Aillet House

The Aillet House is a colonial plantation house in Port Allen that blends Federal and Creole architectural styles with symmetrical proportions and careful design. Its walls were built using bousillage, a regional technique that combines clay and moss between wooden posts to create strong, durable surfaces.

The house was built in 1830 for sugar planter Jean Dorville Landry during the height of agricultural settlement in southeast Louisiana. Its construction marks a time when European colonization was establishing permanent roots in the region.

The house reflects how European building traditions were adapted to fit local needs and available resources in Louisiana. The ways people chose to construct it show how settlers made homes suited to their specific place and time.

The house is protected as a National Register of Historic Places site, which limits access to preserve it for future generations. Visitors interested in learning more should contact local historical societies or tourism offices to arrange visits or research opportunities.

The bousillage construction technique used in this house represents a creative solution developed by settlers who adapted to their environment with limited resources. This method of mixing clay and moss between wooden posts produced walls that withstood the humid Louisiana climate surprisingly well.