Maison Vitry

December 28, 2013 · 9:02 pm

Maison Vitry meets Hollywood South

It’s been a busy year here at the Maison Vitry. Beside the photo shoot for Details magazine in February, we have had two movies filmed at the house. One movie, Dermaphoria, is supposed to be a suspense film coming out this spring and then the entire fall was taken up with filming episodes of American Horror Story – Coven with Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange. The Maison Vitry was “Marie Laveau’s beauty salon” and “voodoo throne room” in present day as well as Marie Laveau’s bedroom in a flashback to the 19th Century.

Filming a movie is quite an arduous task even if you are just in the back ground watching it take place. Most film days would start with prep people showing up at 5:30 am to unload trucks and lights and camera equipment to get the place ready for the actual actors to arrive by 10:00 a.m. A shoot normally lasts 12 hours meaning that the last person would leave the house around 11 p.m. During this process, there would be electricians, make up artists, special effects people and camera people, all told maybe 150 tromping through your house for 12-15 hours a day.

American Horror Story – Coven

Angela’s art

Angela conjures

Voodoo Throne Room

Film caos

PHOTO OF LOUISE VITRY’S SON, ACHILLE COURCELLE

Recently I was privileged to receive a digital copy of Louise Vitry’s son, Achille Courcelle.

The photo is very interesting because of it’s striking pose. In many photos from this time, the subject was very stiff and quite nervous looking due to the novelty of the technology and the length of time the subject had to hold the pose while the extended exposure was taken. Mr. Courcelle has an easy, relaxed, open pose. Also note the gold watch chain.

Achille Courcelle, son of Louise Vitry

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

March 23, 2013 · 10:53 pm

Matthew McConaughey at Maison Vitry

Louise received a visitor! Matthew McConaughey recently did a photoshoot at Maison Vitry for Details magazine. Get an inside look at the photoshoot with this video!

If you would like to read the article, you can find it here: Details article

Floorcloth complete!

It’s been a while since our last post, but we wanted to show off our finished floorcloth! Lots of work went into the process, but it is now in place in the second floor stair hall and looks fantastic. Take a look!

If you missed the previous floorcloth post, click here for a brief into to floorcloths and some images of the process!

Louise Vitry in the News

Maison Vitry has been the subject of a recent gallery exhibit reviewed in Gambit.

“Treme Mystery House” – photo by Maria Levitsky

Saturday, June 16, 2012. Maison Vitry was also profiled in a wonderful piece by Stephanie Bruno in the Times-Picayune Inside Out section. Article, more photos can be found here.

Inside Out Cover – Times-Picayune, photo by Elliot Kamenitz

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

May 29, 2012 · 1:26 am

A New Floorcloth for Louise!

Floorcloths, painted canvas coverings for floors, have been in use since the Renaissance. The early Elizabethan floorcloths were often painted to resemble the woven rush matting they replaced. Maison Vitry will soon have its own floorcloth gracing the upstairs hall!

Interior illustration showing a period floorcloth

Utilitarian floor cloths served multiple purposes. First they were easy to clean and protected wooden floors from stains and damage. Also they served to help cold from seeping up through floorboards. Floorcloths were particularly used in high traffic areas such as entry halls, passageways, and dining areas.

These useful floor coverings grew in popularity and were quite common toward the middle of the 18^th Century and on to the middle of the 19^th Century in Europe as well as America. Toward the end of the 18^th and early 19^th Century, floor cloths took on a distinctly neo-classical tone – often in imitation of marble flooring. By the middle to end of the 19^th Century, with the advent of kamptulicon and later, linoleum, use of the ubiquitous floor cloth was coming to an end.

We have decided to do a floor cloth for Maison Vitry as it represents a typical floor covering/treatment from the mid-19^th Century and would have been consistent with what Louise Vitry and Archille Courcelle might have had in their home. The colors and pattern are consistent with a mid-19^th design and color scheme.

Floorcloth arrives!

We received the floorcloth pre-cut and pre-primed from Lisa Mair of Vermont. Upon arrival, the floorcloth was first ironed. Once ironed, we covered the floor under the floorcloth with plastic and then began our first 2 coats of base coat in special, semi-gloss latex. The design was provided by Jacques Levet, Jr.