Rienzi Plantation House

Rienzi Plantation House is located in Thibodaux, Louisiana. It is believed that the house was built between 1814 and 1825 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 1980.Rienzi plantation house is located directly across Bayou Lafourche from the town of Thibodaux. Despite the proximity of a modern shopping center, the house enjoys a historic setting due to the large live oaks on the property. Two of the oaks are registered in the Live Oak Society (http://www.lgcfinc.org/live-oak-society.html)ArchitectureThe house is significant both historically and architecturally and was built in the "American Style" with center hallways, exterior wall fireplaces with great emphasis placed on balance and symmetry. This is in contrast with the earlier "Creole Style" with rooms arranged en suite with no halls, interior fireplaces and the interior function of the room-defining the placement of windows and doors rather than a more symmetrical plan. However, Rienzi shows a transition from the early style with its primary floor being on the second level and the exposed rafters on the downstairs gallery. The house is thought to be built between 1814 and 1825 is almost square in plan with five bays on each side, measuring approximately 70' by 72'. It is built in the peripteral style, surrounded by galleries with brick pillars on the lower story and wooden pillars on the upper story. The ceilings of the first floor are 10' and 14' on the second story. The walls of the house are brick and lumber used for roof rafters, floor joists, etc. are thought to pit-sawn and employ timber framing techniques, i.e. mortise and tenon joints with pegs. The majority of the lumber is cypress with flooring made of long leaf pine. The most unique feature of the house are the central hallways placed in a cruciform plan on each floor. On the lower floor, the halls were originally open to the outside through brick arches, that not only provided access but structurally acted as a relieving or displacing arch, due to the weight of the brick structure. These have been enclosed with doorways in the early 1850s. It has been stated that the first floor was used to stable animals but with four fireplaces on the ground floor the use was for humans. The two front rooms on the upper floor have slip head windows.