Patterns in Chaos: The Restoration of First Street

Caution - Some Spoilers Ahead!

View the Plans For First Street on House of Patterns

To picture the Mayfair house in a state of overgrown neglect, I've found some images from the AMC series. It's in a state of chaos, but you can still see the pattern of it...

Animated Images from Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches on AMC, Season 1

Part One

Carlotta's attempts to stop Lasher and to assume control of the Legacy over the years failed miserably. In her determination, she destroyed lives and hearts as well as held the family at bay by fighting them constantly. The house's deterioration is a standing monument to her destruction.

Michael Curry's life had come to a standstill by 1989. He had achieved all he had wanted - almost. He had an education, a successful business and his own restored home. Yet he had only one living family member, his Aunt Vivian, and his last two serious relationships had failed. One of his girlfriends had even had an abortion over his protests. It was pondering this plateau in his life that led him to Ocean Beach and his near drowning, an event that would lead him straight home and to his past. It would also lead him to Rowan Mayfair.

Like Michael, Rowan's life had reached a plateau of sorts. She was a practicing neurosurgeon, board certified, who had plenty of money already. She seldom kept boyfriends for long; in fact, she had a voracious sexual appetite, a trait she would later learn was common to the strongest witches. However, the loss of her only family, her adoptive parents, left her feeling very alone in the world. The loss of contact, of feeling loved and wanted, and the secret knowledge that she was capable of killing telepathically but not of how exactly she did it was becoming too much for her. She was "damned sick of crying." Her state-of-the-art home was cold and empty despite having every modern luxury.

It was in about May 1989 that Michael nearly drowned. He was rescued by Rowan, who happened to be out on the bay at the helm of the Sweet Christine. They did not meet for three months but in that time, Rowan's loneliness intensified and Michael's world crumbled around him as a result of his ability to see visions and his conviction that he had a purpose, an assignment that involved New Orleans, his childhood home. By August, 1989, Deirdre Mayfair was dying and Rowan Mayfair finally agreed to meet with Michael Curry.

By the time Deirdre died, Rowan and Michael had fallen in love and Michael had made arrangements to return to New Orleans. Rowan already missed him terribly when she received a call meant for Ellie, her adoptive mother. Her real mother, Deirdre, had died and Carlotta was not aware that Ellie was also dead. It was Carlotta's own blunder - calling Ellie's home where there was a good chance Rowan might answer the phone - that caused Rowan to find out about Deirdre, New Orleans, and the Mayfair family.

Aaron Lightner, investigator with the Talamasca and bearer of the immense File on the Mayfair Witches, caught up with Rowan and Michael in New Orleans where he befriended both of them. While Rowan was burying Deirdre, Michael was reading the File. Rowan read it days later and thanked Lightner for answering the most important questions of her life. He reached her at the First Street house after she met her family at the funeral and after she killed Carlotta.

Despite her own disgust with killing the old woman, she in fact avenged Stella, Antha and Deirdre, her lost mother. She also avenged her own removal from her mother and family as well as took out the person responsible for so much destruction and pain.

As Rowan and Michael progress on the restoration, they modernize the house and repair blunders made by contractors in the past, such as the light in one of the bedrooms, which was not wired properly. They also find things in the attic that had belonged to Stella and Antha in addition to a host of old photographs that Rowan puts together with those that are already displayed for her wedding reception/homecoming party. As they restore the garden, pool, cabana and garconniere, it is clear that what they are doing is setting things as they believe they ought to be and putting an end to the tragedy and heartache of the past - not just their own, but the past that existed in that house for so long.

I love to see things restored and renewed. It seems as if it is a fresh start, a new lease on life, a second chance at happiness. It seems tragic that Rowan and Michael struggle well into the time of Quinn Blackwood and their encounters with Lestat when what they had hoped for was happiness. That was apparently what Anne Rice was trying to convey in The Witching Hour - the devil has won. Clearly, this is about winning and losing when you struggle for your very life and soul - there is no middle ground to be had, no compromises, no deals.

A person's physical habitat and appearance are the first outward signs of change. Rowan's change from doctor's scrubs and nautical clothing to feminine clothing, Michael's shedding of the drinking that had plagued him since the first drowning, and their renewed hope in their newfound love were expressed ultimately through the restoration of this grand home and their intention to make it a hub of family life and of future generations. These outward manifestations were just that - representations of shedding the old and inducting new life and new vitality to their mortal existences.

By Michael's return to his hometown and his tour of his old neighborhood and Rowan's efforts and restoring family traditions and bringing crucial data together, Rowan and Michael have both reconciled their pasts, and the ultimate destination was First Street, their home, their love nest as it was for Katherine and Darcy Monahan. It seems as if both of them have banished the shadows, cleared the cobwebs and made their lives whole again.

In the grand theme of literature, they should have had a happy ending. But then, isn't the continuing "ending" Rowan and Michael actually have the type that most of us have? Is life ever a bowl of cherries after the bad times are over? I think not. I think Anne Rice has touched upon an important theme in life in these books - that you can clear away and settle the issues of the past, but you can never predict or control the future completely. There are elements and people beyond your control who will have an unexpected effect and influence on your life and you may not be prepared no matter how much you try to thwart it or learn about it. A witch may be powerful in her own realm and sphere, but she is never powerful enough to manipulate events, time, and people to her bidding completely. She is still subject to the laws of nature and of time. She always will be.

The Neighbors at 1331 First Street

In more recent years, a house similar to the Brevard-Rice house actually did undergo a restoration/renovation.  The house, known as the Morris-Israel house, was built around 1860.

This house is quite well known in its own right, and it is the third door down from the Brevard-Rice house. Well, across Chestnut Street and three doors down at 1331 First Street.

Each of these houses will also have interior details that are a little-or a lot-different from one another. 

More about the Morris-Israel House:

The Morris-Israel house, New Orleans architectural art work on Etsy

Favorite Building Friday: The Morris-Israel House

Exploring Nola Blog: The Morris-Israel House

History Restored: The Morris-Israel House

To view these images in detail, right-click each image to open in a new tab.

If ever there was a chance to see a house like this one or the Brevard-Rice house under renovation, this would be it.

Looking at the images, it's easy to see why Rowan and Michael would have wanted to continue to stay in a hotel room while this was going on!

For more images of the Morris Israel House during renovation, see the image gallery on their website at the link below:

The McEnery Company 1331 First Street Image Gallery

The PDF document by The McEnery Company linked below includes these and other photos of the property at 1331 First Street, New Orleans:

The McEnery Company 1331 First Street (PDF)

Y'ALL!

The house above is also NOT the Mayfair Witches house of the novels.  It is not the Morris-Israel house, either.  The property above, at 1315 First Street, is the Carroll-Crawford house.  There is more information on this house on the Exploring New Orleans Architecture page.  The original page is archived, and I hope to restore its content to this new home very soon.

This new host also has a handy map feature, so I have decided to include a Google map to help guide you to where properties are located.  You can switch it to a Satellite view and also open the map much larger in a new tab from here.

From the Archive