Charles Mouton House, 338 North Sterling Street, Lafayette, Lafayette Parish, LA

2018 Charles E. Peterson Prize, Entry
Significance: Also known as Shady Oaks, the location on which the French Creole/Greek Revival style house lies was once part of a three-hundred-acre plantation owned by Jean Mouton (1754-1834). Mouton founded the city of Vermillionville (now Lafayette) on the banks of the Vermillion River. His son, Charles (1797-1848), constructed the house, which combined French Creole type with Greek Revival details in 1848 after acquiring the plantation from his father. Charles and his wife, Marie Julie Latiolais, had a son Charles Homer, who was elected Louisiana Lieutenant Governor in 1855. The Mouton family inhabited the house until the 1860s. In 1979, Lafayette Mayor Kenneth F. Bowen purchased the house and lived there until 2016. For its inhabitants and its unique combination of French Creole with Greek Revival architecture, the Charles Mouton house is significant to both state and local communities.
Survey number: HABS LA-210
Building/structure dates: 1848 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 80001735, 84001320