Buckner Mansion

From voodoo to Anne Rice, New Orleans has a long association with the supernatural. A more recent addition to the canon is the third season of American Horror Story, called “Coven.” That series followed the struggles of young witches in New Orleans, some of which resided in a beautiful mansion in the Garden District. 

The Buckner Mansion was built in 1856 as the residence of cotton kingpin Henry Sullivan Buckner, and his intention was to have a home that was bigger and grander than that of his ex-partner and now rival, Frederick Stanton. (That mansion, Stanton Hall, still stands in Natchez, Mississippi.) The Buckners lived in the mansion until they sold the house in 1923. It then became the Soule Business School, a highly regarded institution, until 1983. An inscription embedded in the sidewalk in mosaic reads: “From education as the leading cause, the public character its color draws.” Notable alumni of the school include New Orleans mayor Robert Maestri and Biloxi mayor Jeremiah Joseph O’Keefe.

Since the school shut down the mansion became a private residence once again, with FX renting it for the production of American Horror Story in 2013. In the show the mansion doubles as Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, a boarding school for young witches where they are taught how to use their powers. The mansion would also make an appearance (along with some characters) in season eight.