The Jean-Batiste Andre dit la Fleur plantation homesite.... 

                is surrounded by  lovely park-like gardens of flowers,banana trees, cedar, Australian willow, Cannas, crepe myrtles, palm trees, fig, persimmon, Japanese loquat, blackberry bushes, sprawling wisteria, elephant ears, camelias, azaleas,roses, and, of course, wonderful Catalpa trees and more.

This very old French Creole plantation house, (circa 1820) once owned by Jean-Batiste Andre' dit la Fleur, is now the private home of artist, educator, Creole gourmet, author and educator John la Fleur II. The first sale of this property is recorded as being 1842.

Reminiscent of a French West Indies Creole sugar plantation house, Courtableau House is centrally located and rests on a hillside two blocks off of Main St. downtown, in Washington, La. on Carriere St. down from which is historic Leon Wolf Banquet Hall.

Visitors climb a cement staircase, to encounter a rusty, hand-tooled, iron gate covered with vines. Until recently, it was the only aperture  through which one could peek for a look at the beautiful and solitary old house, the first sale of which property, dates to 1842!  Surrounded by a wall of greenery and aproned with a large front gallery of white balustrades and colonettes (upon which are rocking chairs and small tables scattered against a sunlit wall of orange and yellow) she resembles an old nanny watching over the neighborhood 'kids' of newer houses. 

Long, vertical flags of dark green board 'n baton, strap-hinged shutters, mocked by swaying yellow-green banana trees, add interest and mystique to the happily painted face of the grand gallery. A turning staircase at the end of the porch, conveys the great age and period of this house!

 Two, very old French doors at the center of the gallery, above which hangs a large, wrought-iron lantern, opens into an elegant foyer beckoning visitors to enter a forgotten world of elegance and Creole simplicty! Bienvenu chez Courtableau House Plantation & Gardens.

 Very tall, orange, daylilies greet all guests as they stand facing the vine draped, picket fencing on the elevation leading up the concrete staircase. A charming, hand-painted, shield-shaped sign, with a waitor's "arm" graciously offering a cup of steaming cafe-au-lait from the right, and the other holding up a delicious-looking "cake" from atop of this elegant hand-made sign, informs and excites the weary traveler, and clientele, alike.  Walk around the corner of the house towards the alley of crepe myrtles leading right-side the gallery, and your eyes are drawn to another surprise in this park-like garden. It's an alluring, circular pond encircled by a 'curtain of banana trees' where guests relax with summer cocktails.

The PARIS SUITE is designed in elegant, 19th C style French hotel style. Its' burgundy colored walls, and gold filigree trimmed boiserie panels in rectangular and square forms, complement the heavy rich cut velvet drapes lined with gold fringing and cut acanthus leaf of gold and black. Adorned with an authentic Louis xvi bed, in burled walnut and detailed, 'or moulu', with matching armoir, one realizes he/she has stepped into the likes of a fine 19th C French hotel suite!  La belle chambre flows into its' own private bathroom which features a most unusual, clawfooted, 'Princess tub'. (SEE PICTURE AT BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE)

The Paris modeled bedroom is across the foyer from the Orleans Room, (recently re-decorated) the main parlor of the plantation, directly across the spacious foyer separated by two sets of French doors. This doubled parlor features fine French antiques and American Empire furniture. Beautiful!

Elegant, fresh floral arrangements, from the gardens outside, grace each room! The furnishings throughout the home, along with the art, old and new, is fabulous!

The CARIBBEAN CREOLE SUITE, trimmed in rich, dark chocolate framing, with azur blue beamed ceiling,  French chandeliers, West-African masks and French doors which open on to the large, balconied gallery, create the sensation of being in the gulf stream, connecting Louisiana to its French and Caribbean roots. Indeed, the rich French country furnishings and fabrics in this suite complete an ambience of comfort, and offer a true confrontation of a world lost, but hidden, among the mango colored walls of this unique sitting room.  

It, too, has its' own charming bath with another large claw-footed tub and pedestal lavatoire across from the bed chamber covered in rich floral bedding and drapery! Yellow doors and waxed, hardwood floors, grace this intriguing bed room. 

This bedroom, known as the 'petit cabinet', at the back of the mango-colored sitting room, offers an antique porcelain, forged iron bed, complete with flowing mosqito net and hand-crafted,1800s French armoir. This elegant Louisiana Creole bed chamber also has antique Louisiana ladder back chairs, along with the other furnishings reveal the life of rich Creoles in by gone days.

The GARCONNIERE, is an upstairs room of half-timbered, red cypress and plaster walls of pale green. A climb up an elegant, but steep old staircase leads to this room filled with ambience behind a one hundred and seventy-five year old, board and baton Cypress door, the artist' studio.

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Call us today at 337 418 1506! or email us at: creolebookstore@HOTMAIL.com

DON'T FORGET TO ASK US ABOUT THE WALKING TOUR OF HISTORIC  Washington, Louisiana, WHERE IN LIES SOME OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PRIVATE GARDENS in the AMERICAN SOUTH!

THE ELEGANT PARIS SUITE AT COURTABLEAU HOUSE PLANTATION B&B

(SEE THE ORLEANS ROOM, our parlor,  below this image.........

PHOTOGRAPHY BY  NATIONAL, AWARD-WINNING LOUISIANA NATIVE PHOTOGRAPHER, NORRIS FONTENOT

THE ORLEANS ROOM  IS AN ELEGANT MARRIAGE OF OLD NEW ORLEANS AND OLD PARIS.  THIS IS TYPICALLY LOUISIANA CREOLE STYLE!