HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Shreveport's oldest Queen Anne Victorian — 1896 grocery dynasty home, early 1980s LGBTQ bar, and HBO True Blood filming location now offering History or Haunts tours
728 Austen Place, Shreveport, LA 71101
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticketed History or Haunts tours offered by the Downtown Shreveport Development Authority; see website for dates and pricing
Access
Limited Access
1896 Victorian mansion with original staircase and multi-floor layout; no confirmed elevator access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1896 · Oldest Queen Anne Victorian in Shreveport · Ogilvie and Wiener Grocery Families · LGBTQ History in Louisiana · True Blood HBO Production Location · Downtown Shreveport Heritage
The Ogilvie-Wiener Mansion was built in 1896 and is considered the oldest surviving Queen Anne-style Victorian structure in Shreveport. The building's 9,000 square feet made it one of the larger private residences constructed in the city during the late 19th century commercial expansion.
The mansion's first owners were from the Ogilvie family, prominent in Shreveport's grocery and mercantile trade. The property later passed to the Wiener family, another Shreveport grocery dynasty, whose ownership gave the building its current hyphenated name. The association with two successive prominent commercial families reflects the mansion's status as a symbol of civic wealth during Shreveport's early-to-mid 20th century period.
The building's history took a significant turn in the early 1980s when it became home to the Florentine, documented as Shreveport's first openly gay bar. The venue operated during a period when LGBTQ establishments faced considerable social and legal pressure across the South, making the Florentine's existence at this prominent address noteworthy in the city's social history.
HBO's production team for True Blood included footage of the mansion's exterior in the show's opening credit sequence, giving the building a degree of popular culture recognition beyond Shreveport. The structure is now in a state requiring significant restoration. The Downtown Shreveport Development Authority operates History or Haunts tours of the property as part of broader downtown revitalization programming.
Sources
The Ogilvie-Wiener Mansion's haunting lore is less documented in available sources than its historical layers, which include the 1896 Victorian construction, the grocery-family ownerships, the early 1980s LGBTQ bar, and the True Blood connection. The Downtown Shreveport Development Authority's 'Haunts' tour option indicates that paranormal accounts are part of the building's documented visitor experience, but detailed investigator records were not available in sources reviewed.
The building's advanced state of physical decay — visible in exterior photographs — contributes to its atmosphere and may account for some of the reported phenomena. A structure of this age and condition, with its layered and socially diverse history, tends to accumulate a particular weight of community association and story.
The History or Haunts framing of the tours reflects a decision by the Development Authority to treat both the documented history and the paranormal accounts as legitimate components of the building's visitor narrative — an approach that gives visitors some choice in how they engage with the property.
Media Appearances
Ticketed tours of the Ogilvie-Wiener Mansion offered by the Downtown Shreveport Development Authority explore the building's layered history — from its 1896 origins as a Queen Anne Victorian home for prominent grocery families through its role as Shreveport's first openly gay bar in the early 1980s and its appearance in HBO's True Blood opening credits. The 'Haunts' version includes the building's paranormal accounts.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Shreveport, LA
Built in 1897 by Lafayette Robert Logan and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Logan Mansion is a well-preserved example of late-Victorian domestic architecture in Shreveport's historic Austin Place neighborhood. Current owners operate the mansion as a historic events venue.
Indianapolis, IN
Hannah House is an 1858 Italianate mansion at 3801 Madison Avenue on the south side of Indianapolis, built by Alexander Hannah, an Indiana businessman who returned wealthy from the California Gold Rush. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Charles City, VA
Benjamin Harrison IV built the current mansion at Berkeley Plantation in 1726, making it the oldest three-story brick structure in Virginia. The plantation became the birthplace of President William Henry Harrison in 1773 and the ancestral seat of a family that produced a signer of the Declaration of Independence and two U.S. Presidents. During the Civil War, General McClellan used the mansion as his headquarters and the cellar held Confederate prisoners.