The Madame John’s Legacy museum in New Orleans — in simplest terms — is an example of how homes were built in late 1700s New Orleans, as it is believed to have been built in 1788 and survived the 1794 New Orleans fire. The home is French West Indies Colonial Creole, and due to flooding concerns, the nicer living areas were designed for the second floor, where one enters even today:
This green color paint is true to the era in which the house was originally built, when such colors were limited — this is a mixture of white paint and earth pigment.
The home’s name was inspired by the George Washington Cable 1874 short story “The Poulette” which features a character who is bequeathed a home on this same Dumaine Street.
It was constructed brick-between-post
In 1820, the home was bought by Madame Marie Louis Patin Roman — her daughter had the plantation Le Petit Versailles which no longer exists (description), and her son had Oak Alley (all this from Plantations and Historic Homes of New Orleans). Another son became governor of the state.
In the mid-1920s, it was sold to Stella Hirsch Lemann who recognized its architectural importance, and she made the house something of an artists colony. Some of the artists paid Ms. Lemann’s generosity back by making their own likenesses of the home. She eventually gifted the home and it operates as a Louisiana State Museum.
A great Google virtual tour of the museum here.
An exhibit of Newcomb Pottery is on permanent exhibit
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