Raised Home
Ventilation---- Raised homes allowed for air to flow under the house, up through the floorboards, and push the hot air inside the house up and out through the roof. Raised homes was one way to create natural ventilation, to cool down the home, and combat the humid heat found year round in Southern Louisiana (Fricker).
Flooding---- In the 18th and 19th century, during the annual Spring floods of the Mississippi River, four to ten feet of water was not uncommon (New Orleans). As a result, homes built in New Orleans would be raised, so that the flood waters would stay under the home, and not ruin the living space of the house (Fricker). Later, in the 1930s a system of levees was built to help control the Mississippi River, but by then raised homes was already a characteristic of Creole architecture. The tradition of raising houses off the ground is an example of how Creole architecture grew out of necessary adaptations to the environment.
