Dresses, dollhouses, and frog legs
The Victorian mansion known as House of Broel is one of countless antebellum homes that line St. Charles Avenue. Originally built in 1850, the house was lifted by William Renaud in 1884 to add a spacious new first floor for parties and other social events. Under the longtime ownership of Bonnie Broel, it has become an extremely popular wedding venue.
For many years it was also where the vast majority of New Orleans brides and young women purchased their wedding, Mardi Gras, and prom gowns designed by Ms. Broel. In 1995, local author Anne Rice staged her own funeral wearing one of Ms. Broel’s wedding dresses. She lay down in a coffin in Lafayette No. 1 and was later taken by horse-drawn hearse to her book signing at the Garden District Book Shop.
Info
Address 2220 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130, +1 504.522.2220, www.houseofbroel.com | Hours Tours by appointment only| Tip More miniatures may be seen at the Basin Street Visitors Center (501 Basin St). Inside the 105-year-old restored old Southern Railway Station you’ll find a scale model of the City of New Orleans.
What truly sets this unusual house apart is what you’ll find upstairs; the Dollhouse Museum features a number of Ms. Broel’s meticulously detailed miniatures of Victorian, Tudor, and plantation-style houses (complete with furniture and tiny people engaged in various activities) built to scale. The centerpiece is a 10-foot-tall, 12-foot-wide three-story turn-of the-century Russian palace with almost thirty rooms. Other models include an English hunting lodge, a fairy hut, an Asian art shop, a bridal salon, and a cowboy-themed brothel. Encompassing more than 3000 square feet, the collection of tiny houses is, as far as Ms. Broel knows, the largest miniature museum created by a single person.
And then, apropos of nothing, the second floor also includes a frog collection. The exhibit is an homage to frog farming—Ms. Broel’s father was the founder of the American Frog Canning Company and even penned a handbook on frog farming. Here you can see vintage cans of frog legs on display and all varieties of frog figurines, among other frog-related objects.
Back
To the online map