“Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you saw the last of me 💃🏼.”
If you’re an American Horror Story fan and are ever visiting New Orleans, Louisiana, you must do what every good AHS fan does – visit the Season 3 Coven House! For all the non-AHS lovers – the 3rd season of the show was based heavily on witches, and was filmed in New Orleans. It included real-life historical figures like Marie Laveau and Delphine Lalaurie, as well as real, well-known New Orleans locations, like this iconic house. The home was used as the location for “Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies“, aka the school for witches. It was painted white on the show, but is currently painted a light blue. I used to be a super-fan of AHS (they lost me after Cult, the last decent season. Sorry Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk), so there was no way I was passing up the opportunity to see this house! The Coven House, or as it’s officially known, the Buckner Mansion, is located in the Garden District at 1410 Jackson Avenue.
Considered to be an historical landmark, the house was built in 1856 (making it 167-years-old) by cotton tycoon Henry Sullivan Buckner. His goal was to build the most magnificent and grand home ever seen, particularly one bigger and grander than his ex-partner and new rival, Frederick Stanton. At the time, he succeeded. It’s 20,000 square feet, with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3 ballrooms, 40+ columns, and multiple galleries. The Buckners called the mansion home until 1923, after which it was sold, and became the Soule Business School until 1983. From that point on, it has been privately owed.
🔥Warning🔥 – Do not let the internet fool you into thinking it’s open to the public. It’s not. If you google “Buckner Mansion”, Google will tell you it’s open 24 hours a day. LIIIIIEEEESSSSS (inside AHS Coven joke). Once you do more than a simple Google search, you’ll find countless reviews and articles all saying the same thing; it’s NOT open to the public and you will NOT get inside. Instead, you’ll be insisting to the police officer arresting you for breaking and entering that “Google says it’s open!”. It’s a privately-owned residence and only available for rent a few short weeks out of the year – for the super economically reasonable price of $20,000 a month. The gate was securely locked and there were numerous signs in the yard stating that trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Overall, if you’re ever visiting New Orleans or the surrounding area, and you’re a fan of the wildly popular American Horror Story, you need to hop on over to the Garden District and see this house. It’s approximately a 15-minute drive from the French Quarter, making it a super easy, quick outing, mainly because you can only gawk at it from behind the firmly closed and locked gate. Many New Orleans walking tours tout this as a location on the tour, but remember, you cannot, and will not, go inside! 🤪
