Tchoup Coast Visits the West Coast

I know what you’re thinking, “I thought this was supposed to be a blog about New Orleans houses?!” Ok, maybe you aren’t, but I feel like I have to explain myself anyway because that’s who I am as a person.

I was visiting one of my favorite people (and one and only lover boy) on the planet recently and since my mind’s been just engulfed by houses (seriously, I just wake up from dreams every night now about different houses), I couldn’t help but take in the sights and learn a little about their part of the world, too. 

The strangest thing that I’ve noticed is that they have a lot of the same words and terms as we in the South do to describe house styles and types (no shotguns, though), but they’re used a little differently. Things like “Victorian” house which isn’t really something you’re “supposed” to say in the South (because it is referring to a time period and not a style of house and we were around for the Late and High Victorian Periods) is OK here. I’m wondering if that has something to do with the timing of everything growing here versus us in New Orleans who is a bit older in that sense.

The house style I’ve been most excited about is the Stick Style house. I’ve read about them and tried to find examples at home and I think I haven’t had luck identifying any because we don’t have a large number…? They came around during the 1860’s (in San Francisco) and it appears that New Orleans had a field day with Eastlake, Queen Anne and Bracket style during that time and just forgot to add many to our inventory of JUST that style. If they are in NO, chances are, they were absorbed by other busy styles and it was hard for me to locate them.

Here are some examples of what I’ve found out here:

You can tell they’re of this style because of the straight “stick” pieces of wood that run in between and along windows and along the sides of the house that sort of frame it in.

I’ve mentioned this before, but you will also see examples of mixed styles. So, here are a couple of Stick/Eastlake and Stick/Italianate styles that are equally appealing:

I know, they probably look pretty similar and you’re like, “but how will I be able to tell them apart?!” (because that’s what I was asking myself). The easy way for me to tell if a certain house is Italianate is: look at the windows. Do they have a curved arch and rounded windows in the front door? That’s Italianate. The easy way to tell if it’s got any Eastlake characteristics: look at the balustrades (railing) lining the staircase or balconies, and the posts around the front door frame. Do they look like they belong on your grandmama’s furniture? That’s Eastlake.

Side note: The poor fella was an architect and furniture designer and wrote a book on furniture a long time ago (1872). The book was wildly popular and with all of the advancements in wood mills during the time, people all over the place started slapping the designs on the exteriors of their houses.. Eastlake HATED this and did not want to be associated with this at all. Poor fella. I can expand on that later, as I've been reading his book and it is HILARIOUS. 

If you want to see more of this, feel free to visit my instagram: tchoupitoulascoast. If you came here from there, I love you and you’re already the best. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my ramblings about houses.