One man’s home is his cruise ship
Visitors to New Orleans tend to focus on the architecture in two areas of the city, the French Quarter and the Garden District. Yet out in the neighborhood of Holy Cross in the Lower Ninth Ward, the pair of steamboat houses may be the most uniquely designed homes in the entire city. Very few venture there, however. In fact, current owner of one of the houses, Emile Dumesnil, has said more boats on the river pass by his address than cars on the street.
The first steamboat house was built in 1905 for Milton Doullut and his wife. Both were riverboat captains. Seven years later, the Doullots had a similar house built for their son Paul across the street. The two houses were designated historic landmarks in 1977.
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Address 400 and 503 Egania Street (Lower Ninth Ward), New Orleans, LA 70117 | Hours Not open to the public; viewable from the outside only| Tip On the front of many homes in the Ninth Ward there remains the Katrina stamp. FEMA and rescue workers went house to house after the flood, looking for survivors or dealing with the dead. After inspection, each house received a spray painted X with each quadrant carrying specific information. The top displays the date the house was searched. The left side identifies the rescue team, the right indicates any hazards present, and the lower quadrant is the most somber notation, the number of dead bodies found on site.
Both three-story houses could be called Steamboat Gothic, with their wraparound porches accented by huge carved cypress balls, which resemble either a pearl necklace or a string of white Mardi Gras beads, depending on your orientation. From a distance, they also look like decorative bunting on a ship about to leave port. Oval stained-glass windows, like portholes, are posted at each corner. The pagoda-style roofs may have been influenced by the Japanese exhibit at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. They are trimmed with ornate ironwork and have two metal smokestacks instead of chimneys. These were both knocked down, one during Hurricane Katrina, the other during Rita, and have since been restored.
The interiors have as many architectural quirks as the exteriors. Pocket doors divide all interior rooms. The walls and ceilings are covered in embossed-metal panels. But the most interesting—i.e., weird—details are on the ground floor, where all the walls and floors are completely tiled. This came in particularly handy when Hurricane Katrina left five feet of standing water in the homes. Because there was no exposed wood or plaster, once the water receded, the first floor could basically be hosed out and reoccupied right away.
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