Williams, James Hugh, House

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The James Hugh Williams House is a one-and-a-half-story frame dwelling built in 1897 at 401 N. St. Charles in Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in the Louisiana galleried cottage style with Bungalow and Craftsman influences. It was listed in the National Register in 2014.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria B and C, with local significance in education. Its period of significance runs from 1915, when Williams bought the house, to 1949, when he retired as superintendent of the Vermilion Parish school system.

Physical character

The house has a five-bay gallery and wrap-around porch off a central hallway, with a front-facing gabled dormer, brick piers, weatherboard siding, a stone roof, a six-panel front door, paired two-over-two windows, and a wood entablature under exposed rafter tails. A 1960s renovation after a small fire stripped its molding, mantels, and ceiling detail, and destroyed its rosettes and door plinths. Dianna Ducote's 1992-1994 rehabilitation refinished the original oak and pine floors, renovated the bathrooms with antique fixtures, replaced dark paneling with documented wallpaper, and added pediments, medallions, dentil moldings, and fluted pilasters.

Historical context

Williams served as superintendent of the Vermilion Parish school system from 1913 to 1949, living in the house until his retirement; Ducote bought the property in 1992.