Over the years, I've seen photos of this house and collected several. Anne
Rice owned a number of properties in New Orleans, including this house that was used as Mona Mayfair's house in Lasher and
Taltos.
There are several features in this house that are similar to the house on First Street. For example, both houses have a "double
parlor". However, they are not the same house. I've seen them confused with one another, though.
So I thought I would put together some details about this historic New Orleans
home as well, and present them in a way that will help distinguish the two houses. They include real estate data and photographs.
To put it simply, this house is just beautiful.
The sketch of the home of Mona Mayfair in The Witches' Companion by Katherine Ramsland
transformed into a fairly realistic rendering of the house on NightCafe.
Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find more images of the Amelia Street house with furnishings.
The images originally appeared on Curbed and in an article in Good Housekeeping. The images are no longer available in the
online articles, but you will find links to those articles below this gallery.
Entrance Hall
Entrance Hall
Parlor
Parlor
Parlor
Parlor
Dining Room
Kitchen
Kitchen
Study
Bedroom
Bedroom With Half
Tester Bed
Left: AI generated image of Mona Mayfair in pink on MagicStudio. What a
scream!
The online article below states the images are of the house at 1239 First Street, New Orleans, which was once owned by Anne
Rice, and used as the home of Rowan Mayfair.
However, some of the images are actually of 3711 St Charles Avenue, also once owned by Anne Rice. The house at 3711 St Charles
Avenue was used as Mona Mayfair's house in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches series.
And here I thought I'd only have a drawing of the house as it appeared in The
Witches' Companion.
This house was used in the novel Lasher. It was the childhood home of Mona Mayfair before the deaths of Alicia and
Gifford, the increasing drunkenness of her father Patrick and Rowan's sterilization and ensuing inability to produce a legacy
heir of the required vintage. Upon these events, Mona moved to the First Street house, the traditional home of the Legacy
Witch.
However, she did not abandon the property and much like Anne Rice herself was doing at the time she wrote Lasher, Mona
had the house fully restored, the completion being noted at the end of Taltos.
Apparently, she did a good job. Take a look.
The Double Parlor
Alicia's favorite room in the house besides her bedroom, if I recall.
And--The Double Parlor
Remember that the house on Amelia Street also featured a double parlor similar to the
one at the First Street house.
The Study
The Dining Room
Well, that's all for now, folks. But take a look at the handy link I've supplied for your
reading pleasure. It lists the house's address in New Orleans as 3711 Saint Charles Avenue, which is also noted in The
Witches' Companion.
Now, you know the house rules. It's a home, not a business. I generally do not list home addresses
unless another source widely available to the public did so first. So please--mind your manners and do not go bugging the
occupants of the house. I realize it is of utmost importance to examine Mona's bedroom window in order to preserve her newspaper
slingshot system, but not if the current occupant is still using it.
Only Moor One Pirogue at a Time at the Newel Post, Please
In The Witches' Companion, Fontevrault is said to compare closely with the long
gone Belle Grove Plantation mansion in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. The mansion, built in 1857 for John Andrews, who had
come from Virginia, and sold to Henry Ware in 1868, was abandoned by 1925, and burned in 1952. By the end of the 1950s, it
had been completely demolished.
Image of Belle Grove from The Witches' Companion by Dr. Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.
Belle Grove as Fontevrault created with NightCafe From Image In The Witches' Companion
by Dr. Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.
To learn more about Belle Grove Plantation in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, click the Parlor
page link below:
