Despite the home’s 165-year history, Becca Selvidge Fox is only the fourth owner of the five-bay, double-galleried Italianate stunner at 1126 Washington Ave.
After renovating six historic properties, Fox and her former spouse, J. MacGregor Fox, Jr., set their sights on this house, which had fallen to decrepitude.
“I always knew I wanted to restore it to a family home,” Becca Fox said. “I felt a pull toward it.”
The house was built for Abel Ware Bosworth, a Maine-born ice merchant, on land that was once part of the Livaudais Plantation. Around 1988, the collapse of the gable pitch roof revealed the service wing of the current house to have likely been an earlier home owned by Andres Anderson, a Swedish national who operated a dairy on the property. The location of the central chimney is in keeping with that of the Anderson home. The earlier house was built between 1833 and 1844, though the dates are unclear due to a break in the chain of title resulting from a fire at the notary’s office.
It would have been an act of early sustainability and, perhaps, thrift for Thomas K. Wharton to include the earlier structure into the far grander one he was employed to design for Bosworth.
The current house, which bears an elegant curve to its Washington Avenue façade, was sold to William J. Hammond, a ship’s agent, in 1890. It remained in the family through heirship until 1979, when the will of Alma Hammond granted the property to her friend Ellen Bland Cox Bruns, who was the third woman elected to the Louisiana Legislature.
Bruns was best remembered as one of the few Louisiana legislators to argue against segregation in the 1950s. When she inherited the Washington Avenue property, she was nearly 80 years old. She never resided in the house, and her heirs lived out of state.
In 1996, the property was declared blighted by the city. In 2000, the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation named the house one of the state’s most endangered properties.
Upon purchasing the property in 2000, Becca and J. MacGregor Fox spent a year working on it just to make it habitable. (The house came with an abandoned collie named Jax.) The complete restoration ultimately took eight years, with the Foxes doing much of the work themselves under the direction of architect Michael Bell. Celebrated plaster craftsman Earl Barthé did extensive work in the main portion of the home.
Today, Becca Fox and her husband G. Michael Favor live in the home. A live oak tree planted many decades ago gracefully frames the entrance to the house, which features North River flagstone walkways quarried from the yards of Nicholas & Company. The flagstone walkway extends into the rear garden, which features a swimming pool. Two additional live oak trees are situated within the gardens.
The couple salvaged what building materials they could, repurposing them as necessary to keep the home’s original fixtures. The 6,500-square-foot house retains its original cypress floors, 12-foot doors, and the delicate, curved stairwell salvaged from the Anderson home. The open kitchen retains its historic feel with reclaimed sinker cypress floors, a built-in breakfront, and a rare original pink marble mantel. Pumpkin Parker assisted with the interior design of the home.
A patron of the arts, Fox’s collection of original works is situated throughout the home and includes pieces by Frank Relle, Sean Yseult, Karoline Schleh, Ashley Longshore, and Edward Cappel.
“It has been a privilege to live here,” said Becca Fox, an empty-nest parent to grown children. “I used to drive past this house and think of how I wanted to raise a family here. That dream came true. This was a heavenly place to raise a family, a heavenly place to live.”
The Holiday Home Tour is a self-guided walking tour that explores the interiors and grounds of several stunning homes all dressed up for the holidays in the historic Garden District of New Orleans. Festivities also include live musical performances, a festive boutique, and more! This beloved event returns December 14th & 15th for its 49th year. Learn more and get tickets
