1850 House Museum & Gift Shop

Inside a Pontalba building beside Jackson Square, the 1850 House Museum recreates a New Orleans home from the mid-19th century. Its furnished rooms bring together period paintings, china and household decor, with signs explaining the setting and the family who lived there. The displays focus on an upper-middle-class household in the antebellum South. You can explore at your own pace, and a volunteer guide can add context. Allow extra time if you plan to visit the nearby Cabildo or Presbytère as well.

A home inside the Pontalba buildings

The 1850 House occupies part of the Pontalba buildings along Jackson Square. Commissioned by Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, the red-brick buildings were constructed in the 1840s. Their design drew on Parisian architecture, a style the baroness admired.

The museum’s rooms are arranged to represent how a middle-class New Orleans family might have furnished a home in the 1850s. Paintings, china, furniture and decor give the rooms their period character. Signs provide information as you move through the displays.

What the displays cover

The house tells a story of family and domestic life in the antebellum South, with a focus on an upper-middle-class household. Take time with the room details and accompanying explanations; the displays are self-guided, and volunteer guides can fill in more historical context.

The interpretation does not extend equally to every part of the household. Some quarters, including spaces associated with servants and enslaved people, are closed, with only a limited view into some areas. If you want to broaden the historical context, the Cabildo and Presbytère are nearby on Jackson Square.