A "grenier" is a loft on a French house. In this case, the loft is oversized because the symmetrical gabled roof around the loft projects forward, creating an incised or cut-in porch which appears to be carved out of the body of the house instead of being added on (Noble 1984b: 89c2).
Noble has applied the term "grenier" to a group of North American house types or subtypes that have French origins and sport the characteristic porch and roofline (Noble 1984b: 89c2). These types also tend to have an additional half-room or porch at the back under the roofline.
A more common term for these types, especially the first, is "Cajun Cottage" or "Cajun Cabin." "Cajun" is a corruption of "Acadian." The Cajuns were originally refugees from the Acadia settlements on the Atlantic coast of French Canada (current Nova Scotia - "New Scotland"). Eventally evicted in 1755 by the victorious British, they found their way mostly to Louisiana, and brought and developed a new culture there. Many stopped briefly in the Caribbean en route, and probably picked up the idea of a porch there, since they did not have porches in Canada.
Learn more in the "What is a 'Cajun?'" and "Le Grand Dérangement" webpages of the Evangeline website. Also, don't confuse "Cajun" with "Creole," which orginally meant an American-born child of a French aristocrat, though its meaning has changed with time - see the "What's the Difference?" webpage of the same website.
The French term for a porch is "galerie," apparently regardless of its design - whether it is incised, or additive.
This subtype is only one room wide.
This example in the Acadian Museum of St. Martinsville, Louisiana, is a reproduction of an original "Cajun Cabin." Foley in The American House has a line drawing of the same building, illustrating the start of the "French Tradition" of houses in the U.S. The stairway is in its traditional location on a side of the front porch.
Note that even in this small example, there is evidently that half-room in the rear - assuming the chimney is centered on the front room, that leaves space behind the rear side window.
The rear attached buiding is an addition built in the traditional manner of a separate, smaller house built behind the front and mimicking it in form and roofline. It has a lean-to on its rear.
The image is in the "St. Martinville, Louisiana " webpage of the Evangeline website.
An example very similar to the above, this is the 1840 "Saint-Jean House" in the "Acadian Village" of Lafayette, Louisiana. With no front windows, the double doors provide light and air. Apparently the loft is accessed by a removable ladder.
The porch isn't quite the full Grenier/Cajun type, but everything else is there. The Jean Jacques Dufour House was built in Switzerland County of Indiana about 1805. Dufour was from Switzerland, but apparently from an area that was ethnically French. He even divided his land grant into French long-lots.
The house was endangered by demolition when a couple discovered it and set about restoring it in spring of 1995 as "Musée de Venoge." They have been successful in conserving the house and building up interest around it, but it doesn't yet look like the restored illustration.
You can find the house on State Route 129 east of Vevay in Indiana's Switzerland County.
Although this breaks the rule by having a hipped roof without a lost instead of a side-gabled roof - which is from another French housing tradition - this Doctor's House in "Acadian Village" of Lafayette, Louisiana still has the incised porch, single front room, and probably a smaller back room like the others in this one-room-wide type.
You can find this image and others in the village in the "Cajun Scenes" of Coonass Gallery.
More rule breakers: These two are in a worker's neighborhood in small-town south-central Ohio (Park Street, Chillicothe). They may be better classfied as side-gabled Shotgun cottages, or one-story one-third Four-Over-Fours, but they may have relevance here.
Though they lack the front porch and full loft (and thus Grenier roof) they resemble the others in this one-room-wide group.
Another rule breaker, again something I happened to notice in my hometown of Chillicothe, Ohio: An even taller version of the above, presumably one-room-wide, complete with telescopic side garage addition. This is also in a worker's neighborhood, conveniently nicknamed "Frenchtown" (I'm not sure why).
It may be better classfied as a 1.5 story one-third Four-Over-Four cottage - but perhaps there is an enclosed porch where the main entry door goes into the front side. Perhaps the garage addition is the original house, and the rest is an addition with the original converted to housing a car.
Behind the front porch are two equal-sized rooms. The location of the chimney determines the subtype.
In this subtype the chimney is located between the two rooms, as if the chimney were a horse's back and each room were flopped onto each side. This appears to be the most common traditional type.
One of two remaining mid-19thC Cherie Quarters Cabins, this is a Saddlebag type Cajun House that was built and used as slave quarters for Riverlake Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.
The side view shows the distinctive Grenier form. Each of the two rooms housed an entire slave family. Both plantation and slave cabin are in a National Register Travel Itinerary" of Southeastern Louisiana.
This is the 1820 Thibodeaux House in the "Acadian Village" of Lafayette, Louisiana. The timber frame with its diagonal braces is exposed under the front porch.
This house is far - in south-central Ohio - and later - about 1907 - from where and when you would expect it.
The "Harley House" began as a generic one-story, two-room cottage in 1850 outside of Chillicothe, Ohio. But after 1907, it blossomed (late) into this distinctive ethnic form apparently at the hand of owner Elsie Marquis. It is the focus of a preservation effort by the author (and ongoing research) and you can read more in an online article on it.
The Decareaux House is another late Cajun House of this type, built in 1898 in "French Settlement," Louisiana. The Cajun type declined in popularity after 1860, especially after 1880. It is now a house museum. Note the rear addition, like the first entry above.
Read more on it in its entry in the National Register Travel Itinerary" of Southeastern Louisiana.
The Mouton House is a reconstruction of an 1810 Cajun House in "Vermilionville," another museum village in Lafayette, Louisiana, operated by the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The France House in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, probably had a center chimney that has been removed. It is probably from the late 19thC.
It's in "Homes of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - More Old Homes" on "The Bayou Website" by Paul Nihart.
This "Haunted House" on Cemetery Lane in Grand Isle, Louisiana, probably from the late 19thC.
It is featured in "Homes of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - More Old Homes" on "The Bayou Website" by Paul Nihart.
The Curole House of "Cut Off," Louisiana, appears to have only one door, but four bays and a center chimney.
It's in "Homes of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - More Old Homes" on "The Bayou Website" by Paul Nihart.
There is no center chimey. Instead, there are one or two at the side gable wall(s). This is probably a result of influence from English colonial architecture, where the English preferred side chimneys instead of a single interior chimney.
It's a little hard to tell in this image of the 1821 and 1856 LeBlanc House in the "Acadian Village" of Lafayette, Louisiana, but it appears to have double doors in front, but only one chimney, at the far gable. That makes it fit this subtype.
The 1860 Castile House in the "Acadian Village" of Lafayette, Louisiana, is probably the grandest in the museum village, with its double chimneys, porch railings, two-flight stairs, and size. It may have a center hallway.
Like two Cajun Cottages glued together is the 1840 Bernard House in the "Acadian Village" of Lafayette, Louisiana. Each of the two rooms has a center doorway and flanking windows, which may be the result of a side-by-side identical addition to a Cajun Cabin.
This is simply a Two-Room-Wide Grenier House with another set of small rooms added on each side.
The Broussard House appears to be four-rooms wide, only one room with a window (the others are lit and aired by doors). With its center chimney, this floorplan could be considered an expansion of the "Saddlebag" Two-Room type by adding half-rooms to both ends, creating the Four-Room width.
It is in "Vermilionville," the museum village in Lafayette, Louisiana, operated by the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
See the rest in Part 2.
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INTREPID HISTORICAL SERVICES -
Kevin B. Coleman
Chillicothe, Ohio, USA