Valery Nicolas house. hilaire Boutet, a designer-builder, built
this two-story, four-bay creole post-Purchase house in 1808
during the Territorial period after his wife, Mlle. Boisdore,
inherited the property from Jeanne Touton Lemelle, femme de
couleur libre, who had bought it in 1802 from banker Gerome
Flinard or Hinard.
The wrought iron balcony, the exterior back
stairway of the courtyard, and the interior apron mantels with
their overmantels and channeled pillasters are fine examples
of the style.
An 1834 auction advertises "a brick house with upper story,
a fine store, corridor and porte cochere. Upstairs consists
of four large rooms, two cabinets, rear gallery and French balcony.
A kitchen with an upper story of five rooms.
Yard paved with
bricks and a cistern." Previously it was thought that the
banker Gerome Flinard or Hinard had built the building after
buying the lot from Pierre Dulcide Barran. This property displays
the interaction in real estate among French and Spanish Creoles
and creoles of color.
