The dining room is set for four. Lee Ball Photography

The word “fate” had to come to mind when Edward Fremin discovered that the New Iberia home he and partner Joey Billeaud had purchased, in 2006, was designed by Owen Southwell, who built the former and present St. Peter’s Church. What better place for Fremin to display his collection of over 250 Christian paintings, statues and icons?

That was just lagniappe to the fact that the 1921 English Tudor-style residence on East St. Peter is a standout that brings with it layers and layers of history. A recent tour of the home proved that grandeur can be warm and more than inviting when combined with family mementos and gracious hosts.

As I approached the red brick Hansel and Gretel front entrance, I’m greeted by Fremin and his black standard poodle, Marcelle. As the door opens, the living room immediately begins to reveal itself: first, the crystal chandelier above and then the 1850s gold giltwood mirror over the fireplace. Richly-upholstered chairs are anchored by a scarlet red sofa that adds a luxe feel, but the glossy six-foot grand piano is the showstopper. The sitting room’s antique pecky cypress walls, original and throughout the home, lead up to high ceilings and are the backdrop for antique and modern paintings stacked asymmetrically, gallery style. Large travertine tiles, added to the living room – and kitchen – in 2003, offset the dark tones and update the room. It’s in this room that you first pick up Fremin’s religious collection. A coo-coo clock interrupts us and prompts Fremin to mention the 21 other antiques clocks around the home. With all this, the couple has masterfully combined collections and pieces from each of their families’ history.

A step up into the dining area (the home has a split-level floor plan) is a room decorated with intimate entertaining in mind. The crystal chandelier hangs over an 1850s table purchased from Albania Plantation. In a corner is a grandfather’s clock from Billeaud’s grandparents’ home. Adding to the room’s elegance is a collection of American Brilliant cut glass bowls, pedestal and dishes. “I really enjoy decorating the table at Christmas and Easter, with fruit and flowers, antique linens and napkins, and one of the 20 sets of china,” Fremin says.

The small kitchen has a surprisingly more Americana feel. While the appliances have been updated, the beadboard ceiling and white cabinetry, with small-gauge metal mesh fronts, are original. Meal preparations are overseen by the portrait of the previous family’s cook, Miss Helen, painted by renowned artist Carl Groh III.

The guest bedroom, with its antique bed, décor, and original pine flooring (in all the bedrooms) speaks to the home’s Victorian style. In the adjacent guest bath, the vintage linen closet and oversized wooden medicine cabinet are conversation pieces.

The master bedroom boasts of a queen-size burl walnut bed by Prudent Mallard, a furniture importer from the 1800s. Here again, unique religious antiques beg for their stories to be told. The adjoining master bath is the only modernized room in the home. Renovated years ago, it is a cheerful, clean wash of white, including white marble floors. Light flows in through the textured glass window that shows through the clear glass door of the oversized walk-in shower.

An adjoining area that was once a third bedroom is now a spacious office. Billeaud, a horticulturist, has been the production manager of Live Oak Nursery at Jefferson Island for many years. Fremin has served as the tax collector for New Iberia’s Sheriff’s Office for the past 13 years.

A step down from the office is what may be considered the most interesting area of the house. Added in the 1950s, the hallway, with painted concrete floor, was converted to a reading or meditation lounge. This is the heartbeat of Fremin’s religious collection that spans over 30 years. A curio cabinet displays one-of-a-kind pieces like the ornate, pillbox-size container holding his first religious relic: the tiny bone fragment of St. John Berchmans. He holds a side habit rosary worn by the Religious Orders of Women before the Second Vatican Council. A bronze German crucifix, purchased from the chapel at Bethany Nursing Home, before it closed, is estimated to be 90 years old.

A Little Piece of Heaven

One end of the reading lounge leads back to the living room (completing the layout’s narrow “u” shape), and the other door opens out to the covered patio where raspy squawks may be heard from the “parrot room” just a few yards away.

The sound of trickling water calls attention to the back yard that is a three-time Garden of the Month. Designed by Billeaud, the landscape has several focal points: the boy with the flute fountain in the center of an antique syrup kettle – a memento from the long gone Billeaud Sugar Mill in Broussard. A wrought-iron arbor, cloaked with a climbing bourbon rose bush, is flanked by a pair of antique white Carrara marble elephants from the orient. Two large religious statues, on opposite ends of the garden, tie into the home’s religious theme.

Seasonal perennials and annuals, like a nearly seven-foot yellow angel trumpet plant, next to the bricked sitting area, add year-round color. An edging of miniature boxwoods borders the landscaping and adds a formal look.

A few steps away from the backyard, behind an ivy-covered wall, is the pièce de résistance: the 1832 cottage, original to the property. Set back on the lot, it seems like a separate homestead, with a handful of chickens pecking the ground, a coop, and a seasonal garden. Five years ago, the solid Louisiana cypress cottage underwent a painstaking restoration of its porch and part of the roof, while maintaining its historic integrity. On many nights of entertaining, the cottage has served as an extension of the backyard and home. “We’ll start here with cocktails and

conversation and then walk over to the patio for an al fresco dinner,” says Fremin.

No doubt, the person who said that “home is heaven for beginners” was speaking of a home like this one.