St. Charles Avenue is a well-known New Orleans street that has many city architectural influences. The three-story house that is located at 5809 St. Charles Ave is known as the Wedding Cake House. Many people love to travel down St. Charles just to get a glimpse of the fairy-tale look mansion.
The home was built in 1896 and was featured in the book New Orleans Architecture, Volume VIII: The University Section. The home was built for Nicolas Burck who came to America from Ireland. Even though the house was not built specifically to resemble a wedding cake, many of the architectural features look like icing on a cake. Examples of the features are the Corinthian columns, and the interact carvings that look like icing designs and to top it all off the entire home is painted white. Although the home is Colonial in style, many elements are persuasions from Queen Anne and Renaissance Revival.
The total construction of the home cost Burke $13,265 which today is equivalent to $475,000 today. Unfortunately a little after a decade, there was a house fire due to crossed electrical lines. Toledano and Wogan, a local architect firm, did the repairs to the home. Before the fire, it is said that the home was painted a lavender hue.
The home is still popular with locals and tourists and is still in tip top wedding cake shape. The home has changed hands a good many times but every owner has done restorations and renovations. The home was even toured by Barbra Streisand and James Brolin who were interested in purchasing the home.