Margaret Manor, reputedly Lake Charles’ first apartment building, has been designated  an historic landmark by the Calcasieu Preservation Society.

This is one of the four buildings so designated by the society in this year’s fourth annual selection process recently completed. Each historic landmark is marked with a special plaque bearing pertinent information and the society logo. A total of 40 sites have been chosen since the program was launched in 1986.

The four-unit structure at 115 Park Ave. was called Margaret Apartments until the name was slightly changed when purchased in 1970 by the present owner Marguerite Castle.

Research indicates the neighborhood known as Margaret Place – an area between Ryan Street and the lake near the Ryan- Seventh- South Ryan Streets junction- was originally owned by Michael Pithon. Local legend has it that Pithon bought it from Indians in about 1840 for a bottle of rum and two blankets.

The area was developed as a subdivision about 1915 by Dr. Allen J. Perkins who named it for his daughter Margaret.

The apartment complex was built by W.J. Quick, an architect who purchased the lot in 1919. It was sold to Luther Steen in 1946, to David Windham in 1965 and finally to Mrs. Castle.

Basically unchanged since construction, the building features 10 foot ceilings, antique light fixtures, plaster walls, solid cypress doors and hardwood floors. Each apartment has a living room with an archway leading into a study, a sun porch with casement windows, dining room, kitchen, bedroom and bath with the original black and white tile floors typical of this period.

John C. McWilliams built the James Clooney House (circa 1913) almost 100 years ago for Emma and James Clooney. The current owners are Mr. and Mrs. Paul Draughn, who purchased from Benjamin W. and Willie L. Mount.

The front and side porches have round Tuscan columns with federal-style balustrades. There are also French doors, sawtooth dentil work and craftsman-type windows. Interior features include oak floors and heart of pine stairwell and three fireplaces. Interior columns separate the foyer and living room as well as the living and dining rooms.

The ceiling of the foyer and living room is recessed diagonally slatted oak with beams. The living room has four of the original hanging light fixtures and a stairwell leads to a third floor currently used as an attic.

Exterior modifications in 1968 included the addition of a den at the rear, a master bedroom upstairs and a kitchen and breakfast room converted from the original downstairs screened porch. Brick pavers from an old street in Beaumont was used to built the patio.

Previous owners include Mr. And Mrs. Adolph J. Viccellio, Mr. & Mrs. Homer Tate, Mr. & Mrs. E.B. Watson, Jr. and Mr. & Mrs. William B. Baggett.

As with many of the homes in Lake Charles after World War II were rented out due to a housing shortage caused by the great influx of military personal.

The Stockwell house at 205 Shell Beach Drive was built in 1937 as a wedding present from Dr. R.G. Holcombe Sr. to his daughter Roseina, and son-in-law Oliver P. Stockwell. The current owners are Senator Willie L. and Benjamin W. Mount.

Then Mayor Mount and husband Benjamin W. Mount moved from another Margaret Place Landmark at ___ Pithon.

The two story, white clapboard neoclassical structure reflects the ambiance of an antebellum plantation house. The home is a copy of an old plantation house near Thibodaux and was built at a cost of $20,550.00 by Contractor W. Y. Quick from plans by architect Owen James Southwell of New Iberia.

The large oaks, which dominate the approach to the Stockwell house, were moved to the site during construction. Cypress siding, oak floors and white magnolia wood paneling spotlight the use of indigenous woods. Neoclassical characteristics include a full height front porch, boxed eaves, moderate overhang and dentil moldings. Double-hung windows with six over six and nine over nine sash arrangements are also typical of the style.

The columns that support the porch roof are characteristic of neoclassical design after 1925. Another notable feature is the elegant round window in the front porch gable and the proportioned and detailed dormers on the side and rear.

The Stevens HouseSeven decades after the John R. Stevens House was built at 106 Grove Ave. in Margaret Place current owners Dr. and Mrs. Bruce (Barbara) Wyman won a national award for their renovation of the classic bungalow.

Built by the Stevens in about 1920, the one-story bungalow was an extremely popular and fashionable smaller-type home to build shortly after the turn of the century through the 20’s.

Inspired by native dwellings of Bengal (Bangladesh) and favored by the British for their country homes the style was adapted for the United States by two California architects who were pioneers in the Arts and Crafts movement.

The Wymans, who bought the place in 1989, fastidiously followed Craftman guidelines in their extensive renovation project, which received one of 12 national awards among 8,621 entries in the 1990 Better Homes and Gardens Improvement Contest.

Identifying Craftsman features are a low-pitched gabled roof with a wide, unenclosed eaves overhang; spacious porch; exposed roof rafters; decorative false beams with triangular braces under the gables; square upper columns resting on more massive piers which continue to ground level without a break at the porch floor; exposed rafter tails; multi-pane transomed windows in a line of three or more; and small high windows on each side of the chimney.

The house was bought by Dr. and Mrs. Charles (Dottie) Hachette in 1941 as a home for her mother, Mrs. Charlotte McCann, who lived there until her death in 1956. The Hachettes rented the house from 1957-1976.

The Wymans speculate that many have called the place home through the years because they’ve so often run across people who, on learning the Wymans address, say they had relatives or friends who had once lived there.

The William Henry Managan House

In a turnabout from a more conventional sequence of events, the William Henry Managan House at 220 Wilson Street, was “handed-down” from son to father – as a result of a fire.

That little footnote to history was revealed in research by the current owners, Mr. and Mrs. Lastie Paul Vincent. The original cottage was built in 1920 by a young Managan – the bachelor son of a family well established in the lumber business – in Margaret Place, reputedly the oldest subdivision in Lake Charles.

In the late 1920’s, the Westlake residence of the Managan’s parents was destroyed by fire while they were at their Calcasieu (Big) Lake summer home………Improvements included a master bedroom and bath complete with dressing areas, a solarium, a library and a covered walk to a double garage with servant’s quarters overhead. Especially significant are wood carvings, depicting the Cascade Mountains of Washington, which frame all four walls of the library.

The home, including the solarium which may be used as a greenhouse, is heated by a still operable steam system. The library, dining, living rooms and master bedroom feature antique ceiling fans dating from the early part of the century. An ornate walkway leads to guest quarters and the utility and garage areas.

An elaborate fish pond in the backyard was covered when the house was purchased by its previous owners in 1981. They felt the pond was hazardous to small children.

The senior Managans occupied the house until their deaths in 1946, at which time their son, the original owner, and his wife returned to the house. He died in 1974 and his wife Frances, well known throughout the area as a musician and piano teacher, remained there until 1981. She died in 1989.

The Cullen Liskow House (circa 1925) is in an English Tudor cottage style.

Built by attorney Liskow and wife, Katherine Brainard West Liskow. Designed by R. S. McCook of the St Louis firm Asmus, Clark and McCook and built by Walter James Patrick, contractor.
 
 In 1974, owners Mr. & Mrs. Bain D. Slack, re-did the stucco in all the rooms.

They had Jude Benoit, architect, design and add a 1,000 square foot family room onto the back of the house in the 1980’s.

The current owner is Houston Jones.