Longue Vue House and Gardens

What Longue Vue House and Gardens does

Longue Vue House and Gardens is a nonprofit historic house museum and cultural institution operating an eight-acre National Historic Landmark estate at 7 Bamboo Road in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as a private residence in 1921 by Edith and Edgar Stern and donated to the community in 1980, the property is the only intact total-site design among landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman's 600+ garden commissions. The organization offers paid garden admission ($15-$17 adults), guided house tours ($27-$35), and combination experiences, supplemented by tiered memberships (up to $2,500 Shipman Circle), venue rentals ($2,000-$2,500), photography packages, birthday parties, summer camps, wellness classes, a plant-based cafe (Edith & Edgar's Garden Cafe), and signature events including the Twilight concert series and annual Design Symposium. The institution serves individual visitors, families, schools, corporate clients, photographers, artists-in-residence, and the Hollygrove neighborhood, while distributing through reciprocal museum networks (AHS, NARM, SERM, ROAM) and the Go City tourist pass.

The underlying operational technology is concentrated in heritage preservation and horticultural management rather than digital platforms. Technical assets include a Bartlett Tree Experts site-wide tree inventory system meeting national Sustainable Sites Initiative guidelines, a ~40,000-item archive (25,000 items being digitized), and the in-development Shipman Digital Reference Library targeted for 2026. The 1942 main house was engineered with pioneering residential central air conditioning, requiring a below-grade basement unique to the low-lying region. There are no disclosed AI, machine learning, or software-as-a-service products; the organization runs on standard nonprofit ticketing (Blackbaud), email, and social channels.

The revenue model is a hybrid of transactional (admissions, rentals, photography, parties, cafe, programming, camps), recurring (memberships, planned giving, annual fund), and contributed income (donations, sponsorships, Save America's Treasures grant). GTM is primarily direct-to-consumer via the website and on-site box office, supplemented by group sales (school tours, corporate retreats), event-driven revenue (Twilight concerts, Design Symposium, Games in the Gardens, Family Equality Day, Shared Legacies dinner), and partnership-driven distribution (Museums for All EBT program, reciprocal memberships). The institution employs roughly 20 staff plus contractors and volunteers and is governed by a Board of Directors led by Executive Director Stella Baty Landis, Ph.D.

Name

Longue Vue House and Gardens

Legal name

Longue Vue House and Gardens

Website

https://longuevue.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1921

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Longue Vue House and Gardens is a nonprofit National Historic Landmark estate museum in New Orleans offering garden admission, guided house tours, memberships, venue rentals, children's programs, wellness classes, and signature cultural events on an eight-acre Ellen Shipman-designed property.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

NAICS

Historical Sites (712120), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219), Historical Sites (71212)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural Heritage & Historic District Tours (THAJAAAB)

Keywords

• Historic estate tours
• Garden admission tickets
• Museum memberships
• Children's nature camps
• Private event venues

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans, Louisiana

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Admissions and Tours: Revenue from garden admission tickets ($15 adults advance, $17 walk-up), guided house tours ($27-$35), and combination packages. Also includes group tour rates and specialty tour experiences.
2. Memberships: Annual membership program with multiple tiers (Carrie through Shipman Circle at $2,500). Provides free admission, discounts, member-only events, and reciprocal benefits with other institutions.
3. Venue Rentals: Private event rentals of Whim House, Yellow Garden, Playhouse, and other spaces for bridal prep, business retreats, showers, birthdays, and corporate events. Pricing ranges from $2,000-$2,500 for half-day and full-day packages.
4. Photography Sessions: Photography packages including gardens sessions (1 hour), special occasion packages (2 hours with private space), proposal packages, mini sessions, and full-day studio access. Seasonal and Sunday photography rates available.
5. Birthday Parties: Garden Birthday ($450-$500) and Birthday Tea ($675-$725) packages including venue access, entertainment, food service, and Longue Vue host. Members receive discounted rates.
6. Cafe and Food Service: Edith & Edgar's Garden Cafe serves plant-based menu including coffee, tea, and handcrafted treats. Daily operations 8AM-5PM with happy hour 3-5PM.
7. Donations and Fundraising: Annual fund campaigns, preservation fund donations, Legacy Society planned gifts, and general donations. Major donor cultivation through Shipman Circle and patron membership levels with tax-deductible components.
8. Children's Programs and Camps: Summer 'Scapes camps, school break camps, Junior Curators program, Vue Crew extended edition, Sprouts early childhood program, and Girl Scout workshops. Registration fees vary by program.
9. Events and Programs: Wellness classes (yoga, karate, sound bath), garden workshops, Twilight concert series, Design Symposium, and specialty programming with per-class or season subscription pricing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels11 records

Marketing channels18 records

Core offering

Longue Vue operates a public historic estate museum offering self-guided garden admission and guided house tours of an eight-acre Ellen Biddle Shipman-designed landscape, supplemented by memberships, children's programming, wellness classes, workshops, an artist residency program, venue rentals, rotating exhibits, and signature community events such as the Twilight concert series and Design Symposium.

Product overview

Longue Vue House and Gardens is a National Historic Landmark in New Orleans offering a unified portfolio of cultural, educational, and recreational experiences centered around its 8-acre Ellen Shipman-designed estate. The core offerings include gardens admission and guided house tours, supplemented by children's programming (birthday parties, camps, field trips), wellness classes (yoga, karate, forest therapy), creative programs (artist residencies, workshops), venue rentals, rotating exhibits, and special events (Twilight concert series, Design Symposium, Games in the Gardens). The institution operates Edith & Edgar's Garden Cafe and offers tiered memberships with reciprocal admissions to partner museums and gardens. As a nonprofit museum founded in 1980, the organization focuses on preserving the Stern family legacy and Shipman's design heritage while providing lifelong learning opportunities to the community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 40,000 archive items preserved and made accessible to researchers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and major.

• Chase Family FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2025Partnership with Chase Family Foundation and Dooky Chase's Restaurant for Shared Legacies benefit dinner. Celebrates common values and courage of Stern and Chase families in civil rights era. Both institutions served as safe spaces during segregation. 2025 dinner featured soprano Lindsey Reynolds and sponsor hour in Legacy Room. 2026 event planned for October 13, 2026.
• Handweavers Guild of AmericacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSmall Expressions juried fiber art exhibition presented by Handweavers Guild of America at Longue Vue Playhouse, August 11-October 10, 2026. Annual exhibition celebrating small-scale contemporary fiber art across traditional and nontraditional materials.
• Pilates & Yoga Loft Old MetairieminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership presenting Yoga with a Vue classes at Longue Vue, Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday 9:30-10:30AM. All-levels yoga in gardens.
• Swamp Lotus NOLAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCertified forest therapy guide from Swamp Lotus NOLA leads Swamp Lotus Forest Therapy walks at Longue Vue on select Saturdays. Mindfulness and nature connection experience.
• AHS Reciprocal Garden NetworkcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerAll Longue Vue members receive reciprocal admission to 300+ botanical gardens and public gardens across the United States through American Horticultural Society Reciprocal Garden Network.
• NARM AssociationcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerEdith level members and above receive reciprocal admission to over 1,000 different museums of all kinds through North American Reciprocal Museum Association.
• SERM/SEMCminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSoutheastern Reciprocal Museum membership providing gardens admission for cardholder and guest at participating institutions.
• Museums for AllcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerEBT and SNAP benefits recipients receive $2 admission for gardens, house tours, and select programs for up to four adults and children under 16 with one card and valid ID.
• ROAMminorGTM or Marketing PartnerROAM reciprocal program provides gardens admission for cardholder and guest, plus member pricing for Museum Store, Edith & Edgar's Garden Cafe, and programs.
• Go CityminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTourist attraction pass partnership offering Longue Vue gardens admission and house tours as part of New Orleans visitor bundles.
• OperaCréoleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGivonna Joseph and Aria Mason from OperaCréole presented at Design Symposium 2026. Opera organization preserving and performing African American opera repertoire.
• SCAPE / Kate OrffmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKate Orff, founder of SCAPE design studio, presented at Design Symposium 2026. SCAPE operates in New Orleans, San Francisco, and New York.
• Galerie MagazineminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJacqueline Terrebonne from Galerie magazine presented at Design Symposium 2026. All registrants receive complimentary one-year subscription.
• Country Roads MagazineminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMedia partner for Design Symposium 2026. Published feature article on Ellen Shipman 'Lady Ellen's Landscapes' by Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun.
• New Orleans & CompanyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLongue Vue Design Symposium 2026 covered in New Orleans & Company promotional materials for city tourism.
• Sewerage and Water Board of New OrleansminorOthersGovernment utility that responded to Wild Garden pipe burst in summer 2023. Repair required tearing out portion of garden for replanting efforts.
• Rosenwald FundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative Residency Program builds on legacy of 1928 Rosenwald Fund established by Julius Rosenwald to support exceptional individuals with study and travel grants. Over 20 years, fund awarded 862 grants supporting Rosenwald's broader philanthropy including rural Southern schools.
• Newcomb Children's CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded by Edith Stern in 1926 as alternative approach to early childhood education emphasizing emotional, artistic, creative development. Provided Newcomb College students hands-on learning location.
• Dillard UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEdgar Stern secured financing and served as first Board of Trustees president (1928-1959) ensuring stable growth. Flint-Goodridge Hospital established as African-American teaching hospital. Time magazine described it as 'most effective hospital in town' in 1940.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library: Delaware du Pont estate museum focused on American decorative arts with extensive gardens and a research library. Comparable to Longue Vue in combining a historic house museum, designed landscape, scholarly archive, and educational programming.
• Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: Historic estate museum in Miami with house museum and formal gardens operated as a public cultural institution. Closely comparable to Longue Vue in operating model: single historic property, garden-and-house tourism, memberships, events, and venue rentals.
• Filoli Historic House and Garden: Country Place Era estate in Woodside, California offering historic house tours, gardens, membership tiers, and education programs. Comparable to Longue Vue as a preserved historic estate with gardens operated as a nonprofit cultural destination.
• Dumbarton Oaks: Historic estate in Washington, DC with landmark gardens and a research library operated as a Harvard-administered cultural institution. Comparable to Longue Vue in combining landscape architecture preservation, gardens, scholarly archives, and public programming.
• Nemours Estate: Wilmington, Delaware du Pont mansion and formal French-style gardens operated as a museum. Comparable to Longue Vue in offering guided tours of a preserved estate with significant designed gardens and educational programming.
• Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park: Long Island estate with Coe Hall historic house and 400 acres of gardens operated as a cultural and horticultural destination. Comparable to Longue Vue in pairing Country Place Era architecture with designed gardens and public education programming.
• Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens: Akron, Ohio historic estate of the Seiberling family featuring a Tudor Revival mansion and restored gardens, operated as a nonprofit museum. Comparable to Longue Vue in operating a single preserved estate with house tours, gardens, memberships, and special events.

Broad incumbents

• Kykuit (Rockefeller Estate): Historic Rockefeller family estate in Sleepy Hollow, NY operated by the National Trust with house tours and gardens. Comparable to Longue Vue as a preserved Gilded Age/Country Place Era estate with gardens and public programming.
• Biltmore Estate: Largest privately-owned historic house museum in the U.S. in Asheville, NC, with gardens, hospitality, and events. Comparable in core operating model to Longue Vue but at materially larger scale, including on-property lodging and dining.

Regional players

• New Orleans Museum of Art: Major New Orleans art museum participating in Museum Month reciprocal admissions with Longue Vue. Comparable as a regional cultural institution in the same city that competes for tourist and member attention.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/LongueVueHouseandGardens
• Instagraminstagram.com/longuevuehg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/longue-vue-house-and-gardens

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Longue Vue House and Gardens