Brevard-Rice House
New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Marker Inscription
Brevard-Rice House. Built in 1857 for Albert Hamilton Brevard. James H. Calrow, Architect. Charles Pride, Builder. Owened by Brevard heirs until 1869. Purchased then by Emory Clapp, who added the library wing on the left. It remained in the Clapp family until 1935. It was then owned and occupied by the families of Dr. Frank Brostrom from 1935 to 1947, Judge John Minor Wisdom from 1947 to 1972, and John A. Mmahat from 1972 to 1988. Purchased in 1989 by the novelist Anne Rice and her husband, the poet and painter, Stan Rice. Orleans Parish Landmarks Commission, 1991.
Erected by Orleans Parish Landmarks Commission
The Story
This Garden District mansion was built in 1857 for Albert Hamilton Brevard, designed by architect James H. Calrow. Over the following century it passed through prominent hands — including federal judge John Minor Wisdom — before becoming, in 1989, the home of novelist Anne Rice and her husband, poet and painter Stan Rice.
Why it matters
One house threads together antebellum New Orleans architecture, a jurist central to civil-rights-era law, and one of America's best-known contemporary novelists.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The Brevard-Rice House rose in 1857, in the last confident years before the Civil War. New Orleans was then one of the wealthiest and busiest ports in the country, and its Garden District was filling with grand houses built by families who wanted space, greenery, and architectural show away from the older French Quarter.
The home's long life then carried it straight through the great dividing eras of American history. Built in the antebellum South, it stood through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the whole modern century that followed — passing from one prominent household to the next as the city around it changed.
That span is what makes the house remarkable. A single address became a witness to more than 130 years of New Orleans life, from the age of the great cotton ports to the late twentieth century.
People & events
It began as the home of Albert Hamilton Brevard, for whom it was built in 1857. The architect was James H. Calrow and the builder Charles Pride, and Brevard's heirs held the house until 1869. It then passed to Emory Clapp, who added the library wing on the left — the kind of addition that tells you a family meant to stay. The Clapps kept it until 1935.
From there the house moved through a striking succession of owners: the family of Dr. Frank Brostrom from 1935 to 1947, then Judge John Minor Wisdom from 1947 to 1972, and John A. Mmahat from 1972 to 1988. Each name marks a chapter, and Wisdom's stands out — a federal judge whose years on the bench fell in the decades when the courts were reshaping American law.
Then, in 1989, the house began its most famous chapter. It was purchased by the novelist Anne Rice and her husband, the poet and painter Stan Rice. A mansion that had already sheltered a jurist and generations of prominent New Orleanians became the home of one of the country's best-known storytellers.
Its place in the American story
One house here threads together several strands of the American story. Its 1857 construction places it among the antebellum mansions that define a certain image of the South, and its architecture is part of the built heritage that makes New Orleans's Garden District nationally treasured.
Through Judge John Minor Wisdom, the house touches the history of American law itself — the era when federal judges sat at the center of the nation's most consequential legal questions. That a working jurist lived in this very house links a private address to the public life of the courts.
And through Anne Rice, it connects to contemporary American culture on the widest scale. A writer whose books reached millions of readers made her home in a house already layered with history — so the building joins architecture, law, and literature under one roof.
If you visit
The Brevard-Rice House sits in New Orleans's Garden District, a neighborhood best enjoyed on foot. Walk it slowly and let the marker do its work: this is a place where you're really looking at time, one household stacked on the next since 1857.
Look for the library wing on the left — the addition made by an early owner — as a reminder that these grand houses grew and changed with the families inside them. The Garden District's oaks, iron fences, and deep porches set the mood; the pleasure here is atmosphere as much as detail.
On a trip through New Orleans, the house pairs naturally with a wider Garden District stroll, an easy counterpoint to the French Quarter across town. Stand at the gate, run back through the owners named on the marker, and you'll feel how a single home can hold antebellum wealth, the modern law, and a famous novelist's imagination all at once. Please respect that it is a private residence, and admire it from the street.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Albert Hamilton Brevard
- · John Minor Wisdom
- · Anne Rice
- · Stan Rice
Themes & tags
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