Today the beauty and grandeur of Houmas House Plantation, ‘The Sugar Palace’ can be enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year due to the incredible dedication and extensive sense of history and distinction that is Mr. Kevin Kelly. Through the vision and determination of Mr. Kelly, who acquired the property in the Spring of 2003, the mansion today reflects the best parts of each period in its rich history alongside the big bend in the Mississippi River. Yet it remains clear that it is Kelly’s presence and personality which is the overwhelming and singular reason for the plantation’s return to its rightful and recognized place as the ‘Crown Jewel of Louisiana’s River Road’.
It was by chance that Kevin discovered that he could indeed purchase a plantation. “I was searching for a property to renovate after having just finished my home on St. Charles St. in New Orleans,” Mr. Kelly said. “I was completely smitten with the unexpected nuances and eccentricities of renovating old properties and I discovered I had a real knack for the process. I was totally enthralled with the idea and practice of restoring historical properties and had done many such renovations in the city. I didn’t realize that one could actually purchase these
historic plantations and it was in a chance conversation with a realtor friend that I found that Houmas House was indeed available, so we made an appointment to take a look at the property.”
The St. Charles property Kevin spoke of was the old Orleans Hotel, a forty-two room flop-house in the heart of the warehouse district. Kelly, a general contractor, real estate developer, and warehousing magnate, was sure the property would be ideal for a home and its close proximity to his warehouse businesses would be a great convenience. The renovation project was an inspiration to Kevin and the results were spectacular. It took seven years to complete and includes not only his personal residence but also seven additional condos. In his own space, Kevin compiled a collection of antiques and artworks from around the world and across the ages. This resplendence includes many personal favorites including Kevin’s affinity for ornamental dragonflies. The final product includes over eleven thousand magical selections done so
tastefully that they must be searched out to be noticed. His completed project was, in
a word, a ‘masterpiece’.
Upon its conclusion, Kevin needed to find a new project to focus on. He had hired a few extremely talented individuals to run his other businesses while he worked on the St. Charles
property, and they had all performed so admirably, that Kevin was reticent to dismiss any of them, another testament to the generosity and goodness of this special individual. His
dilemma was that he himself, being the driven individual that he is, needed something to do. Enter his new interest, becoming the next great Louisiana plantation owner, though that was not his original intention.
“When I first visited Houmas House with my realtor, it had not been on the market long enough for anyone to know about it. I fell in love with the place immediately and could hardly contain my enthusiasm, much to the aggravation of my agent. Just as he was pleading with me to not give my position away to the sellers, a beautiful dragonfly flew up and landed on my shoulder. I took that as a sign that this was meant to be and decided to buy the place on the spot. I offered the full asking price in order to insure that I would not lose the property.”
This was only the second day of the listing and the owners of the property, on finding out they received a full price offer so quickly, decided that they must have asked too little for the property and immediately tried to back out of the deal. It took some legal rankling, but Kevin prevailed. After the sale, the previous owners sought to keep Kevin’s identity and the sale secret for reasons unknown to him. Those reasons soon became obvious to all when shortly afterward he saw an advertisement, taken by the previous owners, stating that the sale had taken place and that the new owner planned to turn the property into a private residence. They were offering the public a ‘last chance’ to see and tour the plantation. It was a trying time for Kevin since he did not initially intend to make it his residence, but he persevered.
It soon became evident to Kevin and his staff that this undertaking would be more intensive and consuming than he had imagined. Though the house had been used as a residence by previous owners, it’s most recent renovations had been done by Dr. George Crozat when he bought the property, which was in complete disrepair, in 1940. Crozat was considered Louisiana’s greatest collector of antiques and ornamentation, but he was a man of simpler tastes and he renovated the property with the intent to reflect those tastes. The structure was painted white inside and out. Crown moldings and ceiling medallions were removed and both interior and exterior forms and finishes were simplified. Eventually, the Crozat heirs opened the property to tourists. In 1963, the defining Bette Davis film "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" was shot in the property. The room in which Ms. Davis stayed while filming is preserved as part of today's Houmas House tour.
Aside from the mechanics of the property, (all electrical and plumbing works needed to be replaced to accommodate modern lighting and plumbing demands) the expense of redoing such an old property was considerable. Much of the furnishings in the house before 1940 had been removed and auctioned off commanding huge prices. One particular armoire sold for 240 thousand dollars. The greater part of the furnishings that had occupied the house during its reign as the leading sugar plantation in the world eventually found its way to a previous owner’s home in West Virginia. Later it was Jackie Kennedy who insured these furnishings would gain a bit of immortality when she purchased them to help complete a rejuvenation of the White House where the many pieces are on display today.
Finding pieces from the period to replace those was no easy task for Mr. Kelly but he completed his mission with great success. Throughout the house every room is a composite of the lifestyle befitting some of the wealthiest people of the time. One such item hangs in the foyer at the entrance to the grand house. It is a quite large scaled map of the river region of South Louisiana and depicts the locations of many of the plantation owners’ assets. It was a very sensitive document during the Civil War, and through fear that it would fall into the hands of the Union Army, it was hidden. It was later found under a huge pile of saw dust in the plantation’s saw mill and auctioned off. Kevin felt fortunate to acquire it for the tidy sum of forty-three thousand dollars.
Since the plantation had been closed to the public for some time, when Kevin and his crew began their remodeling, they were under severe time constraints. They had a mere six months to complete the project in order to avoid the property being removed from Louisiana’s tourism information, a list very difficult to regain a presence on.
Houmas House is the quintessential example of the elite times that formed Louisiana and in particular, our region. It features fantastic gardens for strolling through massive oaks which are hundreds of years old. There are beautifully adorned event rooms for any occasion and any number of guests. It is the number one site for destination weddings with spectacular views and
everlasting memories. It’s main restaurant, Latil’s Landing is headed by one of the nation’s most decorated and imaginative young chefs, Jeremy Langlois, who has created menus that will delight and please the finest of guests, and present you with an experience rivaling those of the great Sugar Barons of the 1800's. The plantation boasts the state’s most extensive wine cellar featuring more than five thousand bottles at a cost of over five-hundred thousand dollars and has
gained national recognition.
Today the results of the renovation, borne from the passion and insight and fine taste of one great man, is evident and available for all to see. Houmas House Plantation and Gardens has recently been named the winner of the prestigious ‘Big Louie Award’ designating it as the #1 tourist attraction in the state of Louisiana. It was a pressure packed few months but Mr. Kelly and his staff still surpassed anyone’s imagination as the Mansion exudes the warmth of a home while proudly portraying its role as a landmark in American history.
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