622 St. Peter St.

Estate inventory

Of Nancy O'Hara. Residence #53 on St. Peter between Royal & Chartres. See notarial act of Michel de Armas, N.P., dated May 23, 1817. Residence with low house on St. Peter & Dauphine (Toulouse & Bourbon, Sq. 72). See notarial act of Michel de Armas, N.P., dated April 6, 1814. Residence with low, double-house on Dauphine & Barracks (Bourbon & Esplanade, Sq. 80). See notarial act of Michel de Armas, dated February 1, 1814.

O. de Armas, Vol. 57/119

The establishment of Gustavus Jaquet, located at No. 44 St. Peter Street is [as] old as the beginning of the nineteenth century in its origin. Perhaps the oldest establishment in the city....[t]he capacity of the work is that of manufacturing one thousand pounds in ten hours....[t]he house of Gustavus Jaquet is among the oldest in New Orleans. The first owner of the same factory was Madame N. Jaquet, who died some twenty years ago, leaving the manufactory in the hands of Gustavus, her son who, with other members of the family, has managed the establishment with profit and success. A large store for the sale of tobacco goods is attached to the factory.

Gustave Jaquet and Martin Escobal listed in business together as tobacco manufacturers at No. 44 St. Peter Street. Listed smoking tobacco, fine cut chewing and snuff.

622 St. Peter Street

Erected: 1843
Architect: Joseph Isidore de Pouilly
Builder: Joseph Isidore de Pouilly

On the de La Tour map of 1722 this lot was listed as belonging to the Widow Silvestre, but by 1728 it had been absorbed by the concession of the Marquis de Meziere, Lieutenant General of the Army of France, who was one of the early investors to fall under the spell of John Law and subscribe to the Company of the Indies. In return De Meziere received plantation concessions at Biloxi, Bay St. Louis, and on the river just below Point Coupee. Additional grants were made in town, among which was this lot on St. Peter Street. There is no evidence that De Meziere ever saw his holdings in this country, and eventually most of them seem to have been sold off to other settlers.

In 1782 this lot was inherited by Luis Laveau Trudeau from the Succession of his mother who was a Carriere. Both Carrieres and Trudeaus were Canadians who came with Bienville to establish New Orleans. De Meziere seems not to have kept his holdings in the city, and this property may have passed rather early to the Carriere family. Soon after inheriting this lot Luis Trudeau sold half of it to a free woman of color, Marguerite Trudeau, who acquired "a house and lot." This property was sold again in 1795 to Jean Ostin whose widow inherited it in 1803. In 1817 Mme. Ostin sold this property to Dame Nancy O'Hara, who established her well-known snuff and tobacco manufacturing business here. Mme. O'Hara managed for twenty-six years with the existing building. Then in 1843 she contracted with Joseph de Pouilly to erect a "three-story dwelling house with a store on the lower floor." Until her death in 1854 Nancy O'Hara ran a thriving enterprise on this spot. For many years it continued to be a prominent tobacco plant under the ownership of Gustave Jaquet and Paulino de Escobal. Much later it was converted into living quarters with a shop on the ground floor.

Very little change has occurred to the face of this three-and-a-half-story brick building. Openings have been adjusted on the ground floor from a center to a side entrance, but the windows have been handled with artistry and skill, and the feeling of the old building has been carefully retained. In most other respects, the windows, shutters, second floor gallery, seem, from old drawings, to be as de Pouilly planned them. However, the attic area has suffered some alteration. An old photograph of the street, showing the profile of this building, reveals a deep wooden cornice with moldings above and below into which the attic windows were incorporated. Old advertising sketches also bear this out. The cornice that exists today is only the top portion of the original design, and each window is obscured by an iron gallery that looks for all the world like a great iron basket. The entire rear of this fine old building is covered with a shed that is expendable.