The Napoleon House at 500 Chartres street, was indeed the focus of a plan to rescue the Emperor.
Napoleon House, 1980s photo by Alan Robinson for the US National Park Service
Napoleon House
The house located at 500 Chartres Street is known as the “Napoleon House.” It was built in 1796, after the great fires of 1788 and 1794, for Nicholas Girod. Girod amassed wealth as a factor, buying and selling commodities. New Orleans operated as a “port of deposit,” where planters and farmers transported crops and goods to sell for export. They would sell what they brought down the river to “factors,” or “commission agents.” Those middlemen then in turn sold the goods to captains of ocean-going ships which traveled up the East Coast or over to Europe.
When Louisiana became a state in 1812, Girod ran for mayor of New Orleans, making him the first “American” mayor of the city.
Bonaparte and New Orleans
Like many French Colonials in New Orleans, Girod took the defeat of Bonaparte in 1814 hard. He, along with others, regularly discussed the possibility of mounting a rescue mission to the island of Elba, Napoleon’s first place of exile. The plan never came to fruition. The city encountered a major distraction when the War of 1812 came to town in December 1814, with the invasion of the Gulf Coast by the British, and the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. By the time Girod and his compatriots (some say, Dominique Youx, believed to be the brother of Jean and Pierre Laffite was among them), could get back to rescuing Bonaparte, the Emperor had escaped Elba and began the Hundred Days Campaign. That campaign ended in June of 1815 with the Battle of Waterloo.
The story continued for generations. Girod family retained the house after Nicholas’ passing. They moved the family store into the house by the mid-1800s. A Sicilian family acquired the house in the late 1880s. They converted the Girod’s dry goods store into a grocery. As in many European towns and cities, the first floor of a house was given over to retail space, with the family living upstairs. Even the high-rent townhouses developed by the Baroness Pontalba followed this pattern.
Sicilians
In 1914, Joseph Impastato leased the house, eventually buying it. “Uncle Joe” continued operating the grocery, adding a tavern in the front. He attracted patrons by playing opera and creating a welcoming atmosphere for the Sicilians in the French Quarter. The tavern served food, and the restaurant/bar business grew the point where Impostato converted the grocery completely into a restaurant. Various members of the family operated the restaurant after Uncle Joe passed. In 1933, the family re-branded the tavern “Napoleon House” at the start of Prohibition.
Napoleon House developed a reputation for its Muffuletta sandwich. Additionally, one can make the argument that the Sicilians originated the classic roast beef po-boy, as the sandwich is similar to what other cities call “Italian Beef” (although our bread is superior). Interestingly, the restaurant’s most popular bar drink is the very-British Pimm.s Cup.
Going forward
In 2015, the current generation of the family decided to sell the restaurant and retire. They chose Ralph Brennan, who had his own restaurant group at the time and had just taken over his family’s original place, Brennan’s on Royal Street. So, as a quote we’ve heard goes, the house was built in a French country style during the Spanish Colonial period, for a French Creole. They were going to give it to the Emperor of the French, but it ended up becoming a Sicilian restaurant, now owned by an Irishmen.
Totally New Orleans.
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