Today few survive because many were changed into more modern floor plans

Most spacious Uplander house commonly built in Louisiana

Frontiersman’s attempt to build a formal, symmetrical, Georgian, central hall house

Once a single pen had been constructed, additional log rooms could not be attached; hence they were separated by a passageway

Outside chimneys placed at one or both gable ends

Size ranges from 16 by 40 feet to 16 by 45 feet

Dogtrot (the open passageway) is usually half the width of a single pen, or approximately eight feet wide

One door in each room opened onto the dogtrot; a second door in each room, if present, opened onto the front gallery

Could be built of cut lumber as well as logs, especially during later part of historic period

Floor laid anywhere from one to three feet above the ground

Ceilings more likely to be present in these houses

Windows lacked glass; instead, shutters closed over the window openings

Interior

Interior very dark because windows were small and wooden walls absorbed light

Furnishings generally crude homemade beds, tables, benches, and perhaps a chair or two. Pegs for hanging things usually abounded

Very crowded; several people living in the two rooms. However, crowding was the norm for the era and people apparently did not feel greatly inconvenienced by it

Never used as a quarters house

Represented more prosperous owner than those of single and double pen houses

Some owners adapted dogtrots to increasing wealth by applying clapboards to the walls, enclosing the passageways (view 2), and generally remodeling in the Greek Revival style

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