MOST PEOPLE’S GUEST ROOMS are often where old furniture goes to mix and not match. Other people, like architect Arthur Q. Davis and his wife, Mary, decided to make their guest room stand out—by actually making it into a separate building.
Completed in 1958 and designed by Davis’ Curtis & Davis architects, the guest house was constructed after the main house on Bamboo Road. According to Davis, while the main house has been altered since then, the guest house’s structure remains the same.
The building has a number of interesting features: It “floats” above a pond of water, with a perilous step path to it, and the vaulted ceilings drain the rain so it feeds the pond below.
Lucky guests and family members—such as the Davis’ son, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival impresario Quint Davis—have all spent time in this dazzling abode—and who wouldn’t want to wake up with a sunny view and a few fish to greet you?
Of note: This photo is from the Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections, Tulane University Libraries. Check out its Web site—www.specialcollections.tulane.edu/SEAAHome.html—to view photographs and other archival material on the wonderful architecture that was and still is throughout the New Orleans area.
