It is also believed that during the ownership of Madame Rillieux (1805–1810), Edgar Degas' great-grandmother, the ground floor was enclosed with masonry walls of soft brick.

The home is within yards of the site of the "bayou bridge" which Governor Claiborne ordered the military "to permit no Negroes to pass or repass the same"[2] during the events known as the 1811 German Coast Uprising.

[3] This event, said by some historians to be the largest slave uprising on American soil (a theory not recognized by all)[4] caused white families living upriver in January 1811 to stream into New Orleans along Metairie Road.

The house was saved from destruction by the Louisiana Landmarks Society in 1964 and restored to its original splendor, showing the double-pitched hipped roof, and the plaster-covered brick-between-post (briquette-entre-poteaux) construction.

The wooden posts act as structural support, the brick offers thermal insulation, and the plaster protects this medley from dampness and rot.

These plants include indigenous flowers, citrus trees, perennials, bulbs, antique roses, camellias, herbs, and vegetables.