Rabi Cottage, 1518 North Roman Street, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA

2012 Charles E. Peterson Prize, Entry
Significance: The Creole Cottage was introduced to New Orleans by Haitian refugees in the 1790's. This style of house is popularly though to have evolved from the French and Spanish Colonial house forms, although the true origins are unclear. In the city of New Orleans the Creole cottage tends to be more narrowly defined as a 1 1/2 story house with gable roof, the ridge of which is parallel to the street. The house normally has square-like rooms with no hallways and is built up to the front property line. You can find this type of architectural style in the following neighborhoods around New Orleans: Esplanade Ridge & Treme, Foubourge St. Roch, Mid-City, Holy Cross, and Hollygrove. In the 1800's Treme was a prosperous ethnically diverse community. In the 1960's the Treme's thriving African American business district along Claiborne Avenue was destroyed to make way for the I-10 Interstate. With long time residents, Treme is still an incredibly rich community with tremendous cultural roots and amazing ability to preserve. A rare two-bay Creole cottage was purchased in 2009 by Ms. Roulac Toledano and she is currently in the process of restoring it. In 1842 this house was built by Jean Rabi. The house was designed as a narrow, single dormered Creole cottage with a masonry front, canted gables, and wooden sides.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1768
Survey number: HABS LA-197
Building/structure dates: 1842 Initial Construction