| A large, boxy double-pile brick house (very similar to “Everhope” in Washington County [151-LKW-7004-X] and the Judge C. C. Shackleford House in Canton, Madison County [089-CAN-0431]), the Talbert-Cassels House was perhaps the most architecturally significant building in Amite County before it burned in Dec. 2006. This significance was based on its brick construction, its high degree of architectural finish, its outstanding integrity, its long history of family ownership, its unspoiled plantation setting, and its association with the local builder James Wilson, whose widow's descendants resided in the house for many years. Erected c.1858, the house was constructed of brick in a county where brick construction was rare in the mid-nineteenth century. Possible unique features of the house are the molded plaster panels beneath the windows of the double parlors, the second-story board ceilings that were decoratively painted as if they were smoked by a flame, and the unusual veining of the marbled mantelpieces. The interior retained all original finishes including grained doors, marbled mantelpieces, and white plaster walls. The house had been listed on the National Register on 1 March 1984; but following its destruction in 2006 it was delisted from the National Register on 16 July 2008. [HABS: MS-62 (1936)] |