:Green Leaves

The house is best recognized for its preserved family memorabilia and furnishings.{{cite web |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/travel/2007/02/27/Natchez-s-historic-homes-highlight-of-spring-pilgrimage/stories/200702270195 |title=Natchez's historic homes highlight of spring pilgrimage |date= 27 February 2007 |website=Post-Gazette.com |publisher=The Associated Press |access-date=29 November 2013}} The NRHP listing documentation notes that although it is "a somewhat static setting" externally, "the interior design of the house is notable for both its excellence and integrity". It includes not merely many period architectural features but also period decoration and contents, which together make it "one of the most valuable national documents of mid-nineteenth century taste".{{cite web |url={{NRHP url|id=79001288}} |title=Nomination form |publisher=National Park Service |work=National Register of Historic Places |date=March 1979 |access-date=2011-07-13}} It is one of several historic buildings in Natchez which adopted the Greek Revival style and which maintain significant historic interiors.{{cite book |title=Art in Mississippi, 1720-1980 |first=Patti Carr |last=Black |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-57806-084-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/artinmississippi0000blac/page/41 41], 57–58 |url=https://archive.org/details/artinmississippi0000blac |url-access=registration |access-date=2011-07-14}}

The house is also well known for its gardens, which contain a wide variety of plants, including several camellias and azaleas. The entire back yard is shaded by a massive live oak tree, estimated to be well over 400 years old.{{cite news |last=Brown|first=Jane Roy|date=September 8, 2012|title=Fall Pilgrimage unfolds a layer of history in Natchez, Miss.|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2012/09/08/fall-pilgrimage-unfolds-layer-history-natchez-miss/K0Z56ldkARHdCmCZpjtXTN/amp.html|work=The Boston Globe|location=Boston, Massachusetts|access-date=2017-12-28}} The Natchez Indians are believed by some to have used the tree as a gathering place.{{cite book|last=Oliver|first=Nola Nance|date=1940|title=Natchez: Symbol Of The Old South|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uv7uDQAAQBAJ&q=natchez+symbol+of+the+old+south|publisher=Kesinger Publishing|isbn=1163812005}} The front contains a smaller live oak, estimated to be over 200 years old, and a large magnolia tree, reportedly one of the largest in the state.{{cite news|last=Keating|first=Bern|date=November 10, 1985|title=Nostalgia in Natchez|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/travel/1985/11/10/nostaglia-in-natchez/cbfaace0-d36f-4995-8078-7505bc889c87/|work=The Washington Post|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=2017-12-28}}

The original house, now the north wing, was built around 1812 for Jonathan Thompson, a wealthy cotton farmer in the area.{{cite book|date=1994|title=The Grace and Geandeur of Natchez Homes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdIqemg86_gC&q=jonathan+thompson+green+leaves+natchez|publisher=Voyageur Press|page=53|isbn=9780896582262}} This house was two stories and framed entirely of brick, and was later used as an adjacent kitchen and servant and slave quarters. Thompson and his family were killed by yellow fever in May 1820.{{cite book|last=Pishel|first=Robert Gordon|date=1959|title=Natchez, Museum City of the Old South|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hn_uIOEzomcC|location=Pineville, Louisiana|publisher=Magnolia Publishing Company }} The land was purchased in 1836 by Edward P. Fourniquet, a French-born lawyer who built other structures in the area. In late 1838, he completed what is now the main section of the house, adjacent to the original, for a price of about $25,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=25000|start_year=1838}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).{{cite news|title=Improvements in the City of Natchez - Fourniquet House|author=|date=November 20, 1838|work=Mississippi Free Trader and Natchez Daily Gazette|location=Natchez, Mississippi}} This section contains the Greek Revival architecture, and is the section that the house became known for.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=91KWKSkri-4C&q=green+leaves+natchez+1838&pg=PA42|title= The Majesty of Natchez|last1=Brooke |first1=Steven |year=1999 |publisher=Pelican Publishing |isbn= 9781455608164|access-date=2013-11-29}}

The house was purchased by George Washington Koontz, a banker, in 1849.{{cite web |url=http://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/Public/prop.aspx?id=507&view=facts&y=738 |title=Fourniquet House |website=mdah.ms.gov |publisher=MDAH |access-date=29 November 2013}} Koontz moved into the area from Pennsylvania in 1836 and joined in business partnership with William Audley Britton that same year. Their bank, named Britton & Koontz Bank, was in existence until February 2014, when it merged with Home Bancorp, Inc., a Lafayette, Louisiana banking company.{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/53477773/ns/business/t/louisiana-company-acquires-britton-koontz/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203023317/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/53477773/ns/business/t/louisiana-company-acquires-britton-koontz/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |title=Louisiana company acquires Britton & Koontz |publisher=NBC news |access-date=2013-09-25}} The Koontzes added a south bedroom wing in the 1850s and connected the main section and the original building in the 1880s and 1890s.{{cite book|last=Clayton|first=James D.|date=1968|title=Antebellum Natchez|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wao9AQAAIAAJ|location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=0807118605}}Green Leaves, Sanborn Insurance Maps, 1886-1895.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on March 29, 1979.

• Auburn (Natchez, Mississippi)
• The Manse (Natchez, Mississippi)
• Melrose (Natchez, Mississippi)
• Monmouth (Natchez, Mississippi)

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web |url={{NRHP url|id=79001288|photos=y}} |title=Photographs from the National Register of Historic Places |access-date=2011-07-13}}
• {{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1kYaAAAAIBAJ&pg=7210%2C5258744 |newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal |title=Natchez Homes and Owners Reflect Antebellum Era |date=31 March 1970 |page=3 (Part 2) |agency=New York Times Service |access-date=2011-07-12}}
• {{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AzZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=2746%2C1705594 |newspaper=The Leader-Post |location=Regina |title=Ancient southern mansions open to tourists in March |date=7 February 1976 |page=36 |first=Margaret |last=Ness |access-date=2011-07-12}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi

Category:Houses in Natchez, Mississippi

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Natchez, Mississippi

Category:Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Mississippi

Category:Houses completed in 1838

Category:Slave cabins and quarters in the United States