Florence Coffee House - Baton Rouge, LA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Privately owned. I met the owners brother, who was very kind, did not know alot about the building, but had no problem with photographing the home. It is now a private home. I have passed this building alot of times, and NEVER noticed it. Clean, well maintained and totally restored.

Found no good history on the building except the Application, located here.

The Florence Coffee House is a more or less typical example of a mid-19th century in-town commercial-residential structure, This can be seen in its two and a half story gable parapeted form' in its commercial lower story and residential upper story, and in its "piano nobile" articulation of the upper story with graceful French doors and an iron balcony. Baton Rouge is a city which has been almost completely rebuilt in the 20th century. As a result the Coffee House represents an urban form which has all but vanished. There is in fact only one other substantial example of a house of this type remaining in the city. The Florence Coffee House was built in 1850 by Johan and Lucas Florence to replace an earlier building which had been destroyed by fire. On July 24, 1850, the Florence’s signed a contract with Nelson Potts for the building's construction. The cost was $1,225. In 1852 the property was sold to Matteo Dorice for $2,500 and since then there has been a long succession of owners. Until the Civil War the building remained in use as a coffee house. Since the war it has served a variety of uses, being at different times a grocery, a cobbler shop, a boardinghouse, and a private residence. The present owners restored the building in 1971. The architect of the restoration was William R. Brockway and the contractor Peter L. Martin.

Street address: 130 Main St. Baton Rouge, LA USA 70802 County / Borough / Parish: East Baton Rouge Year listed: 1980 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1850-1874 Historic function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic. Sub - Restaurant, Single Dwelling Current function: Domestic. Sub - Single Dwelling Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.