The historic Pitot House is one of few West Indies-style homes in Louisiana today. Built initially on Bayou St. John in 1799, the Pitot House has seen centuries of New Orleans history. This house could tell many stories about life along the bayou since the earliest days of settlement. The house site is located on the oldest European settlement in the area. This area was founded ten years before Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded New Orleans. Today, the Pitot House is the only historic structure to have lined the bayou and is open to the public.
Unique Architecture
The Pitot House in New Orleans showcases distinctive architectural features. Its ground floor is built with stuccoed brick, while the upper level uses brick-between posts that are also covered with stucco. Brick Tuscan columns hold up the front and side galleries on the ground floor, and above are held by wooden colonnettes. The house is topped with a double-pitched hipped roof. The floor plan includes three rooms across the front, without any hallways, and a loggia flanked by two smaller cabinets at the rear of the second level. Stairs in the rear loggia connect the two floors, and an original staircase within the side gallery was designed for guests to use. This house type is sometimes described as French West Indies due to its resemblance to houses in the Caribbean, although some believe that the style was introduced by French Canadians before 1700.
Prominent Owners
The beginnings of the construction of the Pitot House are the work of merchant and shipowner Don Bartheolemé Bosque from Palma, Majorca. However, he sold the house – unfinished, in 1800 to Marie Tronquet, the great-grandmother of the French artist and impressionist Edgar Degas. Marie had renowned builder Boutté complete the house. Later on, in 1810, commission merchant James Pitot from Saint-Domingue purchased the house for himself and his family. James Pitot, the home’s namesake, would become New Orleans’s first American mayor after gaining citizenship. He greatly influenced the city’s culture and history as New Orleans became one of the most important cities during his tenure. New Orleans can thank Pitot for his help in establishing multiple progressive improvements, including street lights, supervised road construction projects, and a police force and fire department.
The Big Move of 1964 & Restoration
The Pitot House was passed on, yet again, in 1904 and became the property of The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. It wasn’t until sixty years later that the convent decided they needed the land to build a Catholic high school for girls. Thankfully, the Louisiana Landmarks Society raised funds to move the Pitot House. After much negotiation, it was moved on July 21st, 1964, to its current location on Moss Street, where it neighbors another unique historical home, The Spanish Custom House. The Landmarks Society worked tirelessly to restore the house with the stucco-covered, brick-between-post construction. The society decided to restore the house to the period of James Pitot to commemorate the renowned mayor. The house is furnished with Louisiana and American antiques that show off early 1800s and mid-nineteenth-century styles.
Visit The Pitot House
Located within walking distance of the Canal Streetcar, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and City Park, the Pitot House welcomes visitors who wish to discover the styles and architecture of colonial Creole. You can book a tour here: https://www.pitothouse.org/home.
