News Professor Cizek’s book is published
A SUMPTUOUS SUMMATION OF LIFE AT ‘DESTREHAN”
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Times Picayune
Article by KAREN TAYLOR GIST
DESTREHAN: THE MAN, THE HOUSE, THE LEGACY
Eugene D. Cizek, John H. Lawrence and Richard Sexton
“Destrehan” is one of those books that needn’t necessarily be experienced in linear fashion. I began with Richard Sexton’s photos in the back half, so lush and evocative that I could practically feel the wind whipping through the low-hanging branches that frame the sharecropper’s cabin and the warmth of the sun’s rays peeking through the open door of the slave quarters on the grounds of the River Road plantation home. The bark of the majestic oaks is so beautifully captured that I found myself touching the pages, fingertips expecting texture. And an image of the rich burgundy-red velvet and carved, dark-wood sofa in the living area carried with it, in my mind, the scent of my grandfather’s cologne. Already pulled into another place and time, exploring the text was a treat.
The introductory essay by Eugene D. Cizek, Director of the Preservation Studies program Tulane University School of Architecture, traces the architectural history and historic renovation of the 1780s plantation, which he calls one of the most documented historic sites on the Mississippi River. French colonists turned it into indigo and, later, sugarcane plantations, whose proximity to the river provided access to local, regional and world markets.
Cizek describes Destrehan’s architecture as it evolved from the colonial style of original owner Robert Antoine Robin de Logny, through Creole-influenced improvements, to its apex with a makeover about 1840 in the Greek Revival style. “It is the coexistence of these very different styles that makes the house of great architectural significance.”
11.12.08
