Beauregard-Keyes House

The Beauregard-Keyes House, at 1113 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a Creole raised cottage built in 1826 for the wealthy auctioneer Joseph Le Carpentier. Its design, with a Greek Revival portico and sweeping double staircase on a raised main floor, reflects the transition from French colonial to American architectural taste in the early 19th century. The house is named for two later residents. Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard rented rooms here in 1866 and 1867, soon after the Civil War, and the novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes lived and wrote in the house from the 1940s until her death in 1970. Keyes, the author of Dinner at Antoine's, rescued the property from deterioration and established a foundation to preserve it, and she used the building as a setting for her work. The interior is furnished with period antiques, Keyes' collection of dolls and porcelain, and personal items, including the room where she wrote. The guided tour is thematic and biographical, covering the Le Carpentier family, the house's use as a residence and later as a boarding house, Beauregard's stay, and the preservation work that saved the building. The adjoining garden, laid out in a formal French parterre style with boxwood and fountains, is a notable feature of the property. The house has been the focus of restoration efforts addressing masonry, roofing and woodwork, and it is a contributing property to the French Quarter historic district. A tour typically takes 45 minutes. Because the house operates on a limited schedule, visitors should confirm times in advance, and the nearby Old Ursuline Convent makes a convenient pairing.