Louisiana

Edwards, Jay

From the Introduction: "Despite an almost complete scholarly disinterest in the subject, the vernacular architecture of the early eighteenth century German settlers in Louisiana has much to tell us about the interrelationships between a people and its material culture. It asks us to more deeply explore previously unresolved questions, but historical and methodological. It encourages a clearer evaluation of the limits of the traditional approaches employed in the study of architectural history. In addition, it opens new questions surrounding the little-studied problems of the adaptive mechanism favored by settlers who find themselves caste upon distant shores in alien environments. Under what kinds of conditions are immigrating populations willing to disregard their long-cherished architectural traditions in favor of novel solutions better suited to their newly adopted homelands? ...In what follows we will briefly sketch the history of the settlement early German and Swiss immigrants to Louisiana. We will then examine what is known of their housing traditions. Following that, we will explore the several competing accounts of the vernacular architecture of the Germans, and how we might improve our understanding of its contributions. Ultimately, we ask, what are the limits of the various methods of architectural history in the telling of an appropriately complete story?" Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (P19AF000215).

Contributions of the Early German Settlers to the Creole Vernacular Architecture of Southern Louisiana

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