MS01.01.03.B02.F10.012

-10-

city, and in the newsest and most fashionable style. He
will constantly keep on hand a complete assortment of
chairs, looking glasses and other articles which he will
sell cheap.

The subscriber will promptly attend to any order for the
city or county, and will take the greatest care in the packing
up of articles forwarded by him." 10

Word of the black artisan's agility and workmanship in the craft of the
ironsmither brought scores of wealthy whites to the slave markerts in Charleston,
Mobile, Savannah, Baltimore and New Orleans in search of black talent that could
be used to aid in the forging of grillwork and the making of wrought iron
balconies for the adornment of homes, businesses and public buildings alike.
See figure

Persons of color who worked under tutelage of well-known white architects
in colonial times often achieved the distinction of being permitted to work on
their own in later life even if they have not been [strikethrough: given] granted their own freedom. [strikethrough: They] Their visits
[strikethrough: were thus] to the wealthy homes as workers allowed them to be exposed to the very best that could be found in [strikethrough: furnishings and the]
[strikethrough: domestic arts of the home] home furnishings. Some of these artisans no doubt kept in mind the
designs of their homes that they had been forced to leave behind when they were
brought to America [strikethrough: under the bondage of slavery] as slaves. In some specific cases these designs figured well
into the plans of the newly emerging plantation style of architecture in various
parts of the South, but most particularly in Louisiana.

There remains to this day a few fine examples of buildings that [strikethrough: without]
[strikethrough: doubt] are closely related in structural design and formal appearance to particular
West African architectural building styles. Noteworthy among these
remaining architectural structures that show definite African influences in
design are three houses ^ [situated] on what is presently called Melrose Plantation

[line]
10 Newspaper Advertisement, name of paper not given, Historic New Orleans
Collection.