Rene LeMeilleur House - Ste. Genevieve, Missouri - Pre-Victorian Historic Homes on Waymarking.com

"Rene LeMeilleur House. 101 South Main Street. 1820.  Property type: Anglo-American timber-frame building. This house is a one-story, timber-framed, side gabled dwelling with front and rear galleries. The front gallery rests on a rubble wall. Regularly spaced, chamfered porch posts support its roof. Two doors are placed on either side of the center line of the east facade, and two doors are also placed on the west elevation. The building is fenestrated with twelve-over-twelve, double hung, sash windows, most of which are flanked by louvered wood shutters. The side walls of the house are sheathed in clapboards, while the front wall and rear walls are covered with beaded, tongue and groove boards. The roof is sheathed in wood shakes, and a painted brick chimney rises from the north end of the roof ridge. A second stove chimney, square in plan, rises from near the middle of the west roof slope. The house has a limestone rubble foundation. With its heavy timber framing, the house represents a transitional example of the use of French vernacular design elements with Anglo-American construction techniques.

This house was built by a grandson-in-law of Louis Bolduc. The building was raised to two stories in height in the 1850s. In his report on the 1966-1967 restoration of the house, architect Ernest Allen Connally described the original appearance of the house based on building fabric that he studied:

It was a one-story frame house, with an attic and cellar. There were open galleries completely across the front and the rear. Still French in general concept but American in detail, it was an example of the transition from the French colonial tradition of building to the American style a transition that was distinctive of the Mississippi Valley in the early nineteenth century. The Bolduc-LeMeilleur House was a large house of its type-37 feet across the front and 41 feet deep over-all well built and richly furnished inside.

LeMeilleur died shortly after the house's completion, and it passed to his mother-in-law Catherine Bolduc, the widow of Etienne Bolduc. It was subsequently acquired by Jean Baptiste Valle who gave it to the Sisters of Loretto in 1837. They occupied the building for many years.

Connally's restoration included removal of the house's second floor and an attached brick store building. The second story and store are shown in a photograph reproduced in a recently published book on Ste. Genevieve and are partially shown in a photograph from the collection of the State Historical Society of Missouri."  ~ Historic District National Register Nomination Form

Earliest Recorded Date of Construction: 01/01/1820 Architectural Period/Style: Anglo-American timber-frame Type of Building e.g. Country House, Stately Home, Manor: Village house Interesting Historical Facts or Connections: House was used for many years as a convent for the Sisters of Loretto Listed Building Status (if applicable): Contributing building to National Landmark Historic District Main Material of Construction: Wood Timber-frame Private/Public Access: Public Related Website: [Web Link] Rating: Additional Dates of Construction: Not listed Architect (if known): Not listed Landscape Designer (if known): Not listed Admission Fee (if applicable): Not Listed Opening Hours (if applicable): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/20/2014 AnthemRose visited it