The newest installment of American Horror Story revives a cherished setting: Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies. This New Orleans institution for witchcraft, key in AHS: Coven, reappears in Season 13 as a stark contrast to the infernal hideout within a New York City penthouse. This edition of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series, broadcast Thursday at 9pm on FX and available on Hulu, merges elements from past seasons, with most scenes taking place in a chillingly atmospheric penthouse that serves as the devil’s stronghold.
A Historic Location Revived
The Buckner Mansion, a Greek Revival estate built in 1856, served as the exterior for Miss Robichaux’s in Coven. Located in New Orleans’ Garden District, the mansion became a viral tourist attraction thanks to the show. Today, it remains a private residence, but fans still visit to glimpse its grandeur from the sidewalk. The show’s fanfare transformed the mansion from a historic walking tour mainstay to a must-see destination, showing the spooky Southern Gothic aesthetic of Coven.
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For Season 13, production designer Anu Schwartz faced a challenge: recreating the academy’s interiors, which were originally filmed on a New Orleans stage set. Over 13 years, the original plans, paint swatches, and sets had been lost. Schwartz expressed excitement about the task, noting, “I really wanted to honor it,” especially with the convergence of storylines from previous seasons.
Recreating a Lost Set
Schwartz worked with Mark Worthington, the production designer from Coven, who provided a packet of photos. “I poured over everything,” Schwartz said, studying every detail to ensure accuracy. The team also sourced items from secondhand platforms, like a Facebook Marketplace piano that replaced the one Stevie Nicks played in Coven.
According to Schwartz, the seller was helping a 91-year-old man part with a piano he’d cherished for decades, and he was “thrilled to know it would have a new life in the show.” “We didn’t find the exact things, but we treated everything the same as far as getting it as close as possible,” he says. They even tracked down the original vendor for the fireplaces and ceiling medallions, though everything else was recreated from scratch.
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With only six weeks to rebuild the set at Broadway Stages in Brooklyn, the team focused on scale, profile, and shape rather than exact replicas. “Scale, profile, silhouette, and shape were sort of more important than some other aspects,” Schwartz explained, calling the timeline “bonkers.”
A Nostalgic Reunion
When cast members saw the recreated set, they were awestruck. “They just couldn’t believe it,” Schwartz recalled. The academy’s opalescent interiors, embodying the bright magic of the coven, contrast sharply with the devil’s penthouse, creating a visual language for the battle between good and evil. Schwartz noted, “Placing these two worlds side by side gives installment 13 an instant visual language for the battle between good and evil.”
