417-425 Royal St.

Banque de la Louisiane (Brennan's)
Erected 1795
Architect & Builder - unknown
Probably erected in 1795 for Vincent Rillieux who bought the property on January 8th of that year from Gaspar Debuys and Hubert Remy. They had bought it from Dona Angela Monget, widow Dejan just four days before the great fire of December 8, 1794 destroyed most of this area of the city including whatever buildings were in the property. When purchased by Rillieux it was described as containing only bricks and rubble. After Rillieux's death it was sold by his son-in-law, James Freret "with a principal house and other buildings," to Joseph Faurie, June 2, 1801. In January 1805 Faurie sold it to the newly established "Banque de la Louisiane" which occupied it until its liquidators sold it in 1820 to Martin Gordon. During Gordon's ownership extensive alterations were made to the building and the kitchen wing was probably rebuilt.
In 1841 Gordon lost the property and it was sold by the Sheriff to Alonzo Morphy whose family owned it until 1891. Here Paul Morphy, world chess champion, lived until his death in 1884. In 1920 it was acquired by Tulane University through a gift of W. R. Irby. It was then extensively remodeled by Favrot and Livaudais, architects, and became the "Patio Royal" restaurant. In 1954 it was leased by Brennan's Restaurant and again remodeled, Richard Koch and Samuel Wilson, Jr. being the architects.
The small building at the rear of the patio was formerly the stable for the adjacent Rouquette house and had access to Conti Street. These stables were probably built by Rouquette after he bought the property in 1813.

417 Royal Street
Banque de la Louisiana (Brennan's)
Reference List (brief recapitulation of chain of title entries)

Brennan's - 417 Royal Street
On January 8, 1795, just a month after the great fire of 1794, Gaspar Debuis and Huberto Remy sold their lot with the brick rubble, the ruins of their building destroyed in the fire, to Vincent Rillieux. The act of sale, passed before the notary, Pedro Pedesclaux, described the lot as being sixty feet in front on Royal street by one hundred twenty feet in depth, between the properties of Enrique Coupry and Goton Jung, a free negro, who had bought the property only five days before the fire from Dona Angela Monget, the widow of Antonio Dejan, before the same notary. This lot still had the original dimensions given to it by Adrien de Pauger when he laid out the city in 1721, giving this lot the Number 215 and assigning it to Mr. Baron Hambourg to whom it was granted by the Superior Council.
The house now on the lot, occupied by Brennan's Restaurant, was undoubtedly built by Vincent Rillieux who had built several houses in Royal street just after the fire, including the one at the corner of Royal and Conti now occupied by Waldhorn's. After his death on February 12, 1800 this part of his property was inventoried as "another house in Royal street of brick and tile bounded by that of Don Pedro Cenas and the one sold [?] by the negress Margarita to Goton Soung [Jung]. It was sold on June 2, 1801 by James Freret, Vincent Rillieux's son-in-law, to Joseph Faurie. The act of sale before Pedesclaux states that "Thereon stands a house and other structures... (which) are now mine as I bought them at public auction as part of the estate left to Dona Maria Tronquet widow of Don Vincente Rillieux... "
Another son-in-law of Vincent Rillieux was Jean Baptiste Musson, who married Marie Celeste Rillieux in 1810. Their daughter, Marie Celestine Musson (1815-1847) married Augustin H. de Gas and was the mother of the great French painter, Edgar Degas. Thus, the old building at 417 Royal Street that housed the Banque de la Louisiane (1805-1820), later the residence of the world's chess champion Paul Morphy, and now houses Brennan's Restaurant, was built between 1795 and 1800 by Vincent Rillieux, the great-grandfather of Edgar Degas.

Release

Of mortgage by Dutillet & Peyrellade to Dominique Rouquette. For a house measuring 30' x 120' and located on a lot on Royal between the Louisiana Bank and the property of J. Blanque. Relates to the sale recorded by Michel de Armas, N.P., dated October 12, 1809.

M. de Armas, Vol. 1/472

Olympic Club organized and formally opened on Monday night, July 7, 1884... headquarters at No. 47 Royal Street where they have elegant apartments, together with reading, reception and billiard rooms, and also a fine gymnasium. The officers are as follows.
[formerly 810 Dauphine in City Directory 1884]

The Morphy House (Brennan's)
Illustrated - Exterior, courtyard & room in which Morphy died.

"After visiting the French quarter and the quaint Abadie garden with Mr. Helen Pitkin Schertz, Mrs. Flo Field and Mrs. Joseph Haspel, women in attendance at the bankers' convention had luncheon Monday at the Patio Royal in the old Paul Morphy House in Royal street, where they admired everything from the broken bottles on the wall to the Magnolia trees. They went to the Orpheum Monday night."

[with photo]

Wizard of Chess
Paul Morphy, in his 20s the greatest of chess masters, was in seclusion a decade later and rarely played the game again.

[Yesterday in Sports]

A New Orleans Architect Lists Some of the Jewels We Must Protect
[Solis Seiferth, architect]

"Times change -- yet stay the same.

This photograph was taken by Hans H. Frey, a salesman for a steel bridge company. It shows the 400 block of Royal as it appeared in 1908. The buildings still stand. The center one now houses a well-known New Orleans restaurant.

But at that time its upstairs was a rooming house and its ground level held Leon Gerson's tailor shop, Vincent Esposito's jewelry and bric-a-brac shop, the Louisiana Antique Co. and a barbershop.

The first doorway at the left is now one of the entrances to an antique store. The building on the far right, which then housed a used furniture store, now has an antique store.

The photograph was submitted by Richard Neesham, 6341 Baccich."

Breakfast at Brennan's Is Bad Scene for Critic

[Clement Freud, grandson of Sigmund, disparages American restaurants and food.]

The charms of New Orleans

Brennans' grim vigil: 'This is unbelievable'

[fire]

Fire Badly Damages Famous Brennan's Restaurant

Brennans Survey Restaurant Damage

The Brennan Families and Their Restaurants: A Recap

Brennan's rises from the ashes

"The first bank established in New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase was the Louisiana Bank in 1804... "

"The Louisiana Bank, located on Royal Street in the building currently occupied by the famous Brennan's Restaurant, closed in 1818, but reopened in 1824 as the state-supported Bank of Louisiana."

"This building at 417-425 Royal St. in the French Quarter, which houses Brennan's Restaurant, has been sold by the Tulane Fund to Brennan's Inc. for $2,125,000. A spokesman for the restaurant said the property had been leased from Tulane University since 1956."