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Italianate, Greek Revival, and the American Townhouse
Fleur-de-Lis Cameo Habille Created on NightCafe byCome Into My Parlor
The Great Days of the Garden District
The Great Days of the Garden District
Michael Curry shows Rowan Mayfair the houses that surround hers...
Click the book above to read, available on Project Gutenberg
Architectural Styles In New Orleans
Architectural Styles In New Orleans
The Brevard-Rice house is usually described as Italianate, Greek Revival, in the style of the American townhouse. The house is built in a long, comparatively narrow style, with galleries on the front and along one side of the house. In many cities, they tend to be built like row houses, but in New Orleans, they stand on their own lots with their own gardens.
New Orleans, like any other city, has several architectural styles that can be seen in the many historic homes still standing. A while ago, I found these charts that really come in handy when trying to imagine what a house would look like from a written description of it. The key vocabulary guides can help answer inevitable questions about a house's detail, usually, "It's got a what?"
House Styles of New Orleans
American Townhouse
Key Vocabulary 1
Key Vocabulary 2
Here are the websites these guides came from. There is so much more information on the architecture of New Orleans on the websites linked here, so please check them out!
New Orleans Architecture Tours Guide to New Orleans Houses!
A New Orleans Filming Location
A New Orleans Filming Location
Click the Logo Above For the IMDb Listing
The Buckner Mansion
Hooked On Houses~The Buckner Mansion
The Buckner Mansion on Atlas Obscura
Before AMC's Mayfair Witches, Alexandra Daddario played Natacha Rambova in American Horror Story: Hotel. Another season of American Horror Story was Coven. New Orleans is no stranger to film crews, and this season in the American Horror Story series is no exception.
Used as Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies was the Buckner mansion. The mansion was built in 1856 for Henry Sullivan Buckner. It remained in the Buckner family until the mid 1920's, when it became Soule Business School, which operated there until 1983. Now, it is privately owned and a filming location.
Fun factoid (depending on your perspective): According to Atlas Obscura, Henry Sullivan Buckner had his mansion built to outdo the opulence of the home of a business rival, Frederick Stanton. Stanton Hall is in Natchez, Mississippi.
Stanton Hall, Natchez, MS Courtesy Expedia
Italianate Greek Revival in Old New Orleans
Italianate Greek Revival in Old New Orleans
Houses Similar to the Brevard-Rice House
Houses Similar to the Brevard-Rice House
As you will see in the short video gallery, there are several houses built in the same basic style as the Brevard-Rice house in New Orleans. They all have their own unique little differences, from the columns to the iron lace New Orleans is famous for. Even the doors and windows are done in varying styles.
There are so many houses in New Orleans and in Louisiana that share architectural details while still maintaining a distinctive style all their own. These are houses that can be considered historic places for a number of reasons.
You can read more about the houses featured here in the links below:
The home where NFL football stars Eli & Peyton Manning grew up
Le Musée de f.p.c.
Le Musée de f.p.c.
Images from Le Musée de f.p.c. and NOLA.com
Historical Marker at 2336 Esplanade Avenue
Zillow thinks the house was built in 1850, but the historical sign on the fence says 1859. Whichever year it was built, 2336 Esplanade Avenue is another New Orleans townhouse that features Greek Revival architectural details. In fact, there are several that are quite similar to the Brevard Rice house. Which ones jump out the most?
The most obvious ones first. These houses all seem to feature the same ornate cornices over the front galleries. The columns vary in style, but this one has similar ionic columns along the front galleries of the house. The difference is that the Brevard Rice house also has Doric and Corinthian columns in addition to the two Ionic columns fronting the first floor gallery along the front.
2336 Esplanade Avenue (Very Large)
Front of 2336 Esplanade Avenue (Very Large)
Above is an image you can right-click to open in a new tab. It is a very large file. When you look at the image up close, look carefully around the front door of the house. You will see the same basic pattern of windows framing the door. And while the outer frame is very similar to the one at the Brevard Rice house, it does not have the elaborate ornamentation that the Brevard Rice house's keyhole doorway has.
You can also see, running along the top above the front door and windows, the brick exterior construction.
And finally, recall that the massive sash windows on these houses also seem to function as doors. The front windows on this house reflect this function...literally! Instead of lower sashes, these windows have in place of lower sashes double French doors!
Like the Brevard Rice house, the cutaway doors are similar to the outer frame of the front door of the house. They also have the same difference--they do not feature the ornamentation that is featured above the cutaway doors in the Brevard Rice house.
Museum Display 2336 Esplanade Avenue
Fireplace 2336 Esplanade Avenue
These types of fireplaces seem to have been very popular in houses built during the period this house was built in. Indeed, this type of fireplace is also found in the Brevard Rice house. The double parlor, in particular.
Above the mantle is a large portrait of a woman. This portrait is displayed in this house because the house, as stated in the images above, is now Le Musée de f.p.c.--the Museum of the Free People of Color. Images of the museum's collection shows many portraits of the Free People of Color, whose history the museum is dedicated to preserving.
I came across these images and Le Musée de f.p.c. when I was doing a little Merrick Mayfair-related research. Merrick had shown David Talbot and Aaron Lightner old photographs she had of her ancestors, whose history she gave some details about. Her line, she explained, was descended from Angelique Marybelle Mayfair and a white Mayfair who lived in the Garden District and had actually been the nephew of Angelique Marybelle Mayfair. Yes, Oncle Julien.
Museum of the Free People of Color
Angelique Marybelle Mayfair was clearly not the Angelique Mayfair who had been born in Saint Domingue in 1725 and was the great-grandmother of Oncle Julien, born in 1828. This ancestor of Merrick's, whose picture was the oldest in her collection, was already a Free Person of Color despite her close relation to the white Mayfairs of the Garden District. The image of her was described by Merrick, and it was this description that led me to take a look at anything I could find on photographs of Free People of Color in that era of New Orleans history. That is how I came across Le Musée de f.p.c.
Docent, Le Musée de f.p.c.
To learn more about Le Musée de f.p.c.:
Le Musée de f.p.c. Official Website
New Orleans Museum of Pre-Civil War Free People of Color NOLA.com
The Cornstalk Fence Mansion
The Cornstalk Fence Mansion
The Cornstalk Fence Detail
The Cornstalk Fence House at 1448 Fourth Street, New Orleans, is also known as "Colonel Short's Villa". The house got its Cornstalk Fence name from the detail of the fence that surrounds the property. The house was built in 1859-60 for Colonel Robert Short, who hired architect Henry Howard to design the house. According to the February 1, 2016 article in Architectural Digest linked below, federal forces confiscated the house in 1863, during the Civil War. Before it was returned to Colonel Short in 1865, the house served as the executive mansion of the federal governor.
The owners at the time of the article had purchased the house in 1994 for $100,000.00(?!). When I first saw this price, I wondered if the article had forgotten a 0, but then, I recalled something else mentioned in The Witching Hour. Homes in New Orleans, homes like this one, had been on the market in the late 1980's at about half of what they were worth, due to the local economy being affected by an oil bust at the time. Although the owners had purchased this house in 1994, and it's possible property values still felt the impact of this economic bust to some extent, $100,000.00 is still pretty...low.
Colonel Short's Villa by Susan Rissi TregoningClick Image for Susan Rissi Tregoning on Fine Art America
When the owners bought the house in 1994, they began a renovation and restoration that lasted 10 years. Eventually, they sold the property. The image of the parlor from the Architectural Digest article shows a lot of details that are both popular in houses like this and possibly unique to this house.
Most Expensive Listing in New Orleans Is a $5 Million Garden District Gem
By 2021, Colonel Short's parlor looked like this (Left; Photo courtesy NOLA.com).
The owner, Scott Rodger, is a manager and producer whose clients, according to NOLA.com, include Paul McCartney and Andrea Bocelli. There is one interesting tidbit about the property this house sits on, though. The lot was split from Livaudais Plantation in 1832.
Since the house now looks a lot different in terms of interior decorating than it did five years earlier, I've put a link to the NOLA.com article published in 2021. It includes additional photos of the house. You know, the interior now looks a bit like...something a vampire might love...
Historic cornstalk fence house in New Orleans gets a makeover-NOLA.com
Julia Reed
Believe it or not, I just learned of Julia Reed's passing in August 2020 in Newport, Rhode Island. I understand she had cancer.
My extremely belated condolences to her family and friends.
I read Julia Reed's book, The House on First Street, several years ago. One thing I remember about it is that there were multiple laugh-out-loud moments. Reed also described the state of things on First Street in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I wish all of the region hit by this hurricane had been as lucky.
I was going to add some more homes that are similar to the Brevard-Rice house in the gallery above but had a catching up moment. This has happened a lot, since, in 2020 and for a while afterwards, the pandemic definitely caught most of my attention. Especially when my mother was diagnosed with cancer during the pandemic. I am deeply blessed and fortunate that I still have her with me today.
However, not everyone is so fortunate. When I learned Julia Reed had passed, I decided that instead, I would add a section about the First Street house she clearly loved renovating inside and out. I've wanted to do something like this for several years, ever since I read her book.
What I'm going to start with here is a link to Reed's book on Amazon.com (click the book above), a picture of Reed's New Orleans house, and two links (so far) to articles about the house and the garden. The articles I've linked here have several beautiful photos of the house and the garden that I can easily sit and drool over for hours, I kid you not.
Click the book to go to its listing on Amazon.com
The Terrace
Entrance Hall
The Studio Garden
Rear Parlor
Please be sure to go back up to the video gallery of homes similar to the Brevard-Rice house, where you will find additional links. One of the links will open an article about the house owned by Jane Scott Hodges. The interview was conducted by Julia Reed.
House on First Street Images Jayne Design Studio New York
Tour Author Julia Reeds New Orleans Home - One Kings Lane
The Gallier House
The Gallier House
In AMC's Interview With the Vampire, the Gallier house in New Orleans was used as Lestat's townhouse (Images from Immortal Universe). There will be more about the Gallier house on Lestat's Parlor, which you can go to by clicking the image above.
To learn more about historic properties in New Orleans, you may visit The Historic New Orleans Collection website linked below:
A Tale of Two Plantations
A Tale of Two Plantations
I've included discussion of Nottoway and Belle Grove plantations on this page of the Parlor for their architecture. Both were in Iberville Parish, Louisiana and not in or just outside of New Orleans. The two are certainly among the largest and most opulent plantation houses ever built in the South. This may have been due at least in part to the fact that both were sugar plantations, which were very lucrative as far as cash crops went.
Nottoway Plantation
Nottoway Plantation
What makes this interesting is that both were in or near White Castle, Louisiana. Nottoway Plantation's mansion was built by John Hampden Randolph, who named the plantation for the county in Virginia he--or his mother--had been from. His mother was born in Nottoway County, Virginia. Belle Grove was built by John Andrews, also from Virginia. There are at least two plantations in Virginia also named Belle Grove.
You see where this is headed?
In some accounts, Randolph and Andrews were rivals, and that meant they even wanted try to outdo each other by the opulence of their plantation mansions. They even commissioned the same architect, Henry Howard. Whether the two planters were rivals or not, John Hampden Randolph had the original plans for Nottoway destroyed upon its completion in 1859.
That doesn't mean historical record was not able to inform architectural record, however. One example of this can be seen by a reading of Nottoway's nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The architectural history has also been discussed online for many years, including Nottoway Plantation's Blog's 2009 account, Nottoway’s Architectural History.
Nottoway Plantation was also used as a location in the film The Magnificent Seven (2016).
Until very recently, Nottoway Plantation operated not as a plantation, but as a resort and wedding venue.
Nottoway Resort~Nottoway Plantation
https://www.nottoway.com/
Another story/legend/etc that has circulated over the years has to do with the famous "white ballroom" at Nottoway Plantation. Supposedly, John Hampden Randolph had the ballroom done in white so that his daughters' beauty would be emphasized. Like an art gallery with white walls is the theory.
Also, that the mirrors were strategically placed so that they could check their gowns or whatever else would be potentially embarassing discreetly. Since the destruction of Nottoway by fire on May 15, 2025, this theory has been challenged.
One poster on Facebook has stated that the records of the mansion's construction were quite comprehensive and were stored in the mansion. If so, we can only hope these records were among the few things firefighters were able to take out of the house before it was destroyed. If salvaged, there was apparently documentation on how Henry Howard was able to make the ballroom so white and enchanting even in daylight.
According to the poster, this color style was a signature of Henry Howard. The paint mix was fairly specialized, and it took several coats to achieve such a solid white. If this is the case, I wonder if Belle Grove had a similar space painted the same way?
Belle Grove Plantation
Belle Grove Plantation
Belle Grove Plantation: The Queen of the South
It's been a while since I've looked at the details of Belle Grove, but that is an intriguing question. There is one detail about Nottoway Plantation that was also interesting. Keeping in mind the architect of Nottoway was Henry Howard, Nottoway still had those massive, tall, ornate door frames like the ones in the dining room at 1239 First Street. Look at photos of Nottoway's dining room...
Loss of Nottoway Plantation Mansion
Loss of Nottoway Plantation Mansion
May 15, 2025--The Parlor is devasted by the destruction of Nottoway Plantation by a massive fire. At this time, the cause of the fire is not known.
There has been a range of emotions that run almost the full gamut of human emotion as people react to the news in their communities and online. The Parlor understands this, and why people feel the way they do about the complete loss of Nottoway.
On the community tab of the Parlor's YouTube channel is a post with a news report shared that will provide more information if you want to learn more about what is known at this time.
The Parlor is in tears tonight...
***Please see the page of the Parlor that discusses Belle Grove Plantation in Iberville Parish, Louisiana for an important advisory***
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