Reiley-Reeves House
There are plenty of historic homes scattered throughout Baton Rouge's Garden District, but few are quite as recognizable as the Reiley-Reeves House at 810 Park Boulevard.
With its distinctive turret, elaborate masonry arches and imposing presence at the corner of Park Boulevard and Cherokee Street, the house looks like something from another era.
And that's because it is.
Built around 1910–1911, the Reiley-Reeves House has stood for more than 115 years, predating much of the neighborhood that surrounds it. According to its National Register of Historic Places nomination, it was the first house built in Roseland Terrace.
Now, with the historic property back on the market in 2026, there's renewed interest in a house whose story connects the plantations of East Feliciana Parish, the political divisions of post-Civil War Louisiana and the development of one of Baton Rouge's most recognizable neighborhoods.
From a Failed Racetrack to a New Neighborhood
Long before the Garden District became one of Baton Rouge's most recognizable neighborhoods, an 80-acre tract of land sat largely unused as the city grew around it.
The property had once been a racetrack, known as the Magnolia Race Track, but the venture failed financially, and the land was taken over to satisfy its debts. For more than a decade, it remained vacant, even as development continued beyond its boundaries.
A 1910 article published in The Advocate described the unusual situation, noting that the property had remained empty "while the city grew up to and partially around it."
The streetcar line passed along one side, a major road ran past it, and new subdivisions were already being developed farther out. What had once been on the outskirts of Baton Rouge was now a substantial piece of undeveloped property within the city limits.
That distinction was important to the developers who eventually purchased it.
In 1910, Zadok Realty Company acquired the former racetrack grounds for $50,000 and began developing Roseland Terrace. Unlike the residential additions being built beyond the city, Roseland Terrace was promoted as a subdivision already within Baton Rouge's boundaries.
The timing was hardly accidental.
Just a year earlier, Standard Oil had established its refinery operations in Baton Rouge, beginning an industrial expansion that would dramatically change the city's future. The city's rail connections, river access and growing university were also helping establish Baton Rouge as a place with enormous potential.
Zadok Realty made those connections directly in its advertising.
In the 1910 article, the company pointed to Baton Rouge's seven railroad lines, its new Standard Oil plant, the growth of LSU and a reported 55 percent increase in population over the preceding decade. Developers compared their plans for Roseland Terrace to residential developments in Houston, Dallas, Birmingham, Memphis and Atlanta.
They believed Baton Rouge was ready for the same kind of modern residential neighborhood.
But their vision of progress came with restrictions.
The company advertised three guarantees to prospective buyers: the exclusion of Black purchasers, a prohibition on commercial establishments and a minimum cost requirement for houses built in the subdivision.
The advertisement described those conditions as ensuring a "PERFECT RESIDENTIAL SITE!"
The language reflects the racial discrimination embedded in residential development during the Jim Crow era. The neighborhood was being marketed not simply as an attractive place to live, but as an exclusive residential community where race, land use and the cost of construction would determine who could purchase property.
Those restrictions were part of the original development strategy, even as the company celebrated Baton Rouge's growth and modernization.
And the developers were confident that their investment would pay off.
The company described its approach as following the example of other growing Southern cities, arguing that Baton Rouge's expanding economy and population created an opportunity for a new kind of residential development.
Within that setting, George Junkin Reiley purchased two lots along Goldenrod Avenue, the street now known as Park Boulevard.
His home would become the first residence built in Roseland Terrace.
Just days after the purchase, an August 3, 1910, article in The Advocate quoted Zadok Realty celebrating the beginning of construction and predicting that Baton Rouge would soon take pride in the neighborhood as the city continued to grow.
The company's prediction was remarkably well timed.
According to the neighborhood's National Register nomination, Zadok Realty sold 408 lots within two years, with prices ranging from $150 to $500.
The developers also made deliberate choices about the neighborhood's appearance. A citywide contest produced the name Roseland Terrace, inspired by the Cherokee roses growing along the former racetrack fence. Streets were given floral names, trees were planted, and utility poles were placed in rear alleyways rather than along the streets.
By around 1930, development of Roseland Terrace was virtually complete.
What began as a failed racetrack had become one of Baton Rouge's most distinctive residential neighborhoods.
And the house that helped launch that development is still standing more than a century later.
A Northern Family Comes to Louisiana
The man who built the house, George Junkin Reiley, had a background that makes his place in Baton Rouge history particularly interesting.
Reiley was born on March 16, 1854, in Blairstown, New Jersey. His father, Reverend John Arndt Reiley, was a Presbyterian minister who had studied at several institutions, including Princeton Theological Seminary.
In 1866, shortly after the Civil War, Reverend Reiley left his pastorate in New Jersey and moved his family to East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.
According to a biographical account published in 1925, he came to Louisiana to operate a plantation and conduct missionary work among Black residents.
Reverend Reiley was also a Republican, serving as president of the East Feliciana Parish Police Jury and as a member of the parish school board during the years following the Civil War.
Another intriguing detail is the name of George's younger brother: Abraham Lincoln Reiley.
Born in New Jersey on October 4, 1864, while Lincoln was still president and the Civil War was underway, the younger Reiley was presumably named in honor of the president. While that doesn't establish the family's precise views on slavery or emancipation, it suggests an admiration for Lincoln at a time when his presidency was deeply divisive.
The family's political background is particularly noteworthy because they subsequently became substantial plantation owners in Louisiana.
Reverend Reiley died during the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1878, which also claimed the lives of several of his children.
George, who had been educated in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, survived the epidemic and continued the family's plantation interests in East Feliciana Parish.
A Plantation Owner, Businessman and Republican Politician
George Junkin Reiley eventually became a prominent businessman and political figure in Louisiana.
His holdings included an 8,000-acre plantation near Clinton, where his family raised cattle and managed agricultural operations. But his interests extended well beyond plantation agriculture.
He operated a brickyard and planing mill in Clinton, served as a director of the Bank of Clinton and accumulated a substantial portfolio of residential properties.
By 1925, his holdings included 20 houses in Scotland, an area of East Baton Rouge Parish, and another 12 residences in Baton Rouge.
Reiley was also active in Republican politics during an era when the Democratic Party dominated Louisiana's political landscape.
He served as mayor of Clinton, held a position on the East Feliciana Parish Police Jury and was appointed supervisor of the 1910 U.S. Census for Louisiana's Fourth District.
That same year, he ran as the Republican candidate for Congress in Louisiana's Sixth Congressional District.
He also participated in Republican National Conventions associated with the nominations of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Evans Hughes and Warren G. Harding.
Later in life, Reiley served as registrar of the United States Land Office in Baton Rouge, with offices in the Roumain Building.
His political affiliation is worth considering in its historical context. The Republican and Democratic parties of the early twentieth century had very different regional coalitions from those of today. The major realignment of Southern politics would not begin in earnest until decades later.
Reiley's Northern upbringing, his family's Republican affiliations and his father's missionary work among Black Louisianans raise interesting questions about their views on Reconstruction and race.
At the same time, Reiley was a wealthy plantation owner who purchased property in a development explicitly marketed to exclude Black residents.
The available records do not establish his personal position on those restrictions or how he reconciled his family's political background with the racial and economic realities of the Jim Crow South.
It's a reminder that the history of the period, and the people who lived through it, was often more complicated than modern political labels suggest.
Building a Town House in Baton Rouge
By 1910, Reiley was already an established businessman with substantial real estate holdings.
That August, he purchased Lots 6 and 7 in Square 12 of the newly planned Roseland Terrace subdivision, a property of approximately one-quarter acre along Goldenrod Avenue.
His intention was to build what historical records describe as a "town house," a city residence separate from his family's plantation in East Feliciana Parish.
Construction began shortly afterward. Builders Edward Ross and W. F. Bangs are identified in the historical records, with an October 17, 1911, materialman's lien helping establish the construction period.
Interestingly, Reiley's 1925 biography states that he did not establish his residence in Baton Rouge until 1920, nearly a decade after the house was built.
That leaves an unanswered question about how the property was used during its earliest years.
By 1925, however, the house was clearly part of the family's life in Baton Rouge. The biography identifies Reiley's daughter, Amy Carroll Reiley Jones, as occupying her father's residence.
The family also had a direct connection to the industrial transformation underway in Baton Rouge. Reiley's son Edward C. worked for Standard Oil of Louisiana, the same company whose arrival in 1909 had helped fuel the city's growth and the development of neighborhoods like Roseland Terrace.
George Reiley died on January 1, 1936, at age 81. According to his obituary, he died at his residence at 810 Park Boulevard following an extended illness.
His funeral and burial took place in Clinton, Louisiana, returning him to the parish where he had spent much of his life.
A House Designed to Make an Impression
The Reiley-Reeves House is an example of Queen Anne Revival architecture, a style known for its asymmetrical designs, decorative details, towers and varied rooflines.
But this particular house took those characteristics in an unusual direction.
Its most recognizable feature is a two-story octagonal corner room topped by a turret and cast-iron steeple. The heavy masonry arcade supporting an upper gallery is another defining feature, giving the residence a distinctive appearance.
When the property was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the architectural survey suggested that its combination of Queen Anne features might be unique in Louisiana.
The interior was equally impressive.
The original design included ceilings approximately 14 feet high on the first floor and 12 feet high upstairs. Some of the French windows approached 10 feet in height, while large paneled pocket doors connected the home's principal entertaining spaces.
A grand two-flight staircase occupied the living hall, and the 1979 survey documented nine original fireplaces, substantial woodwork and interior moldings.
The house was clearly designed for entertaining, but it was also built to support the daily operations of a substantial household.
A covered carriage entrance, known as a porte-cochère, accommodated horse-drawn carriages and early automobiles. An underground cellar provided space for heating equipment and coal storage.
The property also originally included a stable, buggy shed, barn and outdoor washhouse. A separate cook's house was added sometime after the main residence, and a rear servants' staircase provided access between floors.
By the time of the 1979 survey, some of these structures had disappeared, although their foundations and other physical evidence remained. The cook's house was still standing on an adjacent property.
Together, these details offer a glimpse into how a wealthy Baton Rouge household operated during the early twentieth century, including its reliance on domestic labor.
Generations of Family History
The house eventually became known as the Reiley-Reeves House, reflecting the family connections that continued long after George Reiley's death.
According to the 1979 National Register nomination, the property remained within the original family through a series of inheritances and sales.
At that time, the owner of record was Mrs. Elizabeth Reeves Jones, whose address was listed as Blairstown Plantation in East Feliciana Parish.
An archival photograph also identifies the property as the residence of Dr. Joe Jones.
Interestingly, the National Register nomination was prepared by Ann R. Jones, whose address was listed as 810 Park Boulevard. The documentation identifies a great-grandchild of George Reiley as an occupant of the house at the time.
That family connection appears to have continued well into the twenty-first century. When the American Planning Association recognized Baton Rouge's Garden District as one of America's Great Neighborhoods in 2012, it specifically highlighted the Reiley-Reeves House and noted its continued association with the original family.
From a Grand Residence to Apartments
Like many large historic homes, the Reiley-Reeves House did not remain unchanged as Baton Rouge evolved around it.
At some point during the twentieth century, the residence was divided into apartments.
The exact date of the conversion remains unclear, although the house is remembered as having apartments during the latter decades of the twentieth century, possibly including the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
The conversion is an interesting chapter in the property's history, particularly because the original house was designed as a single, substantial family residence.
Large homes throughout older American neighborhoods were sometimes subdivided as housing needs, household sizes and the costs of maintaining historic properties changed. Whether those factors influenced the decision at 810 Park Boulevard has not yet been established.
The house's layout still offers clues to that period.
A 2026 real estate account describes four kitchens and an interior configuration suggesting the property once contained three apartments. The residence also reportedly has two addresses and separate water bills.
It's not yet clear who initiated the conversion, how long the apartments operated, or when the house returned to single-family use.
Those unanswered questions are an important reminder that the history of a building isn't limited to its original construction or its most prominent owners. The people who occupied those apartments, and the lives they lived within the walls of this unusual house, are also part of its story.
A New Chapter for 810 Park Boulevard
More than a century after George Junkin Reiley purchased two lots in a new residential development, the house he built is once again attracting attention.
In October 2026, the Reiley-Reeves House was listed for sale with an asking price of $725,000.
The listing described a residence of approximately 5,205 square feet, with six bedrooms and five bathrooms.
Despite the many changes the property has experienced, it retains some remarkable historic features, including original pocket doors, tall windows and elaborate interior woodwork.
The house's survival is especially notable considering how much Baton Rouge has changed since its construction.
When Reiley purchased the property, the State Capitol that now dominates the city's skyline had not yet been built. LSU had not yet moved to its present campus. The surrounding neighborhood was only beginning to take shape.
Over the following decades, Baton Rouge expanded dramatically. New roads, neighborhoods and commercial developments transformed the city, while Roseland Terrace gradually became part of its urban core.
Through it all, the Reiley-Reeves House remained at the corner of Park Boulevard and Cherokee Street.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is how much of that transformation was anticipated by the people developing Roseland Terrace back in 1910.
They saw a city on the verge of major growth and believed that new residential neighborhoods would be part of its future. Their vision reflected both the optimism of the era and the racial exclusion that shaped where people could live.
The story of the family who built the first house in that development adds another layer. Their history crossed geographic, political and economic boundaries, from Northern Presbyterian communities and the aftermath of the Civil War to Louisiana's plantation economy and the rise of industrial Baton Rouge.
More than a century later, the Reiley-Reeves House remains a physical reminder of that complicated history.
And somewhere within its walls are the stories of generations of family members, household workers and apartment residents who called 810 Park Boulevard home.
Those stories deserve to be remembered, too.
Do you remember the Reiley-Reeves House when it was divided into apartments? Did you or someone you know live there? We'd love to learn more about this chapter of the property's history.
Sources and Further Reading
The Advocate, August 3, 1910. Contemporary reporting on George Junkin Reiley's purchase of lots in Roseland Terrace, including statements from Zadok Realty Company. Historical newspaper research supplied for this article.
1910 newspaper article on the former racetrack and Zadok Realty Company's development of Roseland Terrace. Historical newspaper research supplied for this article; exact publication and date have not yet been established.
National Register of Historic Places — Reiley-Reeves House nomination (1979). Primary source for the house's construction, architecture, original owner and family history.
National Register of Historic Places — Roseland Terrace Historic District nomination (1982). Primary source for the neighborhood's development, original street plan and architectural history.
Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana, Volume 2 (1925), pages 291–292 — Biography of George J. Reiley. Biographical account documenting Reiley's family, plantation holdings, political career, business interests and Baton Rouge residence.
George J. Reiley obituary, 1936. Historical newspaper clipping supplied for this article, documenting his death at 810 Park Boulevard and funeral arrangements in Clinton.
LSU Libraries — From Crude to Refined: Standard Oil Comes to Baton Rouge. Historical background on Standard Oil's establishment of Baton Rouge operations in 1909.
American Planning Association — Garden District, Baton Rouge (2012). Recognition of the neighborhood's historical and planning significance.
810 Park Boulevard — 2026 Property Listing. Source for the property's advertised features, size and listing history.
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