hamilton brevard rice house

Hamilton Brevard Rice House Lower Garden District

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1239 First_Rendering_SE_Palette 3

1239 First_Rendering_SE_Palette 2

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One of the most celebrated houses in New Orleans, Author Ann Rice owned and occupied the house while she wrote The Vampire Chronicles and The Mayfair Witches series promting admiration by hundreds of tourists a week from the front gate.

The house was constructed in 1857 for Albert Hamilton Brevard, who in turn sold it in 1869 to Emory Clapp when the hexagonal wing and galleries on the north side were added.

Drawn up for the Historic American Building Survey and cataloged at the Library of Congress, the current owners wanted to record the original palette and possibly use that as a base for a new scheme.

HBR_1B (3) Stucco

HBR_7_Sashes_40x (5)

HBR_4_Porch Ceiling_40x (4)

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Paint samples polished and examined under a microscope reveal the chromacronologies from above left - the stucco on the addition, sashes from the front windows, and the porch ceiling showing typical darker colors of the 19th century which changed (usually) about the mid century mark in New Orleans to the green - grey - blue.

Greek elements are part of the mid-nineteenth century Romanticism of the Italianate style which usurped the Greek Revival in the ante bellum and post Civil War periods. The Greek style and Garden District location did not necessarily dictate a white color scheme as is commonly suggested.

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HBR_8_40x_Door (6)

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The prominent Greek Key architraves around the doors play a significant role in the plot of the story of the Mayfair Witches and are indeed, exquisite examples of this architectural detail.

Reading from bottom to top, the door started out a medium / dark tan, got darker, then lighter around 1900 and alternated between cream and white up to today.

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rose iron

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Inspiration included raw rubies, the rose iconography in the ironwork, and original Belgian pink slate. The current owners were leaning towards a pink house as the main color but there are quite a few in the vicinity already.

VOILA!