Longue Vue House and Gardens: New Orleans' Most Beautiful Home!
Longue Vue House and Gardens is a multifaceted historic estate featuring a world-class house museum and eight acres of stunning gardens that include an unparalleled collection of Louisiana irises in New Orleans and an interactive Discovery Garden for children of all ages.
Edgar and Edith Stern, two of New Orleans' most renowned philanthropists and community builders, created the home and gardens with landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman, and architects William and Geoffrey Platt. Longue Vue is one of the last Country Place Era estates built and models the fashionable, conservative tastes of wealthy Americans during the 1930s and 40s.
The house consists of three stories and a basement, an unusual feature in New Orleans where most of the city is below sea level. Visitors can tour twenty main living spaces of the house, containing English and American antiques; European and Eastern European carpets; Modern and Contemporary art; collections of needlework, chintz, haute couture and ethnic costumes; Chinese and European export porcelain; Staffordshire transferware; and creamware and pearlware from Wedgwood, Leeds and other British and continental potteries.
Among many varied and fashionably decorated rooms, one can see the Flower Arranging Room; the Blue Room - accurately decorated with blue carpeting, walls and furniture; the Art Gallery; the Drawing Room - which is the most formal room of the house and the setting for the entertainment of such notables as Eleanor Roosevelt, John and Robert Kennedy, Pablo Casals, Jack Benny and others; and the Wrapping Room - used only to open mail and wrap presents.
In 1935, Ellen Biddle Shipman started work on the gardens creating the Goldfish Pond and the Pan Garden. The Walled Garden was constructed in 1938 and supplied the house with fresh vegetables and herbs. The Sterns collaborated with Shipman and nationally acclaimed naturalist and conservationist, Caroline Dormon, to create the Wild Garden, which is home to several native plants to Louisiana.
In 1998, the Lucy C. Roussel Discovery Garden was opened as an educational and interactive garden for children of all ages. Within the one-half acre garden, visitors can discover the wonders of nature and explore a variety of plants, flowers and insects.
Longue Vue House and Gardens is a National Historic Landmark and premier education and cultural resource in the city of New Orleans. It is open seven days a week for tours of the home and gardens, special events and programs. Guests can learn more by visiting www.longuevue.com.
Media Contact:
Summer Duperon
504.488.5488
sduperon@longuevue.com