Caillouet House

This house was built at the end of the 19th century by Annette Burguieres Caillouet (1859-1956), then owner of the “Alice B” and “Alice C” Plantations in Iberia Parish. Prior to 1900 when that part of Jefferson Street was mainly residential, the house faced Jefferson Street. Once Lafayette’s downtown commercial district began to expand southward after nearby Southwest Louisiana Industrial Institute opened for classes in 1898, demand for commercial frontage on Jefferson Street increased. Around 1926, Caillouet House was moved one hundred feet away from Jefferson Street and turned to face the new side street, Caillouet Place. The move created a new commercial lot along Jefferson Street. Typical of French Creole structures in South Louisiana, the house was built for indoor comfort despite the warm, humid climate. It is a simple dwelling, built with old-growth, seasoned cypress and edge-grain cut, pine floors both of which remain in good condition today. Like many homes built before mechanical air conditioning, tall ceilings were designed to direct warmer air away from inhabited space near the floor. First floor ceilings are twelve feet tall, and second floor ceilings are nine feet tall. Multiple, tall windows augment the tall ceilings, allowing air to flow through the indoor space.