 hen you get to the corner of Esplanade and Dauphine, to your left is the impressive: - Gardere-Claiborne House, 905 Esplanade. This beautiful plantation-style raised brick house with Greek revival floor plan was built soon after 1831 for Francois Gardere, the owner of the previously-mentioned house at 917. The house exhibits Creole, Federal, and Georgian features. The front elevation was altered after 1844 by Judge Charles Claiborne to include an ironwork gallery across the front with full height columns. These columns support a heavy denticulated cornice, which continues around the house, and pilasters frame both the facade and sides of the house. Elegant scroll cornices embellish windows at the sides and rear. The present entrance steps and railings are late 19th-century additions. Cross the street at Dauphine to the house on the opposite corner at 835-37, the:
 Girod House.
This residence is an interesting example of a brick Creole-style double townhouse with an unusual feature. The house has a central passageway in addition to two flanking entrances, both of which were added in a later alteration. The house was originally entered through this passageway, which leads to a courtyard similar to those in many French Quarter homes. The two doorways were once windows which opened on the traditional double parlors. An airy balcony with a lovely cast-iron railing graces the second level. The house was built in 1833 as a double for Francois Girod by Charles Thompson, and is an unusual but welcome piece of architecture for this area. Today it serves as a bed & breakfast establishment. Next door to the Girod House is another rather unusual house, the:- Gourjon House, 833 Esplanade. Built in 1810 for John Gourjon Jr, the single-story brick-between-posts cottage is probably the oldest structure on Esplanade. It originally had a porte cochere, or carriageway, which was removed in a later alteration, along with the original columbage walls. It went through several owners over the years, including W.C.C. Claiborne II, who purchased it in 1830,
sold it in 1841, then had it retroceded back to him in 1842. It was later acquired by the Soniat-Dufossat family, which owns other property in the Garden District. Continue to the next house at 823. This ornate two-and-a-half story frame house, the:
- LeGardeur de Tilly House, was built for Stephen LeGardeur de Tilly in 1856. The house was designed as a central hall townhouse with a centralized symmetry to its facade. This was accomplished with a central dormer, double central windows, and four Ionic pilasters that frame the second level. The entranceway is recessed with granite steps and framed with a corniced Greek-key surround. The wraparound iron balcony is graceful, as is the intricate cornice that returns around the sides of the roofline. Note that most of the detailing is allocated to the second floor level (inside and out), as was very common with the Creole style. Proof of this is seen inside on the second-floor, where the most expensive mantles and other details were installed. From here walk to the end of the block to number 807, the:
- Whann-Bohn House, on the corner.
This imposing three-story plastered-brick Greek revival townhouse is probably the most expensive structure in this area, having been constructed in 1859 at the height of the Classic era in New Orleans. It was built for Captain William Whann for the sum of $18,750, a small fortune for the time. Full cast-iron galleries are present on both the second and third floor levels (the first floor supports having been removed), and the recessed entrance is framed with sidelights and transoms of beveled glass with lead. A huge elaborate brick cornice leads all the way around the building. The most notable feature of the house however, is the three-story octagonal bay in the rear of the house. There is also a full side gallery on the Bourbon Street side of the mansion. The interior is extravagant, with stairway handrails of mahogany, marble mantels, fluted Corinthian-columned archways, hot and cold running water, wine rooms, gas pipes and burners, and a 5,000-gallon cistern. Cross Bourbon Street. When you reach the other side, look at the house to the right, at number 741 Esplanade. The:
- Barbey-Bonneval House is a two-and-a-half story plastered-brick
townhouse designed and built in 1859 by William Freret for Adrien Barbey. Designed to resemble the house next door at 735 (described next), the house features a beautiful complete cast-iron gallery like those found in the French Quarter. Anthemion cresting crowns the gallery, and a double-chimneyed stepped side gable is located on either side of the structure. The second owner, Mr and Mrs Alex Bonneval, bought the house soon after it was built, and lived there for almost 20 years. Subsequent owners made alterations to the home, and at one time it was divided into apartments. Next door to the Barbey House is the previously-mentioned home at 735 Esplanade, the:
- Achille Chiapella House Nearly identical to the Barbey House, the Chiapella House was built three years earlier in 1856 for Mr and Mrs Achille Chiapella by Nicholas Duru. Exact specifications for the design of the house included every joist, rafter, and pipe. The smallest details such as the type of chains used in the bathroom door transoms, and even the width of the wine racks in the cellar, are particularly useful to modern-day restoration architects.
Like the house at 741, it has a large side yard enclosed by a high iron fence, into which an octagonal bay protrudes. The Formento family later purchased the home from Mr Chiapella and retained it until the 1940s.
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