"Jean Baptiste Valle H-house. Local name: Pierre Dorlac House. 389 St.
Mary's Road HABS No.: MO-1285, c. 1807 (dendrochronology). Property type: French
vertical log house. This one and one-half story, vertical log building measures
approximately 35 feet across the front by 50 feet 6 inches deep and sits on a
random cut limestone foundation. The original portion of the house was a two
room, 35 by 22 feet 9 inch, block. This original small house has undergone many
additions and alterations. The original porch that extended across the rear
elevation was enclosed, a new porch was added, and then it, too, was enclosed.
New windows, new siding, and a reworked front porch have changed the exterior
character of the house.
The first story structure consists of 12 to 14-inch diameter white oak logs
spaced at two feet on center mortised into a sill, infilled with handmade brick.
The logs are plastered on the interior and sheathed with horizontal clapboards
on the exterior. The house has vertically sawn, pegged rafters braced by collar
beams. Typical French colonial galleries are present at the front and rear of
die house. These porches still have the original beaded, exposed joists.
Secondary ratters extend over the rear gallery giving the characteristic double
pitch to the roof. The rear gallery has been enclosed with screens and a
half-wall sheathed with weatherboard. A chimney with a stone foundation and
brick stack carries two fireplaces, one on the upper level and one in the
basement.
The principal eiitiance is at the center of the front of the house. A
three-light transom surmounts the tour-paneled front door. The windows are
six-over-six, double hung sash with louvered wood shutters. The porch is
recessed behind the front eaves of the house. This porch has a coursed,
limestone block foundation pierced with six-light windows. Concrete steps extend
upward to the central bay of the porch. The roof of the house is sheathed in
standing seam metal.
The first floor is divided into five rooms. The attic is simple, open,
unfinished space. A boxed-in comer stairway in the living room provides access
to the attic. The first floor flooring was installed during the twentieth
century and consists of pine tongue and groove planks. The walls are sheathed in
plaster. The second floor structure consists of 4-inch by 8-inch beaded beams
spaced at 3 to 4 foot intervals and anchored to a vertical log wall. The gable
roof is framed with sawn mortise and tenon rafters held together with pegs
placed 2 feet on center.
The house appears to have been remodeled several decades after it was built.
The interior layout of rooms was modified to accommodate a central hall. The
doors, window casings, and baseboards were also changed at that time. Other
evidence of this remodeling includes the Greek Revival-style transom over the
entry door and the pedimented interior door and window lintels. The house shows
the evolution of a French vernacular dwelling in response to changing
architectural tastes.
The site of the house was part of U.S. Survey 218, confirmed to Pierre Dorlac
in 1790. Pierre Dorlac (died 1803) was the son of Francois Dorlac and Fran9oise
Phillipaux, among the early settlers of Ste. Genevieve. He married Elisabeth
Langellier and they had six children.49 His widow and second husband sold the
property in 1806. The property is then described as containing "a house made of
logs and covered with planks, also a barn and other log cabins." The new owners
were Jean Baptiste Valle, nephew of the Commandant by the same name, and his
wife Catherine Moreau. Jean Baptiste Valle was a descendant of Francois Valle, a
Kaskaskia merchant originally from Beauport, Canada, who assumed command of the
newly organized militia in Ste. Genevieve.50 Tree ring data suggests that the
house was built shortly after the Valle's acquisition of the property. The house
was recorded by a 1985 HABS team under the supervision of Professor Osmund
Overby of the University of Missouri." ~
Historic District National Register Nomination Form