A. Hays Town changed the face of the Louisiana house. In a
career that includes designing more than five hundred homes, he led
architects, builders, and homeowners to embrace the finest elements
of Louisiana's architectural past. Almost every home built in
Louisiana during the last twenty years is in some way inspired by
Town's work.
The Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town honors his legacy as
Louisiana's premier residential architect. Color photographs of
numerous homes -- including Town's own -- by Philip Gould combined
with an illuminating text by Cyril E. Vetter produce a volume that
captures the appeal and beauty of the state's finest architectural
tradition.
Born and raised in rural southwest Louisiana, Hays Town
graduated from Tulane University with a degree in architecture in
1926 and worked for a firm in Jackson, Mississippi, for many years.
He established his own successful commercial practice in Baton
Rouge in 1939, but in the 1960s, Town turned to his abiding passion
-- residential architecture. Throughout this chapter of his career,
he perfected his inimitable style and emerged as one of the most
prominent architects in the South.
Town's residential designs are perceptibly influenced by the
diverse culture of south Louisiana. His synthesis of the classic
Acadian cottage, Spanish courtyards, and exterior French doors with
Creole-influenced full-length shutters achieves an original
confluence of seemingly disparate yet elegantly balanced themes and
forms. Other Town trademarks include pigeonniers, tree alleys,
thirteen-foot ceilings, heavy use of such woods as cypress and
heart of pine, plantation-style separate structures, and brick
floors with a special beeswax finish.
The Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town illuminates the momentous
effect Town has had on the look of Louisiana. Crafted from the
perspective of two people, Vetter and Gould, who are not architects
but admirers of one man's exceptional talent, this delightful book
demonstrates that each Town house is a work of art that fits both
person and terrain. At the door of each home, proud owners hang a
bronze plaque that says it all: A. Hays Town, Architect.
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