HISTORY
The Bonin House (a.k.a. The Bienvenue House) is a two story frame residence featuring elements of the Greek Revival, Italianate, and Colonial Revival styles. Developed in 3 stages, it achieved most of its present appearance in the early twentieth century. The present single story rear wing appears to be a circa 1950 replacement of an earlier single story rear wing. Other changes include the installation of bathrooms and the sheathing of most of the exterior of the house in vinyl siding. Despite these alterations, the house retains those qualities that establish its architectural significance within the context of St. Martinville.
The Bonin House has a rather complicated architectural history. Its development was determined using an early twentieth century photograph and a large number of extant clues noted in a recent site inspection by a member of the staff of the Division of Historic Preservation. Evidently the house began as a two story, four bay, Greek Revival town residence in about 1850. The two story front gallery had colossal posts with relatively plain capitals. The first floor consisted of an off center hall with two rooms on each side and a staircase ascending toward the rear to an almost identical plan on the second floor. On both the first and second floors, the hall culminated on the facade with a large opening featuring transoms and side lights.
Noteworthy surviving early features include a large number of door and window surrounds and three aedicule style mantels upstairs. In addition, some of the window surrounds feature decorative panels beneath. Another noteworthy feature from the original period of construction is the set of massive sliphead windows that provide access to the upper gallery.
In about 1875, the house was remodeled in the Italianate style. Large curvaceous brackets were added to the tops of the gallery columns, along the eave of the rear elevation, and along the side gables. Decorative trim was also placed between the gallery columns on both stories. In addition, each of the side gables was fitted with a triple arch window. Finally, richly turned balustrades were added to the upper gallery. Surviving features from this period include the curvaceous brackets on the rear elevation and the side gables, the triple arch window on each side elevation, and evidently the balustrade (see below for balustrade).
In about 1910, the house was again remodeled, this time in the Colonial Revival style. This remodeling was far more extensive than the previous one. The floor plan was made more open, reflecting the taste of the period. On both floors, the front half of the hall was combined with the front room on the north side. This created a new large entrance parlor downstairs and a larger bedroom upstairs. The original staircase was removed. Evidently the parts were reused to construct the present three flight, two landing staircase in the rear northern portion of the house. Three of the rooms downstairs were fitted with standard Colonial Revival mantel/over mantel sets with freestanding columns. The front south room
downstairs was fitted with a paneled alcove. In addition, the windows and window openings were replaced in both the downstairs front rooms with the present Colonial Revival window treatment. This consists of a pair of triple windows with
long vertical panes in the upper sashes and large single panes below. The house also received a tile roof at this time and a small covered entrance at the rear of the northern side elevation.
