Echoes From The Attic and Poems, Larriue Home, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Don Johnson, Feb. 2001
Typed by Belford Carver
Written by by Edna F. Campbell
Copyrighted by Edna F. Campbell
With special thanks to her family for permission to use her works.

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THEY COLLECT WOODEN TREASURERS

A solid cypress door highlights the entrance of the Lionel Larriue home on the 
Springfield Road west of Ponchatoula.  A miniature window opening tells the story 
of the old door which once served to dispense medicine in the pharmacy of St. Paul 
Sanitarium in New Orleans.

The door is but one of the distinctive features in the Larrieu home for they are 
collectors of unusual items.  When they decided to build their home about two 
years ago, they knew what they wanted and did not mind the travels which it took 
to obtain them.  Larrieu is a salesman and has brought home treasures of interest 
which they incorporated in the structure.

The posts on the brick porch came from a St. Charles Avenue home in New Orleans 
and the solid wooden shutters which frame the French windows are remnants of an 
old Country Club in Metairie.  The winding staircase is another of the collected 
items.  It came from the St. Paul Sanitarium.

The Larrieus designed their house as an old-fashioned farm site.  The roof is 
sheathed in wooden shingles and moss-draped trees surround the background.  The 
furnishing are in keeping with the background.  In the front parlor an ornate 
pump organ with antique china pieces are on the side sections.

Pecky cypress frames the walls of the den.  This cypress is said to have been 
used in an old barn.  A long board forms the mantel of the fireplace.  Above it 
are collections of treasures including the family crest and a Kentucky rifle.  
Sixteen-inch boards cover the floors giving it an over all rustic air.

A large bookcase built of cypress extends the full length of the room and is 
filled with numerous volumes of books, statues and bric-a-bracs.   Wainscoating 
in the dining room is reminiscent of the old Goudchaux home in New Orleans.

Of interest is a small upstairs section which is designed as a second parlor or 
courting parlor.  This is where the three daughters entertain.  A hospitable note 
is expressed in the floral-covered wing chair, the platform rocker and antique 
love seat.  An English glass enclosed tea cabinet and an old style marble top 
washstand continue the theme of furnishings.

The Larrieus have lived on the grounds for over 20 years.  They first lived in 
the little house in front, formerly the Collinswood Schoolhouse, which has a long 
historical background.  When the highway needed extra frontage the Larrieus had 
the old building moved, but preserved the structure.  It is now holding antiques.

(From ECHOES FROM THE ATTIC, VII, 1973, by Edna Campbell)

(Pic of the house)

(See also Part III "Same Structure Standing Served as Early School" for another 
related article.)