New Orleans’ grand historic mansions are a wild mix of decadence, ambition, and architectural showmanship. These houses, scattered from the Garden District to the French Quarter, tell stories of the city’s elite, from sugar barons to Confederate generals. Take Luling Mansion, where opera and opulence once mingled under the Italianate arches, or Gallier House, designed by a master architect to blend European refinement with Southern charm. The Beauregard-Keyes House, part military legacy, part writer’s haunt, is pure French Quarter intrigue, while Colonel Short’s Villa, with its famed corn-fence and grand staircases, is as high-society as it gets. These homes are monuments to New Orleans’ unapologetically extravagant past, a city that’s never done anything halfway.
15. Colonel Short’s Villa
Colonel Short’s Villa on Prytania Street is a Greek Revival marvel with just the right dose of Southern Gothic mystique. Built in 1859 for sugar planter Colonel Robert Short, this mansion blends grandeur with Creole charm. The exterior flaunts a sweeping porch supported by Corinthian columns and surrounded by wrought-iron balconies. The cast-iron fence, adorned with sheaves of corn, gives a playful nod to Short’s agricultural roots. Inside, the villa oozes elegance. Expansive hallways with high ceilings lead to parlors decked in antique mirrors, chandeliers, and elaborate crown moldings. The grand staircase of polished wood and iron is pure Southern sophistication, winding up to spacious rooms once inhabited by New Orleans’ elite. It’s a meticulously preserved piece of New Orleans’ past, where high society and mystery intertwine.
14. Briggs-Staub House
The Briggs-Staub House stands as one of New Orleans’ quirkiest gems — a Gothic Revival outlier in a sea of Greek Revival grandeur. Built in 1849 by Charles Briggs, a wealthy cotton merchant, it defies the typical Southern mansion script. Briggs was a Northerner, new to New Orleans, and maybe a little too fond of European medieval architecture. So, instead of sticking to the popular local styles, he created a New Orleans Gothic masterpiece that looks like it could moonlight as a set for a Victorian novel. The facade is marked by pointed arch windows, steeply pitched gables, and delicate iron lacework. Step inside, and the Gothic theme continues: narrow hallways, dark woodwork, and rooms that feel more castle than Creole. The details are fascinating, from the original hardware to the intricate plasterwork that somehow feels both gothic and Southern at once.
13. Adam-Jones House
The Adam-Jones House on Prytania Street is a slice of 19th-century Southern elegance set in the heart of New Orleans’ Garden District. Built in the 1850s, this Italianate beauty stands out with its stucco facade, adorned with classical columns and an iron balcony that gives it just enough of that quintessential New Orleans flavor. William Adam, a prosperous businessman with a taste for refinement, commissioned the mansion. Later, the Jones family added their own touches, leaving a mark on what’s now a layered piece of the city’s history. Inside, the house features soaring ceilings, intricate plasterwork, and polished hardwood floors. Marble fireplaces anchor the grand rooms, while stained glass windows scatter light across the walls. Out back, the lush garden, a mini-jungle of magnolias and camellias, is a hidden retreat.
12. Luling Mansion
In a city loaded with eccentricities, Luling Mansion is one of New Orleans’ grandest architectural oddities, a relic of opulence built on the ambitions of cotton mogul Florence Luling in 1865. Nestled in the Fairgrounds neighborhood, the house makes its surreal presence stand out among the familiar Creole cottages and French-style facades. The Italianate structure, designed by architect James Gallier Jr., was nothing short of a palace in its day. The mansion originally featured vast grounds, complete with an artificial lake where guests glided along in gondolas, straight out of Florence’s European fantasies. The mansion’s exterior features towering arched windows, intricate cornices, and stately columns. Inside, marble fireplaces, grand staircases, and ornately carved woodwork bring a European flair. High ceilings and expansive rooms hint at the lavish gatherings once held here — until a downturn in the cotton market forced Luling to sell the property.
11. Walker House
The Walker House in New Orleans’ French Quarter is a Creole townhouse with an aristocratic edge. Built in the early 1800s, it combines Spanish and French influences with a facade that is classic New Orleans: tall, narrow windows, brightly painted shutters, and a cast-iron balcony that wraps around the second floor. The interior features intricate plasterwork, wooden floors and high ceilings with chandeliers. In the courtyard, an oasis of tropical plants and ivy-covered walls, the house shows its true Creole heart. The Walker House embodies the old Quarter’s charm without the pomp, offering an architectural history of New Orleans in a format both lived-in and stately.
10. Claiborne Cottage
Built in the early 1800s, Claiborne Cottage is a classic example of the Marigny neighborhood’s architectural roots, where Caribbean influences met French finesse. The exterior, a tidy row of narrow windows and doors, is painted in soft, pastel hues. The building has a shotgun layout, where rooms open one into the next without hallways, making every inch of space count. Exposed wooden beams, wide-plank floors, and iron hardware on the doors lend an air of rugged simplicity. In the front parlor, sunlight filters through tall windows, casting a warm glow on walls adorned with period portraits and artifacts. Step out back, and the courtyard is its own world — a lush sanctuary wrapped in brick walls, where ferns and ivy vie for attention. A small fountain gurgles away, an unexpected touch of sophistication in the understated surroundings.
9. Musson-Bell House
Built in 1828 by planter and businessman Michel Musson, who also happened to be French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas’s uncle, this Creole townhouse holds its own with understated elegance. Degas visited the American branch of his family in the fall of 1872 and spent a few months here. The three-story structure exudes Creole style with a Spanish twist — think tall, shuttered windows, an iron lace balcony, and stucco walls painted in that unmistakable French Quarter palette. The first-floor parlor features high ceilings with intricate plaster medallions and dark wood floors. The staircase, a work of wrought iron and wood, curves upward in quiet grandeur. Rooms open onto each other, blurring lines between private and public spaces — a classic Creole architectural quirk that makes the house feel intimate yet social. Out back, the courtyard is shaded by palms and potted ferns, with a trickling fountain at its center.
8. Lafcadio Hearn’s House
Lafcadio Hearn’s house in New Orleans is a portal into the mind of one of the city’s most eccentric literary figures. Hearn, an intrepid journalist and writer, arrived in the Crescent City in the late 1870s and found himself captivated by its raw blend of cultures. His Creole cottage, nestled in the French Quarter, is as unassuming on the outside as Hearn was unconventional on the inside. Architecturally, the house is a classic example of Creole style, with its symmetrical facade, pastel walls, and wooden shutters, designed to keep the Louisiana heat at bay. A wrought-iron gate leads to a modest courtyard — a lush but intimate escape, where Hearn likely pondered the city’s voodoo legends, culinary traditions, and colorful locals, all of which would come alive in his writing. Inside, the house is a no-frills reflection of its owner’s life, with exposed brick walls and straightforward, cozy rooms. Hearn wrote some of his most vibrant, atmospheric pieces within these walls, capturing New Orleans’ spirit like few others.
7. Hermann-Grima House
The Hermann-Grima House in New Orleans is a Federal-style masterpiece right in the heart of the French Quarter, a stately anomaly among the Creole cottages and iron-laced balconies. Built in 1831 for a wealthy commodities broker, Samuel Hermann, the mansion’s red-brick facade and arched dormer windows bring a Northern flair, setting it apart from its neighbors. Inside, high ceilings, marble mantels, and intricate plasterwork create an air of restrained opulence, a nod to the European tastes of its original owners. The open-hearth kitchen is a real gem — one of the few still intact in the city. Out back, the lush courtyard is an oasis, complete with citrus trees and a private carriageway.
6. Buckner Mansion
Built in 1856 by cotton king Henry S. Buckner, the Greek Revival classic spans 20,000 square feet, making it one of the largest private residences in New Orleans. Its 48 massive columns wrap around the entire mansion, giving it the air of a Greek temple dropped square into the Garden District. The ballroom features high ceilings, polished hardwood floors, and opulent chandeliers imported from Europe. Every room feels both grand and imposing, with crown moldings, antique fireplaces, and towering windows that flood the space with light.
5. Dufour-Baldwin House
The Dufour-Baldwin House on Esplanade Avenue is New Orleans elegance with a touch of European cool — a Greek Revival mansion with just enough Italianate flair to keep things interesting. Built in the 1850s by wealthy merchant Louis Dufour, it’s an architectural love letter to the grand traditions of old Europe, while perfectly at home in Louisiana’s climate. Tall, shuttered windows, carved lintels, and a wraparound balcony give the place an air of refined decadence. The double parlors come with sprawling crystal chandeliers and marble mantels. The ceilings reach up high, while intricate moldings and woodwork bring you firmly back to Earth. The sweeping staircase, curving through the central hall, suggests more than a few grand entrances and exits in its time. The house also boasts a lush, private courtyard tucked behind iron gates — a spot where palms and magnolias shade bricked walkways.
4. Women’s Opera Guild House
Built in the mid-19th century, the Women’s Opera Guild House on Prytania Street is a bold structure with a facade that layers Italianate arches over Greek Revival columns, topped off by an intricate wrought-iron balcony. Acquired by the New Orleans Opera Guild in the 1960s, the interior features a sweeping staircase, high ceilings, and heavy drapes. Glittering chandeliers cast a kind of timeless elegance, while French antique furniture fills the rooms with an Old World charm. Marble fireplaces anchor parlors where gilded mirrors reflect the glow of crystal sconces—a setting more suited to a salon of European aristocrats than the Deep South. The garden, too, is a masterpiece, with manicured pathways and towering oaks that provide just enough shade for a leisurely afternoon.
3. Beauregard-Keyes House
The Beauregard-Keyes House on Chartres Street is a mansion with a split personality — equal parts military and literary history. Built in 1826, this Greek Revival beauty boasts a facade with Doric columns supporting an impressive balcony overlooking the French Quarter. Originally commissioned by wealthy auctioneer Joseph LeCarpentier, it later housed Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, adding a dash of military legacy to the property’s DNA. Inside, the house is a blend of European elegance and New Orleans flair. Ornate plasterwork, high ceilings, and marble fireplaces grace the grand rooms, evoking a refined 19th-century aesthetic. The garden, designed in a formal French style, is a hidden sanctuary filled with camellias and magnolias, embodying that lush, semi-tropical New Orleans charm. Author Frances Parkinson Keyes took up residence in the 1940s, writing several novels here and saving the mansion from neglect.
2. Archie Manning House
Archie Manning’s Garden District home is as much a New Orleans landmark as it is a slice of NFL history. A classic Southern beauty built in the early 1900s, the house features white columns, sweeping porches, and old-school wrought-iron gate. Inside, the house is timeless and unpretentious, with polished hardwood floors, tall windows, and family mementos that trace the Manning legacy — from Archie’s years quarterbacking the Saints to the Super Bowl victories of his sons, Peyton and Eli. The spacious front parlor and dining room have likely hosted countless celebrations of NFL milestones.
1. Longue Vue House and Gardens
Built in 1939 for cotton broker Edgar Stern and his wife, Edith, this Classical Revival estate is designed to take full advantage of eight acres of meticulously landscaped gardens. Longue Vue is named after the tea house on the Hudson River where the couple were engaged. Edith, an heiress to the Sears fortune, wanted a sanctuary and with the help of landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman, she got it. Inside, Art Deco mingles with French and American furnishings, creating interiors that feel modern yet grounded in Old World charm. Sunlight pours through floor-to-ceiling windows framing picture-perfect views of the gardens. Every room flows into the next, echoing the natural landscape outside. The gardens are the soul of Longue Vue, with lush terraces, Spanish moss-draped oaks, and reflecting pools that seem plucked from a dream.
