A modest cypress weatherboard-covered brick-between-post creole cottage with a double-pitch roof, once slate, was built by Joseph Prieto, free man of color, soon after 1810.

Prieto died in the house after writing a will in 1836, arranging that the ultimate sale of the house in 1841 for $5000 finance the purchase of his nephew's freedom and the purchase for emancipation of certain of Bernard de Marigny's slaves, the children of Marie Jeanne, free woman of color, and wife of Joseph Mandeville.

Testamentary executor for the deceased 71-year-old Prieto was his neighbor, Jean-Louis Dolliole. The will directed Dolliole to free seven of Prieto's slaves, who probably lived in the service building behind the house.