NEW ORLEANS BIGGEST FAN

Meet Craig Ernst — New Orleans,

By Heart

Craig has this way of noticing the city — its buildings, its bones — that makes you wonder how much you’ve missed.

He’s the person who can walk past a row of houses and tell you which ones have river clay in the brick, which ones were pointed properly, and which ones are pretending. He won’t say it with judgment — just quiet delight, the way someone points out stars you wouldn’t notice on your own.

I first met Craig when he was my mentor at Friends of the Cabildo. He was the one at the front of the room making 300 years of history feel like a single, effortless story — part professor, part bartender, part tour guide you’d happily follow into any century.

His voice has that dry, baritone richness that makes even the word “entablature” feel hospitable. And when he talks about buildings? You listen. Not because he asks you to, but because you want to.

Craig at Esplanade explaining the entablature — including the moment he realizes they resemble the ones used for the ambassador’s home in The Diplomat.

---

Where He Comes From

Craig earned his first dollar in his grandparents’ furniture store Uptown — surrounded by finishes, craftsmanship, and older people who actually knew how to make things. He grew up with the grain patterns of old wood in his bones before he ever found the language for it.

Ask him anything about the city and he’ll give you the history, the folklore, the structural logic, and the marketing wisdom of it — all layered together, somehow without showing off.

He’s the only person I know who can explain the difference between a balcony and a gallery in the Quarter while quoting Seth Godin and making it land perfectly.

And yes — he sings in a sea shanties group. Yes — he performs “The River” at karaoke like he was born for it. And yes — those are all truths. No lies here.

And because Craig can’t help himself, he somehow started a New Orleans fan club without ever calling it one — his Facebook group, New Orleans Historic Homes. It’s crossed 210,000 members and grows every day.

People from all over the world gather there for the same reason we do: Craig helps you see this city the way he does.

---

What It’s Like to Work With Him

Craig is trusted by people with tiny condos and by people with major, legacy-scale listings like 1514 Arabella or the upcoming townhome on Esplanade. Different worlds, same confidence: you know the job will be done right.

He’s the person you want walking a historic home with you — pointing out which century you’re actually buying, which repairs matter, and which quirks are just New Orleans being New Orleans.

For sellers, he’s a gift. He positions a property with precision, context, and story. He makes people fall in love with the truth of it — not the gloss.

For buyers, he’s protection. He keeps them from accidentally buying the wrong era for the life they actually live.

And for everyone, he brings this quality that’s hard to name: you feel smarter, calmer, and more grounded just standing next to him. As I did in the video below.

Craig on balconies vs. galleries — three uninterrupted minutes of pure Craig, with bubbles drifting down from the balcony behind him.”

---

Behind the Shutters

If you’ve ever left Behind the Shutters thinking, “I learned something tonight,” that’s Craig.

He’s the force in the room — the one who gives every event its depth and clarity. He leads our educational talks, gathers tour guides who rarely tour together, and somehow makes strangers feel like they’re sitting at a long table swapping stories they all already half-remember.

That’s him in his purest form — deeply informed, endlessly patient, and funny without trying to be.

---

The Cocktail That Is Craig

If history and architecture were ingredients, Craig would be the bartender — the one who knows how they mix, what they become together, and when to pour the next part of the story.

A Sazerac in the flesh. Steady. Warm. Clear. No rush, no ego, just conviction.

You can’t be friends or colleagues with Craig without learning through osmosis. And that’s a good thing.

---

What’s Next

Craig has a podcast dropping next year — a long-awaited chance for people outside our circles to hear what we’ve been lucky to hear all along.

And if you’re not on his mailing list already, fix that. He sends out a treasure trove of New Orleans oddities, architectural tidbits, and history fragments a few times a year. It’s magnificent.

Keep reading. Or reach out — Craig’s your person if you want to see a house for what it really is.