The Rives Mansion stands on a corner lot in Country Club Park, across from the park-like grounds of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet retreat center, a rare pocket of quiet in the center of the city. Inside the 7,000-square-foot main residence are a Louis XV-style formal living room, a mahogany-paneled library, a circular breakfast room wrapped in a 1913 Zuber wallpaper mural, and a solarium lined in green Grueby tile.
Four marble fireplaces anchor the principal rooms. Intricate crown moldings and filigree ceilings run throughout. Upstairs, six bedrooms and four bathrooms occupy the second floor. A 1,200-square-foot unfinished basement sits beneath, ready for expansion.
The half-acre property also includes a detached two-bedroom, two-bathroom carriage house of approximately 1,770 SF and a separate studio with office and bath. Owned for more than sixty years by the Sisters of Social Service, a Benedictine order with Hungarian roots, the estate has served as a peaceful center for community, reflection, and gathering. It has also made its mark in pop culture, featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Booksmart, and as the backdrop for events hosting guests from Solange to Archbishop Mahony.
