Tullis-Toledano Manor, also known as, the Toledano-Philbrick-Tullis House, was a red-clay brick mansion on the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Gulf Coast in

Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...

. It was considered an example of

Greek Revival architecture Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

. The mansion was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1976 and was destroyed by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

in 2005.

History

Christoval Sebastian Toledano, a sugar and cotton broker of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

descent from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, built the house in 1856 for his second wife, Matilda Pradat. The home was a -story, five-bay structure built of red-clay bricks that were manufactured in a Biloxi brickyard.National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form (The Tullis House)
Retrieved 2012-07-26 The upper floors were accessed by a semi-spiraled, wooden staircase. Another structure on the property was a two-story brick kitchen with servant's quarters located approximately behind the main house. In the 20th century, the structure was remodeled to serve as a guest house. After Matilda Toledano sold the house in 1886, there was a succession of owners until 1939, when it was purchased as a summer home by Garner H. Tullis of New Orleans who was President of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. In 1969, the home sustained considerable damage from

Hurricane Camille Hurricane Camille was a powerful, deadly and destructive tropical cyclone which became the second most intense on record to strike the United States (behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane) and is one of the four Category 5 hurricanes to make ...

, and was sealed and vacated. In 1975, the Tullis family sold the house and property to the city of Biloxi. The city restored the house and used it for the next 30 years as a museum and community center. Katrina-biloxi-miss-grand-casino2-2005

After weathering 150 years of storms from the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

, Tullis-Toledano Manor was completely destroyed during

on August 29, 2005. A barge from Grand Casino Biloxi washed ashore during the hurricane and crushed the house. Nothing was left of Tullis-Toledano Manor except rubble.

Councilor oak

Located on the east side of Tullis-Toledano Manor was a centuries-old southern live oak (''

Quercus virginiana ''Quercus virginiana'', also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South. ...

'') which had the designation of Councilor Oak. The name was derived from local legend that native Indian tribes and French colonials signed treaties under the oak's branches. The tree had a trunk circumference of and a crown spread of greater than . Councilor Oak (Crawford-Tullis Oak) was the 45th tree to be registered with the Live Oak Society. The oak was destroyed by the same barge that demolished Tullis-Toledano Manor in August 2005.Before and After Hurricane Katrina
Retrieved 2013-01-16.

References

External links

Toledano-Philbrick-Tullis House
at archiplanet.org, usually merely a derivative of the National Register Information System (NRIS) database

(includes photos)

Page detailing archaeological excavations at the Manor, with photos {{Registered Historic Places Houses completed in 1856 Buildings and structures demolished in 2005 Buildings and structures in Biloxi, Mississippi Demolished buildings and structures in Mississippi Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Former National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Houses in Harrison County, Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Harrison County, Mississippi