Acadian
Acadian or “Cajun” style homes are one of the hallmarks of south Louisiana and you will see them in Lake Charles’ neighborhoods as well as along the rest of the Creole Nature Trail All American Road. The architecture is characterized by several distinctive traits all related to living in harmony with a hot, moist climate as well as the ever-present threat of termites and flooding. The elevation also offered a cooling breeze to reduce interior heat.

Built of native cypress well adapted to longevity in the moist heat, these single-story homes are square-framed and feature a distinctive high, steep pitched-gable roof. The roof overhangs the house providing much-used front and back porches — outdoor “living rooms”  — with each corner of the overhang supported by a wooden post. To enhance cross-breeze, front and rear doors are centered opposite each other. So too are the windows — usually two — on each of the four walls.

Today, Acadian–style homes are constructed with all the modern advantages of insulation, air-conditioning and ceiling fans. But years ago, the walls were insulated with “bousillage,” an ingenious mix of clay and Spanish moss that proved to be both effective and enduring. Packed between horizontal slats, the bousillage was then covered with cypress planks.

The front and back doors were double and made of solid boards held together with dovetailed planks. The doors were mounted on double homemade strap hinges of iron swinging outward to conserve inside space. Hard-to-get iron was limited to window and door hinges. No glass was used. And because cypress weathered a natural gray, it did not need to be painted.

Over time, hand split cypress shingles replaced thatched roofs. These cypress shingles were pegged to the purlins (horizontal support of the common roof rafters) that allowed upward radiation of the heat to escape from the attic.

The earliest Acadian homes were one room in size with an attic generally used for storage or sleeping area for the boys.

“Charpentier” (Lake Charles-style)
In the mid-1800s, the vast, Western Louisiana pinelands and cypress reserves transformed Lake Charles into the capital of a lumber boom attracting experienced lumbermen from the Midwest who arrived in droves.
 
At the boom’s peak, 28 mills stretched along Lake Charles with the lake itself used as a “holding pond” for the mills. Much of the lumber was shipped to Galveston by steamer and from there on to other ports. The lumber that remained was used to build homes in the ever-expanding city.
 
With no architects living in the area, carpenters — “charpentiers” in French — put the local pine and cypress to excellent use, building homes uniquely designed to suit native materials, the owner’s preferences and the carpenter’s imagination.
 
Many carpenters began with patterns selected from an architectural catalogues of popular styles including Queen Anne, Italianate, Greek Revival as well as the tall angular Victorian style favored by northern lumbermen. Yet the carpenters seldom held too closely to these, adding turrets, towers and wrap-around porches to enhance individuality and charm. This distinctive style is known as "Lake Charles Style Architecture."
 
This style abounds in examples of architectural eccentricities. Watch for an uneven number of columns — highly unusual at that time. You’ll also want to take note of the “Lake Charles Column” developed at this time: a square, tapered column wider at the bottom. And look for decorative nautical touches added by some of the carpenters who were former shipwrights from Germany.
 
Today, the city’s sawmills and lumberyards are gone, but the Charpentier Historic District in downtown Lake Charles reminds us of this unique heritage.
 
The Historic Charpentier District was admitted to the National Historic Register in 1990.

Margaret Place
Margaret Place was an early subdivision just across Pithon Coulee from downtown. Developed by L. S. Perkins, an early physician in these parts and named for his daughter, most of the structures are craftsman’s bungalows dating from the 1910's and 20's. They can best be described as “Eclectic Picturesque” — not really a style, per se, but rather a motif of decoration that include details such as faux timbering on English Cottage Picturesque, or the arched windows on Hollywood Moorish Picturesque.

Fascinating Fact: Margaret Place is bounded on one side by South Ryan Street which was recently renamed Dr. Michael DeBakey Drive to honor the world famous heart surgeon who was born and raised in Lake Charles. 
 
Downtown Historic District
The Lake Charles Great Fire of 1910 burned down the courthouse, city hall and much of downtown (mostly built from local wood.) The construction that grew from the ashes includes seven National Register individual listed properties:  The Courthouse, the 1911 City Hall, the Catholic Cathedral, Waters-Pierce Stables, Mullers, Calcasieu-Marine National Bank, and the Charleston. Each has unique aspects with the overall style reflecting either Queen Anne or Foursquare in style and massing.