27 SOUTHERN HOME | MAY/JUNE 2019
Previous pages: In the
expansive great room, a mix
of French antiques and well-
tailored furnishings comprise
the room’s two seating areas,
each delineated by large
seagrass rugs accented with
white cowhide coverings.
These pages, above: Architect
George Hopkins designed
this home in a very linear
fashion, ensuring that all of the
main rooms face the Bayou
Teche. Opposite, top and
bottom left: A custom
limestone mantel and large
windows topped with
transoms grace the great
room with vestiges of the
area’s rich heritage. Far right:
Evident from the foyer onward,
the Nelkin residence is replete
with period furnishings and
artwork that further reinforce
its enduring quality.S
teeped in a rich, French-influenced
history established long before our
nation’s founding, Bayou Teche
placidly meanders through southern
Louisiana toward the Lower
Atchafalaya River. Included within
this tranquil setting, ancient live oaks with broad,
sheltering canopies stand as faithful sentries
cloaked in Spanish moss. Some of the area’s
centuries-old plantation houses sit among these
oaks, but others are remembered in name only.
One such estate, the LaGonda Plantation that
was once located near present-day Morgan City,
burned to the ground many years ago. Still, its
8-acre site so captured the imaginations of local
homeowners Becky and Kenny Nelkin that they
endeavored to build a new residence there. For-
tunately for them, the couple had just discovered
architect George Hopkins’ book, Creating Your
Architectural Style. With this informative work
fresh on their minds, they proceeded to contact
his New Orleans-based firm. “When the Nelkins
told me about their waterfront property, which
extends 1,000 feet along the bayou, I jumped at the
opportunity,” Hopkins says. “Their dream was to
design a new, French-inspired home that would
carefully take its place among the existing oaks,
some measuring 6 feet in diameter and confirmed
to be among the oldest in the state.”
Along with positioning the house so that these
massive trees remained undisturbed, the architect
strove to capitalize upon the property’s other
abundant asset, the panoramic views of the bayou
beyond. He aligned all of the home’s main rooms so
that they faced this picturesque setting and then
outfitted these spaces with a series of graceful
French doors that, when opened, lead to large
bluestone terraces. The home’s exteriors display
an undeniably European aesthetic as well, with
painted brick walls, elegantly detailed balconies,
and steep, hipped roofs accented with curved
dormers and arched windows. “From studying the