The Orange Grove Plantation House was a historic plantation house in

Plaquemines Parish Plaquemines Parish (; French: ''Paroisse de Plaquemine'', Louisiana French: ''Paroisse des Plaquemines'', es, Parroquia de Caquis) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 23,515 at the 2020 census, the parish ...

, Louisiana.

History

The Orange Grove Plantation house was the only

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

built in antebellum Louisiana. Benjamin Morgan, originally from Philadelphia and of a prominent American Revolutionary War family, purchased the land in 1804. After his death in 1826, his son Thomas Ashton Morgan inherited the estate and began growing

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

there. Between 1847 and 1853, Thomas A. Morgan commissioned the noted Philadelphia architect

William L. Johnston William L. Johnston (1811–1849) was a carpenter-architect who taught architectural drawing at the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia, and won a number of important Philadelphia commissions. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 38 after a tri ...

to design the plantation house. Many of the elements of the house, including the bricks, were produced in Philadelphia and transported to the building site, where they were assembled by

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. The house was notable for its plumbing and central heating systems. The attic had a 700-gallon copper boiler with wood and coal burners; the home featured hot and cold running water year-round, making it one of the most technologically advanced buildings of the time. The unique architectural style, featuring Gothic revival and Tudor elements, led to it being described as "a proper English manor house that looked as if it had been set down on the Louisiana landscape by mistake and forgotten about." In 1876, the house was sold to Louis Fasnacht. The plantation was named Orange Grove around this time for the long row of orange trees that grew on the property. The home was purchased in 1957 by the Southern Railway system with the intention of its restoration. In 1984, the house was destroyed by a fire when four vandals entered the home. One of them started a fire.

Notes

References

* * * {{coord missing, Louisiana Gothic Revival architecture in Louisiana Houses in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana Plantation houses in Louisiana Burned houses in the United States 1984 disestablishments in Louisiana Sugar plantations in Louisiana Houses completed in 1853 1853 establishments in Louisiana

History

See also

Notes

References