1840 Historical Buildings of Southern University and A&M College

              Raised Cottage

       This building began in about 1840 as a raised cottage with pit sawn 
framing.  It was 3 rooms wide and 1 room deep with a pitched roof, a 5 bay 
front gallery and no rear gallery.  Each of the 3 rooms had a front door and 
window, all with shoulder molded frames.  The gallery had a full entablature 
and posts with simple molded capitals.  The plan suggests that it was originally 
a support building for a larger plantation house.

In the early twentieth century the following additions and changes were 
made:

1.3 rear rooms were added and a rear corridor was added under 
a separate gable roof.
2.New 2 over 2 plate glass windows were installed.
3.Floorboards were replaced.

       On March 9, 1914, Southern University was opened in Scotlandville, 
Louisiana under the presidency of Dr. Joseph Samuel Clark.  What is now 
called the Archives and Information Center was the only habitable building on 
the site.  This structure served many functions, including a home for the 
president and his family, conference center, office of the president and his 
assistants, girls' dormitory, dining hall, hospital, social center, and meeting place 
for the University Council.  As such it was the focus of campus activity for 
several years.  
       
       Possibly an overseer's house, this building was already on the site when 
Southern University moved to Scotlandville in 1914.  An example of the 
transition between the Greek Revival and Italianate styles, the five bay frame 
cottage features shoulder molded door and window surrounds, posts with simply 
molded capitals, and a full entablature highlighted by paired Italianate 
brackets above each capital.  Originally the house was three rooms wide, one 
room deep, and had a gallery across the front.  However, it had four bedrooms, 
an attached kitchen and bath, and tow large galleries (one in the rear as well 
as the front) by the time Southern acquired it.  The university remodeled the 
building for concurrent use as the president's home and office, a girl's 
dormitory, and an infirmary.  
       
       In addition, workers enclosed the rear porch to serve as a dining hall.  
The house originally faced the Mississippi River, but ca. 1925 it was moved 
approximately 100 yards to the south of its original bluff location and rotated 
180 degrees to face Netterville Drive.  It also served as a faculty cottage and 
university placement office before housing the university's artifacts.