Visit this historic home and other fine examples of New Orleans’ historic houses at the 2026 Spring Home Tour in Esplanade Ridge and Bayou Road on May 9 and 10.
Camille Whitworth bought her two-bay, circa-1900 Victorian home in the Esplanade Ridge neighborhood in 2003, after spotting a real estate agent pounding a for-sale sign into the front lawn. She had moved to New Orleans the year before to accept a position as a television news anchor with WDSU.
“I made an offer on the spot. I knew I was home,” Whitworth said. Her mother had lived nearby, as did her aunt, Beverly McKenna, a fellow journalist, who would eventually open Le Musee de F.C.P., a house museum dedicated to free people of color, a distinguished society that played a significant role in shaping New Orleans both before and after the Civil War. The city was familiar to Whitworth from numerous childhood trips to visit family.
A native of the Houston area, Whitworth is now the proprietress of Baroness on Baronne, an elegant cocktail bar and eatery. She also operates Media by Design, a communications consultancy.
When she bought the house, which has 4,000 square feet of living space including the rear dependency, she lived upstairs for two years as tenants occupied the first floor. The tenants failed to return after Hurricane Katrina, freeing Whitworth to restore her home to its original single-family form.
An original stained-glass window bathes the entry foyer in kaleidoscopic light from its perch above the turn of the staircase as it ascends to the second floor, which is now used exclusively as a private space.
Both the entry foyer and the formal dining room are illuminated by opulent Maria Theresa chandeliers of Austrian crystal. The living room has a canted window that affords views of the oak-canopied boulevard.
The formality of the home’s front rooms is juxtaposed with the soothing airiness of a sunroom at the rear. Added by a previous homeowner, the space is bathed in light emitted by four multi-paned, operable French casement windows that overlook the side and rear gardens and the guesthouse, suggesting it was added during the Craftsman era. When she renovated the home, Whitworth commissioned a stained-glass transom with a bamboo motif that reflects the foliage in her garden and removed some mismatched wood flooring to reveal one of warm Mexican Saltillo tiles.
“I love this house. I will stay here forever, God willing, the termites let me,” she said.
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
