Napoleon's Doctor ~ and ~ The Old Cosmopolitan Hotel |
Like many locations in a city as old as New Orleans, the venerable building pictured above (in the 100 block of Royal Street) has more than one layer of interesting history. Its first prominent link to history can not only be remembered, but seen, just a few blocks away, in the Cabildo, where a death mask of Napoleon remains on display. |
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, 1890's |
The bronze mask, one of only 4 in existence, was a gift to the city from Dr. Francois Antommarchi. Dr. Antommarchi was one of Napoleon's doctors during his exile on Saint Helena, his only French doctor and the one he is said to have most trusted. |
Upon Napoleon's death in 1821, Dr. Antommarchi took a plaster cast of Napoleon's face, from which only a few masks were cast. In 1831, the doctor immigrated to Louisiana and set up his home and office in the apartment building pictured on this page. He donated the Napoleon death mask to the people of New Orleans in 1834. |
The building viewed from two directions, as it looked in the early 1940's. The bottom of "Hotel Astor" can be seen on the side of the building in the picture above. The St. Regis Restaurant occupies the ground floor. |
For years, the old Cosmopolitan was a meeting place for the political wheelers and dealers of the city. It was said to be the scene of the making and breaking of numerous New Orleans politicians. |
In recent times, grand plans were in the works for the old hotel site. The owners intended to renovate the existing structure and add a twenty-six story tower behind it, on the portion of the property facing Bourbon Street. It was to become a condominium-hotel called the Royal Cosmopolitan. But they ran into trouble with the city council concerning the waiver required because of building height restrictions in the French Quarter and some difficulties involving another French Quarter building they were renovating. The last I heard, the owners had placed the building on the market. I don't know if the property has been sold. |
The old Cosmopolitan Hotel is shown in 2009, with its bottom floor boarded in preparation for a hoped-for renovation. |
It was in 1892 when the Cosmopolitan Hotel opened its doors in the building that had once been home to Napoleon's doctor. The hotel was popular from the beginning, modern and elegant, one of the first hotels to provide electric lighting. Within two years time, it had more than doubled its size by adding an annex behind the original building; the annex faced on Bourbon Street. |
In 1920, a new owner renovated the Royal Street building and renamed it the Hotel Astor. The Bourbon Street annex of the Cosmopolitan was demolished in the 1940's. The historic old building on Royal Street barely escaped the same fate in the 1970's. But, escape it did, and, hopefully, it will live to see its 200th birthday in a few years' time. |
The link to this page is: http://old-new-orleans.com/NO_Cosmopolitan.html The image of Dr. Antommarchi is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Image directly above is courtesy of Loopnet. Back to Old New Orleans Whispers - Home |