New Orleans
We’ve compiled the best of the best in New Orleans - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. 1850 House
French QuarterThis well-preserved town house and courtyard provide rare public access beyond the storefronts to the interior of the exclusive Pontalba Buildings. The rooms are furnished in the style of the mid-19th century, when the buildings were designed as upscale residences and retail spaces. Notice the ornate ironwork on the balconies of the apartments; the original owner, Baroness Micaela Pontalba, popularized cast (or molded) iron with these buildings, and it eventually replaced much of the old handwrought ironwork in the French Quarter. The initials for her families, A and P (Almonester and Pontalba), are worked into the design. A gift shop and bookstore run by the Friends of the Cabildo is downstairs. The Friends also offer informative two-hour walking tours of the French Quarter ($22) from this location Tuesday through Sunday at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm that include admission to the house.
View Tours and Activities523 St. Ann St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA504-524–3918Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5, Closed Mon., Tues.–Sun. 10–4:30 -
2. Beauregard-Keyes House and Garden Museum
This stately 19th-century mansion was briefly home to Confederate general and Louisiana native P.G.T. Beauregard, but a longer-term resident was the novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes, who found the place in a sad state when she arrived in the 1940s. Keyes restored the home—today filled with period furnishings—and her studio at the back of the large courtyard remains intact, complete with family photos, original manuscripts, and her doll, fan, and teapot collections. Keyes wrote 40 novels there, all in longhand, among them local favorite Dinner at Antoine's. Even if you don't have time for a tour, take a peek at the beautiful walled garden through the gates at the corner of Chartres and Ursulines streets. Landscaped in the same sun pattern as Jackson Square, it blooms year-round. The house was used most recently as the interior for the Fairplay Saloon in the TV series "Interview with the Vampire." Tours (45 minutes) begin on the hour.
1113 Chartres St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA504-523–7257Sight Details
Rate Includes: $10, Closed Sun. -
3. Benachi House & Gardens
Bayou St. JohnThis Greek Revival mansion was built in 1859 for the Greek consul in New Orleans and was a significant part of the city's original expansion into this neighborhood. Directly across from the Degas House, this intersection forms something of a historical hub. The house earned the nickname "Rendezvous des Chasseurs" (meeting place of hunters) during the 19th century, when much of this area was still undeveloped swampland. The gorgeous house and gardens are now primarily a private event space and a popular setting for New Orleans weddings.
2257 Bayou Rd., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70119, USA800-308–7040Sight Details
Rate Includes: By appointment only -
4. Brevard House
Garden DistrictThough Anne Rice moved out of her elegant Garden District home in 2004, the famous novelist's fans still flock to see the house that inspired the Mayfair Manor in her series Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The house is a three-bay Greek Revival, extended over a luxurious, lemon tree–lined side yard and surrounded by a fence of cast-iron rosettes that earned the estate its historical name, Rosegate.
View Tours and Activities1239 First St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130, USA -
5. Briggs-Staub House
Garden DistrictThe only Gothic Revival house in the district was built in 1849. Garden District Americans shunned the Gothic Revival style, deeming it a little too close to Creole-Catholic tradition, but Londoner Charles Briggs ignored decorum and had James Gallier Sr. design this anomaly, touted as a "Gothic cottage." The interior departs from a strict Gothic layout to make it better suited for entertaining. A miniature replica of the structure stands next door; it once housed Briggs's servants, who were reputedly free men of color.
2605 Prytania St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130, USA -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Brown House
UptownThis mansion, completed in 1904 for cotton magnate William Perry Brown, is one of the largest houses on St. Charles Avenue. Its solid monumental look, Syrian arches, and steep gables make it a choice example of Romanesque Revival style.
4717 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70115, USA -
7. Buckner Mansion
Garden DistrictThis 1856 home was built by cotton king Henry S. Buckner in overt competition with the famous Stanton Hall in Natchez, built by Buckner's former partner. Among the luxurious details are its 48 fluted cypress columns and a rare honeysuckle-design cast-iron fence. Now privately owned, the house served as the campus of Soulé College from 1923 to 1975 and appeared in American Horror Story.
1410 Jackson Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130, USA -
8. Castles House
UptownThe renowned local architect Thomas Sully designed this 1896 Colonial Revival house after the Longfellow House in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The interior has often appeared in the pages of design magazines. It was built for John Castles, president of Hibernia National Bank.
6000 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70118, USA -
9. Colonel Short's Villa
Garden DistrictBuilt in 1859, this house's stylistic influence was due to the two-story galleries of its dining room wing, which had railings made of cast iron. The fence features a pattern of morning glories and cornstalks and is the most famous work of cast iron in the Garden District. Colonel Robert Short, a cotton merchant from Kentucky, purchased the fence for his wife, who was homesick for her native Iowa. The house was occupied by Union governor Michael Hahn and by governor Nathaniel Banks during the Civil War, but after the war ended, it was returned to Colonel Short.
1448 Fourth St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130, USA -
10. Doullut Steamboat Houses
Lower Ninth WardIn 1905, Paul Doullut was inspired to build a home that resembled the great steamboats of the Mississippi, where he spent his time as a riverboat captain. In 1913, he built a similar home for his son, down the street at 503 Egania. Towering over the Mighty Mississippi and the rest of the neighborhood with wraparound verandas fitted with guardrails and high-perched widow's walks, these houses are architectural oddities specific to their environment. Because the first floors are constructed of ceramic tile, the Doullut houses are uniquely equipped to withstand flooding, and both survived Hurricane Katrina with little damage. Today these are private residences that can only be toured from the outside.
400 Egania St. and 503 Egania St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70117, USA -
11. Edgar Degas House Museum, Courtyard, and Inn
Bayou St. JohnThe Impressionist Edgar Degas, whose Creole mother and grandmother were born in New Orleans, stayed with his cousins in this house during an 1872 visit to New Orleans, producing 18 paintings and four drawings while here. "This is a new style of painting," Degas wrote in one of the five known letters he sent from New Orleans, explaining that the breakthrough he experienced here led to "better art." Today, this house museum and bed-and-breakfast offers public tours, given by Degas's great-grandnieces, which include the screening of an award-winning film on Degas's family and their sojourn in New Orleans, plus a walk through the historic neighborhood focusing on details from the artist's letters. In 2019, the site was designated as a French monument by the French ambassador to the United States. Feel free to drop by for a look if you're in the vicinity, but check the website or call ahead for event dates or to make an appointment for a full tour.
2306 Esplanade Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70119, USA504-821–5009Sight Details
Rate Includes: $29 for guided tour, Tours at 10:30 and 1:30 (reservation required) -
12. Fats Domino House
Lower Ninth WardWhen music legend Fats Domino passed away in 2017, a city-wide second-line parade culminated at his former home in the Lower Ninth Ward: a black-and-yellow shotgun house emblazoned with the letters "F D", a bright reminder of the artist's dedication to the neighborhood. Blocks from where he was raised, Domino built this two-house compound in 1960, at the height of his musical career, and kept it as his homebase throughout decades on tour. While he spent his later years across the river in Harvey, Louisiana, it was in this house where Fats endured Katrina, and was later rescued by the Coast Guard (and visited by President G. W. Bush) after losing almost everything he owned.
1208 Caffin Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70117, USA -
13. Faulkner House
French QuarterThe young novelist William Faulkner lived and wrote his first book, Soldiers' Pay, here in the 1920s. He later returned to his native Oxford, Mississippi, where his explorations of Southern consciousness earned him the Nobel Prize for literature. The house is not open for tours, but the ground-floor apartment Faulkner inhabited is now a bookstore, Faulkner House Books, which specializes in local and Southern writers. The house is also home to the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society literary group, which hosts an annual literary festival celebrating the writer's birthday.
624 Pirate's Alley, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA504-524–2940Sight Details
Rate Includes: Daily 10–5:30 -
14. Gallier House
Irish-born James Gallier Jr. was one of the city's most famous 19th-century architects; he died in 1866, when a hurricane sank the paddle-steamer on which he was a passenger. This house, where he lived with his family, was built in 1857 and contains an excellent collection of early Victorian furnishings. During the holiday season, the entire house is filled with Christmas decorations. If you have watched the new TV series "Interview with the Vampire," you may recognize the house as that belong to Lestate de Lioncourt.
1132 Royal St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA504-525–5661Sight Details
Rate Includes: $17; combination ticket with Hermann-Grima House $25, Closed Tues. -
15. Gauche House
French QuarterThe cherubs featured in the effusive ironwork on this distinctive house stops people in the street. Built in 1856, this mansion and its service buildings were once the estate of businessman John Gauche, who lived there until 1882. Although the privately owned house is not open to the public, its exterior still merits a visit to snap a few photos.
704 Esplanade Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA -
16. Hermann-Grima House
Noted architect William Brand built this Georgian-style house in 1831, and it's one of the largest and best-preserved examples of American architecture in the Vieux Carré. Cooking demonstrations on the open hearth of the Creole kitchen are held twice-montly on Saturdays from November through April. You'll want to check out the gift shop, which has many local crafts and books. Tours are on the hour, and advance reservations are recommended.
820 St. Louis St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70112, USA504-274–0750Sight Details
Rate Includes: $17, combination ticket with Gallier House $25, Closed Tues. -
17. Jelly Roll Morton House
Seventh WardJazz enthusiasts would do well to follow Frenchmen Street beyond the borders of the Marigny to pay homage to Jelly Roll Morton at the pianist and composer's modest former home, now a private residence with nary a plaque to suggest its importance. The current residents, however, have put a photo of the musician in the window. Morton was a "Creole of color" (free African American of mixed race), a clear distinction in those days—Morton himself always described his roots as "French." The neighborhood has declined some since Morton's days, so plan to take a car or taxi at night.
1443 Frenchmen St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70117, USA -
18. LaBranche Houses
French QuarterThis complex of lovely town houses, built in the 1830s by sugar planter Jean Baptiste LaBranche, fills the half block between Pirate's Alley and Royal and St. Peter streets behind the Cabildo. The house on the corner of Royal and St. Peter streets, with its elaborate, rounded cast-iron balconies, is among the most frequently photographed residences in the French Quarter.
700 Royal St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA -
19. LaLaurie Mansion
French QuarterLocals (or at least local tour guides) say this is the most haunted house in a generally haunted neighborhood. Most blame the spooks on Madame LaLaurie, a wealthy but torture-loving 19th-century socialite who fell out with society when, during a fire, neighbors who rushed into the house found mutilated slaves in one of the apartments. Madame LaLaurie fled town that night, but there have been stories of hauntings ever since. The home is a private residence, not open to the public. Actor Nicolas Cage bought the property in 2007; two years later, the house sold at a foreclosure auction. The house and Madame LaLaurie herself have gained infamy in recent years thanks to the television show American Horror Story: Coven, which features them both extensively.
View Tours and Activities1140 Royal St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA -
20. Latrobe House
French QuarterArchitect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who designed the U.S. Capitol, built this modest house with Arsene Latour in 1814. Its smooth lines and porticoes started a passion for Greek Revival architecture in Louisiana, as later evinced in many plantation houses upriver as well as in a significant number of buildings in New Orleans. Latrobe would die in New Orleans six years later from yellow fever. This house, believed to be the earliest example of Greek Revival in the city, is not open to the public.
721 Governor Nicholls St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116, USA
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