Caillouet House

This house was built by Annette Burguieres Caillouet (1859-1956), who was the owner of the “Alice B” and “Alice C” Plantations in Iberia Parish. 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. Prior to 1900, when much of Jefferson Street was still 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. Sometime 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. The house was built for indoor comfort to compensate for the warm, humid climate. 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 for air to flow through the space.