636-642 Royal St.

"Francois Labrostrie...has removed his store into that formerly occupied by Mr. J. B. Labat, in the house of Mr. Pedesclaux, at the corner of Royal and St. Peter Streets, where he carries on business under the firm of De Labrostrie & Company. They have for sale the following goods: [long list of items].

...[a]t the above place they carry on the Silver Smiths business, and keep a general assortment of Glass and Crockery Ware."

P. R. Valle, miniature painter, lives at Pedesclaux's house at Royal and St. Peter [s]treets.

Advertisement for sale of this house announcing that on May 1, "will be sold by auction at the Coffee House, at one o'clock P.M. positively, the two-story brick houses at the corner of Royal and St. Peter Streets, known under the name of Pedesclaux's house...This house in its actual state is rented at the rate of $2,500 per annum, but this rent is not in proportion to the value of the house, because the six rooms of the first and those of the second story do not exceed $90 per month, and the [modesty] of this rent proceeds from the incomplete and unsuitable state in which stands this property. The necessary works to finish this house according to the original plots and the repairs which it wants, or changes which it may require such as that of the roof, have been appraised by Messrs. Latour and Laclotte, who would undertake to repair and finish said house for the sum of $6,000. Those repairs will add to the house three more rooms on every story and on the ground floor a store of fifty feet by twenty, and then the rent will be at least $3,000 per annum. Persons wishing to take cognizance of the repairs and changes to be made to the said building will find the details and appraisement thereof drawn up and signed by Messrs. Latour and Laclotte in the office of Mr. Pierre Pedesclaux, Notary Public."

Purchasers were Dr. Yves Le Monnier, a physician from Remmes [Rennes], France, who had resided in Louisiana since before 1803, and Francois Grandchamps, a pharmacist from St. Domingo.

"Francois Grandchamps, formerly apothecary and druggist of St. Domingo, by a patent from the government obtained in 1791, having experienced that profession in St. Yago de Cuba, under the authorization of its faculty of medicine of Havana, and by permission of the captain-general of the island, and for nearly two years in Baltimore, has established himself in this place.

He has the honor to inform the public in general and his friends in particular, that he has opened a drug store in this city, corner of Royal and St. Peter Streets, in the house formerly belonging to Mr. Pedesclaux, where he has for sale a general assortment of fresh drugs of the best quality, by wholesale or retail, as also all kinds of Patent Medicines, Surgeon's Instruments, etc., at moderate prices and on easy terms. He will also put up medicines for the country when demanded, and by his care in executing their orders he hopes to merit the confidence of those who employ him."

Francois Grandchamps, formerly apothecary and druggist of St. Domingo...has established himself in this place, corner of Royal and St. Peter [s]treets, in the house formerly belonging to Mr. Pedesclaux.

Grandchamps and Le Monnier advertise for claims against former Pedesclaux house which they bought.

Notice of sale at Public Auction, by Montreuil and McCarthy.

"On Tuesday, the first of May next, at 12 o'clock, will be sold at Maspero's Coffee House: The fine house of which Yves Le Monnier and Francois Grandchamps are co-proprietors, situate at the corner of St. Peter and Royal Streets.

...[i]t is well understood that the said Le Monnier and Grandchamps respectively reserves themselves the right of remaining as tenants in the enjoyment of one-half of said house, which they now occupy during one, two or three months, but no more, as they may deem proper in order to have time enough to move."

Estate inventory

Of Mrs. Lemonnier [Le Monnier]...living in house at Royal and St. Peter. Includes properties found in gallery, dining room, study, parlor, closets, bedrooms, pantry, kitchen, etc.

"A lot of ground situate[d] in this city of New Orleans, at the corner of Royal and St. Peter streets measuring sixty feet eight inches front on Royal St. and fifty-seven feet front on St. Peter St., together with the brick houses, three stories high above the ground floor, and all the back buildings and dependencies of the said lot, the whole appraised twenty thousand dollars."

Ch. Janin, Vol. 2/137

Estate inventory

For Lemmonier. For 3-story brick house at Royal & St. Peter streets, $2400. Also, Lemmonier inventory for lot at Chartres.

A. Ducatel, Vol. 7/92-93

636-642 Royal Street

Erected: c. 1795; 1811
Architect: [Barthelemy Lafon?], 1795; Latour and Laclotte, 1811
Builder: [Hillaire Boutte?] and [Gurlie & Guillot?], 1795; Latour and Laclotte, 1811

This building, one of the most picturesque in the Vieux Carre, is more fascinating than the stories told about it. A fairly clear record of the ownership of this property exists from the original land grant to today. This corner portion of land, measuring originally 60' on Royal Street by 120' F.M. on St. Peter Street, was granted to Francois Galard, known as Sieur de Chamilly. The New Orleans census of 1726 lists the "wife of Chamilly and five children" at this corner, where all the early maps show a pioneer type of dwelling referred to as belonging to Chamilly.

Francois Galard prospered with the years. His children married into prominent families and there are frequent references to him in the proceedings of the Superior Council. The exact date when this property passed into other hands has not been discovered. But by following the records of the adjacent lots it is possible to produce a consistent pattern of ownership on this corner. It is evident, from the peripheral records, that a portion of Chamilly's lot remained intact up to the time it was purchased by Pierre Pedesclaux in 1795.

Records state clearly that the lot was acquired by Nicolas Vebent from M. de Chamilly, though no document has been found of this actual purchase. In time, Nicolas Vebent sold to M[adame] Widow Rosa Giraldon Lemelle, who, in turn, sold to Messrs. Durand Brothers and Company. The latter firm sold this corner to Jacob Cowperthwaite through Miguel Fortier, who served as their agent. Cowperthwaite was an important builder who came here from New Jersey during the Spanish period. He probably intended to develop this corner, but died shortly after acquiring it, and the executor of his estate, Jean Francois Merieult, sold it in 1795 to the prominent notary and recorder of mortgages, Pierre Pedesclaux, whose voluminous notarial acts are the cornerstone of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century records on this area. Pedesclaux began to build here on what, after the great fire of 1794, was probably a vacant lot. But his ambitions outpaced his purse.

The architect Barthelemy Lafon has been said to have designed this building. At this very time Lafon was building a dwelling for Luis Cornue adjacent to this on Royal Street, and it is possible that they were planned together. Photographs taken while the Cornue-Pitot building was still standing show an undoubted affinity between the two dwellings. It is also a matter of record that Barthelemy Lafon lived in Pedesclaux's building at one time; for the city census of 1805 lists the address of Pedesclaux house, adjoining that of Mayor James Pitot on Royal Street, as the residence of the architect Lafon. This leads one to surmise that Lafon was closely associated with the corner building.

It is probable that Pedesclaux's money gave out before Lafon got beyond the ground floor. Balked at proceeding further himself, Pedesclaux persuaded seventeen prominent business men to invest a thousand dollars apiece in a venture to pay off his mortgage and use the rest of the money to finish the house. Several years later the architect/builders, Gurlie and Guillot, sued subsequent owners for payment due them for work here saying Pierre Pedesclaux employed them as mason workmen to do diverse buildings and additions to his house at Royal and St. Peter Streets. What portion Gurlie and Guillot were engaged to do is difficult to say now, but it is evident that they were involved to some degree with this building.

How much Pedesclaux accomplished with the new money is an uncertainty today. It has long been thought that he was only able to add a story to the ground floor. But one must always bear in mind, in reading the old French records, that the ground floor was not commonly referred to as a "story," nor was it ever called the "first story." It was known as the "rez-de-chaussée" and above this was the "premier étage" and then the "deuxième étage"---which amounts to a three-story house in our parlance.

In the light of this, a careful rereading of the records leads to a somewhat different conclusion. In 1811, when the property was sold at auction, an ad mentions the "six rooms of the first and those of the second story," and a few lines later [it] mentions the stores on the ground floor. In a transaction at the time of the sale the building was described as "of several stories with a terrace roof." The new owners contracted with the prominent architects, Latour and Laclotte to finish the project, and a review of their contract fortifies the conclusion that Lafond, working with Pedesclaux's new seventeen thousand dollars, had indeed been able to raise this building to what we call three stories today.

Any study of this structure in relation to the Cornue-Pitot house beside it, shows that the two flow together at the third floor roof line. The very strong course of moldings that once comprised a cornice, indicate that a roof had been here formerly. It has long been believed that Latour and Laclotte added the so-called third story, and that the fourth story was put on in the 1870s by Saloy. There is no documentary proof to back this up, and some considerable doubts have been cast on the skyscraper legend by this recent study. In 1870 there were many four-story buildings, so another should have caused no comment. A four-story building of such magnitude, in 1811, would have been cause for some excitement.

It is doubtful, however, if indeed Latour and Laclotte did do the fourth story at this time [or] that the present version is their work. Major Latour was a French émigrè whose skill as an artist is widely known through his sketches of the battle of New Orleans. Hyacinth Laclotte was probably Beaux-Arts trained, and both were capable of far more distinguished work than the present fourth story. Their contract with the new owners is a lengthy document that concerns itself with the "ground floor," the "entresol," the "first floor," and the "garret." Part of the agreement was to "raise the roof existing on the house now...and build a story with walls eight inches thick, covered with a terrace."

Throughout the house repairs and remodeling were arranged for, and it is evident that a whole new section was added to the Royal Street end. Nothing was said about the wrought iron galleries in the contract, but it is probably that the Lemonnier monograms were added to the railings at this time. Mr. Samuel Wilson, Jr., writing in the New Orleans States about this building in April 1953, says, "these...may have been executed either by Guillaume Malus, the blacksmith who did the iron work for Latour and Laclotte's Orleans Theatre in 1810, or Jean Cauvin who did the same for the elegant house they built in 1811 for M[adame] Castillon at St. Peter and Decatur."

At any rate, in 1811, when Pedeclaux's backers forced a sale, this building was bought jointly by Dr. Yves Rene Lemonnier, a physician who came here from Remmes, France before 1803, and Francois Grandchamps, an apothecary from Santo Domingo. Grandchamps established his pharmacy in the corner shop on the ground floor with rights to occupy and/or rent the ground floor and the entresol. Dr. Lemonnier used the two upper stories. But in time the pharmacist met financial reverses and was forced to sell his half to the doctor. After Dr. Lemonnier's death the property passed to his three daughters and a son, Yves Rene, Jr., who carried on his father's medical practice in the town. Eventually the building was purchased from the heirs by a grocer, Jean Fisse, who had his store in the former pharmacy on the corner. It was not until 1876, when Bertrand Saloy forced a sale of this property and took it from Fisse, that the building was converted into tenements. It may well have been that extensive changes were made to the top story at this time and that is how the skyscraper legend came to be.

The building has been badly used. Some of the arched openings on the ground level have been squared off, and others have had extended shop windows simply inserted in the arches. The brick stairway in the courtyard is another addition that has not improved the building. Successive alterations, particularly on the fourth floor, have done much to spoil the original proportions. Even so, it is one of the finest buildings in the Vieux Carre, and it remains one of the city's most distinguished landmarks.

Mr. Wilson, continuing to comment on this building in his article in the New Orleans States, says of this structure, "[t]he Le Monnier house, though more massive than most, is typical of the houses of this period. The ground floor was occupied by shops with the living quarters above, all centering about a paved courtyard from where the stairway leads to the upper floors.

"The facades are well studied with a low arch base and square windows above admitting light to the entresol, an intermediate story containing storage and servants' rooms. The principal story above this was called by the French 'le premier etagé,' [or] the first story. The salon is a most unusual room of oval form occupying the corner of the building and following the curved wall that is such a prominent feature of the exterior. From this room French casements open on to the curved corner balcony.

"The floor levels are emphasized by strong horizontal courses of vigorous cement plaster moldings, And the use of a strong pilaster treatment is an unusual feature of the facades. The balconies at the level of the principal story are beautifully executed and are among New Orleans' best examples of wrought ironwork.

"The stairway is another excellent feature lighted by fan windows and with an interesting arched treatment of the wall. The treads are large solid blocks of cypress as are also the newel posts, while the handrail seems to be of mahogany. The house has unfortunately suffered from successive alterations."

"Four floors on quagmire - 1811 sensation:

The great gray eminence at the corner of St. Peter and Royal is one of the real patriarchs of the Vieux Carre. Only three or four buildings outrank its age. None exceeds its gentle dignity and fine design."

"Pictures of Our Past:

This pair of pictures depicts the ins and out of the grocery business circa 1919. Specifically, they show the interior and exterior of the store at the corner of Royal and St. Peter streets - which was owned and operated by Joseph and Camille Cascio at that time."

[w/photos]