| Saragossa is an unusual and outstanding example of an early vernacular residence of the Natchez area. Its architectural style reflects the West Indian influence that characterized the architecture of the Natchez region in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Although historians unfamiliar with the unique history of Natchez often characterize such buildings as Spanish in architectural character, the West Indian tradition is substantiated historically. It retains one remaining slave quarters out of the original eight. "Saragossa was standing by 1826, when a survey map was drawn that depicted the house and eight slave quarters to the rear. Whether or not Saragossa was built during the earlier territorial period is impossible to prove. Goodspeed's BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI describes Saragossa as an 'old Spanish building,' which was 'formerly surrounded by a brick wall, probably for protection against the Indians' (Vol II, p. 792). However, no physical clues remain to date Saragossa earlier than the 1820s. The house was totally remodeled when it was enlarged in the late 1850s, but one pair of glazed doors in the main house and two mantel pieces, now installed in the remaining slave quarters, date to the 1820s period" (Mimi Miller, Historic Natchez Foundation, c.1986). This house was listed on the National Register on 24 November 1980, with 8.26 acres of land. It is included in "The Majesty of Natchez" (1969/1981/1986) (p. 77), "Historic Architecture in Mississippi" (1973) (p. 8), "Old Homes of Mississippi, Volume I: Natchez and the South" (1977) (pp. 64-65), and "Louisiana Architecture, 1714-1820" (2004) (pp. 58-59). [HABS: MS-152 (three exterior photos made by James Butters on 9 October 1936)] |