Carencro Welcome Center and Museum

TEAM: SO Studio, Lue Svendson Landscape Architect
CLIENT: City of Carencro
LOCATION: Carencro, Louisiana
COMPLETION: 2023

This project involves the restoration of a 200-year-old early Acadian cottage into a welcome center and museum for Carencro, a small city a few miles north of Lafayette.

The cottage was found enveloped in a Victorian house near the city center. The city council and a former mayor saved the cottage, purchased it, and had it moved one block from its original location. The design team led the restoration of the cottage to its former glory to what will soon open as a new, innovative cultural landmark for its city.

The design team worked with the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to preserve original elements, ensuring that the cottage’s historical integrity remains intact. Preservation work included carpenter marks, peg construction and bousillage. A new freestanding restroom facility, added to the rear of the historic cottage to serve the welcome center, evokes the traditional massing of the cottage with modern details and materials.

The pink Victorian house in which the cottage was found enveloped was moved from a site a block away to save it from demolition. The new site is a prominent corner that better welcomes people as they come off the interstate. It is located at the intersection of the main collector road for motorists as they come off the interstate and one of the main streets of the historic urban core.

The site is enclosed with a wooden picket fence made of cypress, a wood native to South Louisiana. Pickets are widely spaced both to lighten the sense of enclosure and also to provide security by introducing a porous barrier rather than an opaque one which would provide a hiding place.

The project includes historic landscaping and parking in the rear of the center. The landscaping contains native plants and traditional Acadian garden elements. Pervious paving provides a space for group events in the museum’s rear yard. Native/early adopted plant species include the Peggy Martin rose, crape myrtles, and star jasmine.

The restoration of the cottage makes a point of combining historic elements with new interventions, highlighting the qualities of one through juxtaposition with the other. On the front porch, the original cabinet (small side room) was restored at the left side.

The design team realized the original cottage had a cabinet because of the carpenter marks at the studded wall. Evidence left from pulling back soffit and fascia added during Victorian times provided further clues as to the original porch design.

Pegs, carpenter marks, and locations of studs (where they plugged into structure) made evident which historic wood members were studs as opposed to columns. Whitewash showed capitals of the three original columns. The design team could also see from carpenter marks where the studs were put in.

The original opening for the garçonnière was evident in the form of an existing opening in the attic floor. The door at the top of the garçonnière is original. The chimney was added back; the design team knew it was there as it was present on the original site. The design team also knew the locations of original windows and doors based on carpenter marks in Roman numerals. If an area of wall was missing barreaux marks, that indicated an opening.

The addition of a contemporary restroom facility (visible at right in the above photo) accommodates a trailhead for local cyclists. The seams on the metal cladding on the restroom addition are complementary to the historic siding on the cottage, providing a contrasting sense of rhythm and scale, reflecting the continuum between the eras the two buildings represent.

ADA access is ensured through the project. Note the ramp at the rear entry to the historic cottage. Wooden bollards define the buildings’ yard and protect them from automobile damage. The brick pavers were taken from the 1920s Carencro High School building which was demolished in the 1970s.

Inside the cottage, the historically correct color palette includes whitewash on the walls and indigo on the ceiling. Track lighting and HVAC registers are sensitively placed, hidden behind rafters to be minimally obtrusive.

The museum’s exhibits make the richness and variety of local culture visible in one location. Exhibits range from narrative and data to images and artifacts. Graphics and signage respect the local French vernacular and are bilingual in French and English throughout the project. Interactive smartboards (visible at top right photo) add a state-of-the-art element to this 200-year-old building, allowing visitors to design their own museum experience.

Prior to this project, the City of Carencro had little organized documentation of its own history. The design team benefited from the work of committed volunteers who aided with curation. The extensive and expertly curated exhibits are a pacesetter for towns of Carencro’s size and include nature (geology, flora, wildlife); Native American and European settlement; local peoples (Acadians, Africans, Native Americans); establishment of the city; the railroad era; local legend, including Evangeline’s Gabriel; the Evangeline Downs racetrack; agriculture (ranching, farming); the French language; and festivals, music, and cuisine.

Artifacts span a broad range of materials and eras and include sweet potatoes, labels and stamps from the cooperative, railroad spikes, Acadiana brown cotton, American Indian arrowheads found along Bayou Carencro, and an accordion belonging to Avery Sampy, a famous Zydeco musician.

Above and left: The project creates an entryway from the parking area by carving out of the simple restroom massing that mimics the volume of the original Acadian cottage, in a way similar to a front porch.

Below: The building itself functions as an exhibit. Exposed areas of bousillage construction are overlaid with explanatory graphics, showcasing the technology and history behind the cottage’s architecture.

Details below, from left:
Mantelpiece at original chimney.
Operable window shutters, painted in historic green.
Garçonnière (steep stair) leading from front porch to the original boys’ room in the attic.

The Carencro Welcome Center and Museum represents a significant cultural preservation effort that strengthens the Carencro community’s identity and pride. It provides a place for current and future generations to connect with their roots and understand the heritage of their region. Residents and visitors alike will be able to learn more vividly about the local Acadian way of life, historical events, and cultural practices, having a deeper appreciation for the past.