Island Home is a historical house in

Rapides Parish, Louisiana Rapides Parish () (french: Paroisse des Rapides) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 131,613. The parish seat is Alexandria, which developed along the Red River of the South. ''Rapides ...

, in or near Gardner. It was built around 1850 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1984. It is off

Louisiana Highway 21 Louisiana Highway 21 (LA 21) is a state highway in Louisiana that serves St. Tammany Parish, LA, St. Tammany and Washington Parish, LA, Washington Parishes. It spans and is signed north and south. Route description From the south, LA 21 begins a ...

and is reached by a bridge across

Bayou Rapides In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

.Google maps/satellite view It is a

central hall plan The central-passage house, also known variously as central hall plan house, center-hall house, hall-passage-parlor house, Williamsburg cottage, and Tidewater-type cottage, was a vernacular, or folk form, house type from the colonial period onward ...

house with a five-bay front facade, with elements of

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

style; it is basically

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

. Its entrance is unusual with its side lights rising to the level of the

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

above the door. It is two rooms deep, with a rear

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", and ...

wing. Changes to the building over the years were deemed not too damaging for it to be listed. With It was listed as one result of a study of ten Neoclassical farm-plantation houses along

. As were several of the others ( China Grove, Eden,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

, Longview), Island Home was modified by addition of a hood along its original gallery, termed a false gallery, which provides additional protection from the rain, detracting somewhat but not greatly from its original appearance.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Houses completed in 1850 Houses in Rapides Parish, Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in Rapides Parish, Louisiana 1850 establishments in Louisiana {{Louisiana-NRHP-stub