If you go to New Orleans to investigate the roots of Judah P. Benjamin, the former Senator from Louisiana and Secretary of State of the Confederacy, you may wind up disappointed. His Bellechasse Plantation was razed in March 1960 to make way for government buildings, and his townhome in the French Quarter is now a strip club called Temptations.
A highly successful attorney in New Orleans, Benjamin in February 1833 married Natalie St. Martin, who was from an aristocratic Creole family. The couple lived from 1835 to 1845 in an elegant townhome on 327 Bourbon Street. Then, in 1844, in a bid to impress his wife, Benjamin bought a sugar plantation in Belle Chasse, a town south of New Orleans on the Mississippi River. He promptly converted an old Creole home on the site into a 20-room, Greek Revival-style mansion.
A rusted bell is all that remains from Benjamin’s 300-acre plantation, where he raised sugar, experimented with new refining technology, and made a fortune that he eventually lost by signing on a friend’s note. The bell sits atop a small marker along Route 32 in Belle Chasse, now a southern suburb. Benjamin, the older brother of my third great-grandmother, who also once lived at Bellechasse, reportedly had two hundred or more silver dollars melted into the bell to give it its beautiful tone.
Situated next to a public library and a high school football field, the monument notes that it doesn’t even sit at the exact location of Benjamin’s former plantation house. That would be 1100 feet away, to the north-northeast, close to the ferry landing. A local remembers the mansion resting on the site of the current wastewater plant, which looks like it may have been built in the 1960s.
A search of the Louisiana archives, though, reveals that the mansion was moved from its original site in 1934. The 20-room house was originally constructed 1000 feet from the levee, but over time the river almost reached its door. The Judah P. Benjamin Memorial Foundation bought the property in 1924, with the goal of turning it into the “Mount Vernon of the South.” Ten years later, the association moved the main building, placing it by the ruins of an old sugar house, and facing it away from the river, toward the street.
The association raised enough money to repair parts of the plantation home through the years. But by 1960, after a last-gasp effort to restore it failed, the once statuesque structure had turned into a gloomy eyesore. Unfortunately, the U.S. Historic Buildings Act, which created financial incentives for restoring historic buildings, wasn’t passed until 1966. It may have helped keep the building around.
According to architectural history books, the three-story home had a simple spacious interior, with large rooms on both sides of a central hall. Along the right side, a grand mahogany stairway with a subtle curve rose to the third floor. The hallways were 16 feet wide, with correspondingly high ceilings. White-enamel interior woodwork, silver-plated locks and door knobs, crystal chandeliers, and marble fireplaces adorned the interiors.
Porches, 15 feet deep with square cypress columns, wrapped the house. They led to formal landscaped gardens. Flagged walks, flanked by Pittosporum hedges, created a path between garden beds of various shapes–circular, square, and crescent-shaped. Sage palms, lingustroms, laurestinas, and fine cedars shaded the walks. A wrought iron fence enclosed the grounds.
The Benjamins entertained lavishly at Bellechasse, which was even the site of a sugar symposium. Fine furniture, paintings, and bronzes filled the home. They were all confiscated by Union troops after the Civil War.
The plantation is pictured in at least two books– J. Wesley Cooper’s ”Louisiana: A Treasure of Plantation Homes” (Southern Historical Publications, 1961) and W. Darrell Overdyke’s ”Louisiana Plantation Homes: Colonial and Ante Bellum” (Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1965).
Getting to Benjamin’s in-town home on Bourbon Street is no easy matter. Party-goers flood the street, carrying cocktails, and enjoying street “artists.” This visitor’s attempt to take pictures of the old building, now a strip club, was rudely interrupted by the G-string-clad rear end of a stripper backing out of a club across the street. Luckily, the visitor escaped unscathed.
But the experience only emphasized the current tawdriness of Benjamin’s formerly magnificent old home. It was difficult to appreciate the bracketed cornice and decorative frieze on the Italianate-style side townhouse. One could get only a cursory glance of the cast-iron balcony, from which Natalie could talk to her friends below, with its notable bow-and-arrow design.
Benjamin’s bid to impress his wife with fine surroundings didn’t work. After living at Bellechasse for roughly a year, while Benjamin spent most of his time working in town, Natalie grew bored and left with her daughter for France. Though the couple remained married for the rest of their lives, Benjamin would only see his wife and daughter on his annual summer trips to France.
Even though his townhome is a strip club now, on the 2nd and 3rd floor they have kept a lot of the original design and historic feel. I work there. If you are a customer, on a more laid back night, you can ask for a quick tour of the 2nd and 3rd floors. The 4th is closed to customers and is an old dressing room that is no longer in use by the dancers.
Every room has a fireplace in it. The 2nd and 3rd floor rooms are used as private dance rooms and the old slave quarters in the back are used for shorter private dances. I always found that interesting. It’s like those rooms will always have that energy about them, we are like love slaves in a way, well that’s how I like to look at it.
Thanks for making this very informative page, I’m always trying to tell customers the history of the building, I feel better equipped now. I’d also like to learn the other things that the building has been used for before it became Temptations.
I’ve heard that at one point it was a brothel. I love working there. Of all the clubs I’ve been in, Temptations has the most interesting and unique character.
I remember playing in the old mansion as a child. I lived in Belle Chasse from 1954-1957. The house was in a sad state of repair back then. The galvanizing had mostly eroded from the corrugated roof and it had large areas of rust. The staircase was impassible due to decay. I believe that there was the dilapidated carcass of a grand piano near the bottom of the staircase. The banisters and other trim were covered with moldy, dirty white paint. Outside, was the ruin of the brick structure and some implements for processing sugarcane. In about 1957, my father designed and, with the help of other church members, constructed a simple concrete support for the old bell from the mansion in front of the Belle Chasse Community Church. I’ve taken a few Google Maps tours of Belle Chasse and although many of the homes and landmarks still exist, that which was marsh, swamp and field, is now paved and built up. It was a fun place to be a child. AC
This is great info, A.C. Thanks for sharing. Do you know what’s standing where the Belle Chasse mansion was when you visited?
I don’t know the exact location. My dad was a land surveyor and made up a map (blueprint) of Belle Chasse for the local folks. I saw a copy in my Mom’s garage (Laguna Niguel, CA) a while back when we were going through my dads stuff (deceased). I hope it didn’t get thrown out. I’m going down there sometime soon and I’ll take a look around for it. Perhaps he drew on the map, I’ll let you know.
Flash! I just looked on Google Maps and I think that’s its footprint just north of the sewer plant. I know it was Northwest of BB Cuevas’ house on Cuevas St. He had kids who played there, so if you can locate any of them, they’ll know for certain.
Hi , lived right next to the plantation.Played inside the pla ntation en
veryday.slid down that grand stair case many times.it is now in the late judge perez’s home in jesuit bend
That’s awesome, Martha. Who owns the home now? Do you have an approximate address? I’d love to have some pictures.
That foundation north of the water dept is the old public swimming pool
I am finishing up a work of history on the Hunt lumber interests in North Louisiana and, interestingly, J.S. Hunt and O.E. Hodge – wealthy North Louisiana industrialists and investors – owned the Belle Chasse plantation area from 1921-1976.
Here’s is an excerpt from my book (soon to be published):
In 1921, J.S. Hunt and O.E. Hodge invested $10,000 in the Belle Chasse Land Co., but for the next fifty years the land made little profit and eventually proved a bad investment. Likely, the association with Belle Chasse land came as a result of his involvement with the Hodge Ship Co in 1917-1923 on the Gulf Coast. In 1924, J.S. Hunt, T.L. James, and O.E. Hodge purchased controlling interests in the Belle Chasse Land Co. J.S. Hunt invested $37,000, T.L. James invested $25,000, and O.E. Hodge invested between $25,000 and $35,000. The Belle Chasse Land Co. was incorporated on June 2, 1910, in New Orleans and capitalized at $200,000. Two months later, the company took its first action and purchased the Belle Chasse Plantation (2,000 acres) from the Lower Coast Developing Company in August. In 1912, Belle Chasse Land Co. cooperated with Plaquemines Parish, the City of New Orleans, and other vested businessmen to build “Cut-Off Road,” which ran from Algiers to Belle Chasse. The Belle Chasse Land Co divided the 2,000 acres of the Belle Chasse Plantation, famously purchased by Judah P. Benjamin in 1844, into ten-acre plots “sold to truck farmers.”
Just eight years later, in 1929, the Louisiana Secretary of State listed the Belle Chasse Land Co as in a state of “dissolution.” On his 1929 I.R.S. return, J.S. Hunt claimed around $30,000 in bad debt linked to the Belle Chasse Land Co. In June 1929, J.S. Hunt, O.E. Hodge, and J.D. Barkesdale transferred ownership of Belle Chasse Land Co.’s assets to Hodge-Hunt Realty Co. for $140,000, which paid the balance of their debt. O.E. moved to New Orleans in 1934 and then to Plaquemines Parish sometime before 1941. He was a prominent member of the New Orleans business community. In 1933, he served on the Louisiana Taxpayer’s Association and as Foreman of the Plaquemines Parish Grand Jury in 1941. In 1942, he was elected to the Louisiana Mineral Board. From all indications, the Belle Chasse Land Co. was a bust for J.S. and O.E., but they held onto the land until their deaths and passed it onto their sons. At some point after World War II and before the mid-1950s, the Belle Chasse land was no longer marketed as farming land. Instead, they marketed the land as residential.
Edwin Hodge and Alex T. Hunt Sr. took over controlling interests in the Belle Chasse land when their fathers died (in 1954 and 1945 respectively). In 1958, a Naval Air Station (N.A.S.) was opened in Belle Chasse, which likely increased demand for the long-dormant Belle Chasse residential property. Many classified ads appeared in the 1950s and 60s for residential property in the area, termed the “Hodge-Hunt-Hero” and “Lake Park” subdivisions. There are no figures on the profitability of the company during this time, but Hodge and Hunt’s good fortune did not last long.
In 1974, Hodge and Hunt lost a tremendous amount of money when U.S. Navy re-zoned some Naval Air Station’s runways after an expansion, which designated 9,000 acres – and much of the existing Belle Chasse Land Company land – as virtually uninhabitable. The expansion increased noise levels and the U.S. Navy informed the Plaquemines Parish Commission Council of a re-zoning of nearly 9,000 acres, which impacted the land owned by Hodge-Hunt Realty Co. because it disallowed residential construction in the newly zoned areas. Of the eight thousand nine hundred and sixty two re-zoned acres, 8,357 acres were classified Zone 2 and 605 acres of privately-owned property (some with existing residencies) were classified Zone 3. The U.S. Navy described Zone 2 as “‘[u]nacceptable’ for schools, hospitals, and churches” and “’Normally Unacceptable’ for residences.” However, they described Zone 3 as “unfit for human habitation.”
(whoops I made this comment in the wrong place initially, please delete)
I am finishing up a work of history on the Hunt lumber interests in North Louisiana and, interestingly, J.S. Hunt and O.E. Hodge – wealthy North Louisiana industrialists and investors – owned the Belle Chasse plantation area from 1921-1976.
Here’s is an excerpt from my book (soon to be published):
In 1921, J.S. Hunt and O.E. Hodge invested $10,000 in the Belle Chasse Land Co., but for the next fifty years the land made little profit and eventually proved a bad investment. Likely, the association with Belle Chasse land came as a result of his involvement with the Hodge Ship Co in 1917-1923 on the Gulf Coast. In 1924, J.S. Hunt, T.L. James, and O.E. Hodge purchased controlling interests in the Belle Chasse Land Co. J.S. Hunt invested $37,000, T.L. James invested $25,000, and O.E. Hodge invested between $25,000 and $35,000. The Belle Chasse Land Co. was incorporated on June 2, 1910, in New Orleans and capitalized at $200,000. Two months later, the company took its first action and purchased the Belle Chasse Plantation (2,000 acres) from the Lower Coast Developing Company in August. In 1912, Belle Chasse Land Co. cooperated with Plaquemines Parish, the City of New Orleans, and other vested businessmen to build “Cut-Off Road,” which ran from Algiers to Belle Chasse. The Belle Chasse Land Co divided the 2,000 acres of the Belle Chasse Plantation, famously purchased by Judah P. Benjamin in 1844, into ten-acre plots “sold to truck farmers.”
Just eight years later, in 1929, the Louisiana Secretary of State listed the Belle Chasse Land Co as in a state of “dissolution.” On his 1929 I.R.S. return, J.S. Hunt claimed around $30,000 in bad debt linked to the Belle Chasse Land Co. In June 1929, J.S. Hunt, O.E. Hodge, and J.D. Barkesdale transferred ownership of Belle Chasse Land Co.’s assets to Hodge-Hunt Realty Co. for $140,000, which paid the balance of their debt. O.E. moved to New Orleans in 1934 and then to Plaquemines Parish sometime before 1941. He was a prominent member of the New Orleans business community. In 1933, he served on the Louisiana Taxpayer’s Association and as Foreman of the Plaquemines Parish Grand Jury in 1941. In 1942, he was elected to the Louisiana Mineral Board. From all indications, the Belle Chasse Land Co. was a bust for J.S. and O.E., but they held onto the land until their deaths and passed it onto their sons. At some point after World War II and before the mid-1950s, the Belle Chasse land was no longer marketed as farming land. Instead, they marketed the land as residential.
Edwin Hodge and Alex T. Hunt Sr. took over controlling interests in the Belle Chasse land when their fathers died (in 1954 and 1945 respectively). In 1958, a Naval Air Station (N.A.S.) was opened in Belle Chasse, which likely increased demand for the long-dormant Belle Chasse residential property. Many classified ads appeared in the 1950s and 60s for residential property in the area, termed the “Hodge-Hunt-Hero” and “Lake Park” subdivisions. There are no figures on the profitability of the company during this time, but Hodge and Hunt’s good fortune did not last long.
In 1974, Hodge and Hunt lost a tremendous amount of money when U.S. Navy re-zoned some Naval Air Station’s runways after an expansion, which designated 9,000 acres – and much of the existing Belle Chasse Land Company land – as virtually uninhabitable. The expansion increased noise levels and the U.S. Navy informed the Plaquemines Parish Commission Council of a re-zoning of nearly 9,000 acres, which impacted the land owned by Hodge-Hunt Realty Co. because it disallowed residential construction in the newly zoned areas. Of the eight thousand nine hundred and sixty two re-zoned acres, 8,357 acres were classified Zone 2 and 605 acres of privately-owned property (some with existing residencies) were classified Zone 3. The U.S. Navy described Zone 2 as “‘[u]nacceptable’ for schools, hospitals, and churches” and “’Normally Unacceptable’ for residences.” However, they described Zone 3 as “unfit for human habitation.”
I visited the house when I was a girl with my mom. There was a bull dozier outside and I remember the piano also. My mother was Angaline Morgan Bennett.