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| Photos on this page are courtesy of: CoreyAnn at Flickr Creative Commons and Infrogmation at Wikimedia Commons |
| The link to this page is: http://old-new-orleans.com/NO_LeBeau.html Back to Old New Orleans The Past Whispers - Home |
| There's still a chance that the old LeBeau house, just south of New Orleans, can be saved, but there's no question that time is running out for the historic building. It is one of only two Arabi plantation homes to make it to the 21st century and was once the largest plantation south of New Orleans. Although the building has had no human inhabitants since the 1980's, there's a possibility that it may have at least one resident of the supernatural variety. For years, local residents have reported seeing a light go off and on in the house's cupola, where no light should be, since there's no electricity connected. The land on which the house stands - for years now, in the shadow of the Domino Sugar Refinery - was first granted in 1721. Various plantations used the property for a hundred years or so; then, for the next thirty years, it was used as a brickyard. In 1851, Franciose Barthelemy LeBeau purchased the property and started construction of the house pictured on this page. The LeBeau home has sixteen rooms, but only one interior staircase. It seems that when New Orleans officials told LeBeau he would be taxed on the number of interior stairwells, he promptly took down the ones already completed and moved them to the outside of the house. Mr. LeBeau died in 1854, only a few months after the house was completed, but it remained in the LeBeau family until 1905. It was purchased at that time by Friscoville Realty and, for the next twenty years, the old home was the site of the Friscoville Hotel. In 1928, Jai Alai Realty bought the house, re-named it the Cardone Hotel and used it as an illegal gambling casino, known to locals as the Jai Alai Casino. To this day, gun turrets built into the closets can be found from it's Prohibition days as a wild and woolly gambling house. Between 1938-1967, it had several owners. In 1967, Joseph Meraux purchased the house and allowed it to deteriorate badly. An attempt was made in the 1980's to include the property in an Historic District, but the project was blocked by Mr. Meraux. In 1986, a fire severely damaged the interior and roof of the building. There were some restoration efforts undertaken in the next few years, but each time, they were eventually aborted. Meraux died in 1992 and, for the next decade, his heirs did nothing with the property. Finally, in 2003, much needed stabilization work was done on the house. Full-scale restoration plans were in the works when Hurricane Katrina came through in 2005 and decimated St. Bernard Parish. In recent years, two local developers were working on a project to restore the old home and open it to the public, soliciting funds from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It's been awhile since I've heard whether the project is ongoing. If you know anything about its current status, I'd appreciate hearing from you. -- Nancy |
| LeBeau Plantation Arabi, LA |
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| Smokestacks of the Domino Sugar Refinery can be seen in the background. |
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