Celebrating New Orleans’ Bohemian Soul

In an excerpt from their new book, BOHEMIAN SOUL: THE VANISHING INTERIORS OF NEW ORLEANS, writer Valorie Hart and Photographer Sara Essex Bradley draw back the curtains to celebrate the houses and owners who embody the essence of New Orleans' style and free-spirited character.

Vines hang alongside curtains in a weathered room.

Photo by Sara Essex Bradley

A view of the ballroom, where distressed plaster is intentional, the dance floor is made of reclaimed wood planks, and a row of modern chandeliers serve as a focal point.

The very things that draw one to New Orleans are quirkiness and individual expression and elegant eccentricity. An exotic difference that is locally called “culture” invites one on a magical exploration. It delights visitors, and some are so ensnared that they never leave. Locals remain lifelong residents; even if something takes them away, they often return years later.

There are several good illustrated books with the word “bohemian” in their titles. I have them all, yet even as I linger over those pages, my thought is that there is nothing like the homes in New Orleans. However, as the owners of those homes move on, either by passing from this world or being forced to leave the city for one reason or another, these great houses become a thing of the past, their charm renovated out of them.

Doors open to a balcony set with tables and chairs.

Photo Sara Essex Bradley

Looking out to the balcony of the home of Andrew LaMar Hopkins.

So, before they are fully extinct, Sara and I wanted to document some of what remains. We had no economic criteria. Size does not matter. An artist in a humble garret, gifted interior design professionals, a trust-fund baby with deep pockets, an eccentric dreamer, a Voodoo queen, world travelers, collectors, antiquarians, a resourceful magpie, bon vivants, gypsies, and old souls all have the ability, and the urge, to create home environments that are truly their own. There is an authenticity that is undeniable, as well as unexpected beauty.

“Nathan Drewes and Patrick Dunne agree that often the best things to happen in a room’s decor are un-premeditated, accidental, or frankly sentimental. These kinds of forces, from the faded and chipped to the elegant and fine, suddenly make a chair or a picture or a coffeepot just the right thing.”

—Valorie Hart

A green room with a portrait hanging over a fireplace, a stuffed bookshelf, and a velvet couch.

Photo by Sara Essex Bradley

In the library, a French Empire gueridon table in front of the window is used for work. A nineteenth century Chinese porcelain fishbowl sits underneath. The homeowners had bookshelves custom-made and modeled after some they saw in an apartment in Lyon, France. The portrait of a young man hanging over the mantel is by Louisiana artist Mimi Stafford.

While this aesthetic might not be what the herd appreciates, it absolutely makes up the fiber of New Orleans. Bohemian decor itself has gone somewhat mainstream with the advent of design bloggers, coffee table books on the subject, and so-called influencers. A certain hipness and formula version emerged. Everyone everywhere can dabble. This book is not about that or them. This is a valentine and a last call to remember, appreciate, and revive the great bohemian soul of New Orleans.

“So, in the end, how can New Orleans style be defined? It can’t really. It is best appreciated as a mirage, a passing papier-mâché parade with subtle themes, savored and celebrated like a piquant étouffée, which this book, with its bewitching insights and images, does.”

—Patrick Dunne