Benachi House and Gardens (Benachi-Torre House)

Benachi House and Gardens (Benachi-Torre House)

Benachi House and Gardens (Benachi-Torre House) Photograph by Lake Douglas
Photo 2 of Benachi House and Gardens (Benachi-Torre House)
1859. 2257 Bayou Rd.

In 1853, one year after Nicholas Benachi purchased an existing house on this enormous lot, his wife and two of his children died of yellow fever. A few years later, Benachi married Anna Marie Bidault and replaced the old house with this tall, handsome Greek Revival residence built of wood. The house features a two-story gallery supported on slender paired piers, a plain entablature, two dormers, and a central-hall plan. A detached two-story service building has a two-story gallery. The grounds, originally even bigger but reduced when Laharpe Street was cut through it on one side, is enclosed by a cast-iron fence with beautiful Gothic Revival paneled gateposts and a wide entrance gate in the shape of an ogee arch. Peter Torre bought the house in 1886; it is now a venue and event space.

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