The whimsical, 18th century French-styled home of antiques dealer Robert E. Smith is putting little Breaux Bridge on the map, as a The New York Times feature about his ‘impossibly ornate’ home spreads across the internet.
Described as a “Louis XV fever dream,” Smith’s home was custom built in the shape of a square tower rising five stories, surrounded by a moat and gardens on 13 wooded acres. A narrow spiral staircase takes guests from one octagonal room to the next.
Smith, 71, spent years constructing and furnishing his home, which was completed 18 years ago.
“It is perpetually 1750 here, give or take a decade or two,” reads the feature. “Every item—brocade sofas, velvet upholstered chairs, metal hinges, parquet de Versailles floors—is period perfect; Smith will brook no interruption of his rococo illusion.”
“There really isn’t much use for the present,” Smith tells The Times.
His home was inspired by the “garden follies” of the era in France, where homes and garden were outlandish and storybook-like, a statement against the riches in court at the time.
Smith has lived in the region for his entire life and worked at a natural history museum before he began traveling back and forth to France, sourcing antiques to sell in Louisiana. He owns Au Vieux Paris Antiques in Breaux Bridge and spends about half the year in a period style house in France.
