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[1] Sometime around the end of Prohibition they changed the establishment's name to "Napoleon House." Through the years the property has been owned by a few different members of the Impastato family and remained in the family until 2015 when it was purchased by restaurateur Ralph Brennan. Napoleon House continues to be one of the most famous bars in the nation. When the property was purchased by New Orleans restauranteurRalph Brennan in 2015, he purposefully preserved the bar in place and kept muchof the Impastato flair in the restaurant. The family portraits hang on the walland the only music played in the restaurant is opera or classical, just as UncleJoe would have done. According to the website for the Napoleon House restaurant — which occupies the first floor and is famous in its own right for its Pimm’s Cup cocktail and its warm muffuletta sandwich — it was in 1814 that Girod first offered his house as a refuge for Napoleon.
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There is no proof that the story is true, but it lends a mystique (and decorative theme) to the site, which has been known as “Napoleon’s House” since 1823. Attached to a two-story structure his brother had built, Girod’s new building stood three stories. With plain walls of stuccoed brick, it lacks the classical molding and other ornamentation popular at the time. The showiest elements on its façade are shallow, second-floor balconies, which boast modest wrought-iron railings. Whether you’re visiting for the Napoleonic history, the tales of the Impastato family, or a dinner of muffuletta and their famous Pimm’s cup, Napoleon House is a slice of history worth exploring in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The couple chose the historic Napoleon House as their venue for the romantic ceremony.
THE MUFFULETTA
He even offered his home at 500 Chartres Street as a residence for Bonaparte. The couple's reception featured a multi-course sit-down dinner in lieu of a buffet. "People really love to do a buffet in New Orleans for weddings. We're just not really buffet people. I want to sit there and be lazy and have someone bringing [the food]," she tells PEOPLE. "So we did a sit-down dinner. We coursed it out and offered good, Southern New Orleans food."
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The actress, who says she was determined to be "overdressed and fabulous" all weekend long, wore a custom Christian Siriano gown for the welcome party, accessorized with antique jewelry, for the occasion. "That's how I've always wanted to traipse the streets of New Orleans at night — in a serious gown with a drink in hand, just walking around," she explains. Perhaps most striking is its hipped roof, interrupted by four dormers on its Chartres Street side and one more centered on the shorter St. Louis Street side.
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The plan was to help the deposed emperor escape and bring him to the New World, and the first floor of the building was set aside to be his home. After the Civil War, the French Quarter fell into disarray and later became a home for Italian and Irish immigrants. In the second century of its life, the house at the corner of Chartres and St. Louis was rented and later owned by the Impastato family. The ground floor was a grocery, later a bar (even during Prohibition) and then a restaurant, while the family lived upstairs. Joseph “Uncle Joe” Impastato, who originally rented the property in 1914 before purchasing it in 1920, was an Italian immigrant who had a love for family, food, and opera.
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Abeloved landmark on the corner of Chartres and St. Louis in New Orleans' FrenchQuarter, the Napoleon House exudes aEuropean charm in keeping with its 200-year history. Remaining trueto itself, the deeply patinated walls, uneven tile floors, and old wooden bar,hollowed by countless signature Pimm's Cups, speak to its many decades ofservice. He ran a grocery store on the bottom floor while living with his brothers and sisters in the upstairs quarters. Along with the grocery store, Joseph opened a tavern, which seemed to be favorable to the river workers and local businessmen, serving drinks and playing opera and classical music from his Victrola.
It evolved over the years, and in 2015, the restaurant was purchased by the Brennan family, which runs it today. True, Girod was mayor in January 1815 when Lafitte helped defend the city against the British in the Battle of New Orleans, and so it’s possible the two Frenchmen felt a kinship. In 1815, in the lead-up to the Battle of New Orleans, Lafitte admitted in writing his desire to prove himself a loyal American, thus his reason for putting in with Andrew Jackson. Thus, the story of Napoleon House, one of the most beloved, most repeated and most unverifiable stories in the city. Tucked away on the corner of Rue St. Louis and Rue Chartres deep in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans lies a bar with a peculiar history. Bar area in a second-floor banquet room at the Napoleon House in New Orleans on Friday, June 19, 2015.
It’s all crowned by an octagonal cupola that offers a commanding 360-degree view of the city huddled on the Mississippi’s banks. The historic Napoleon House on Chartres Street in New Orleans, shown in 2018, was once intended as a refuge for exiled French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Much of the site's history is preserved in place—including in the cupola which overlooks the French Quarter. A popular New Orleans legend suggests that once Mayor Girod and a few other Bonaparte supporters heard about the exile they devised a plot to rescue the Emperor. It is believed that Jean Lafitte, Captain St. Ange Bossiere, and Dominique You were all involved in the plot. The plan was to rescue Napoleon from his exile and bring him to New Orleans to live out his remaining years at the Girod Home.
The actress' close friend Shirley Manson, lead singer of the '90s music group Garbage, officiated. The dedicated team at Napoleon House in New Orleans embodies a passion for preserving the establishment's rich history and creating an unparalleled experience for patrons. It changed hands repeatedly over the years, with its ground floor becoming home to an Italian grocery just after the turn of the 20th century. The plot was hatched In 1821, with one of the conspirators being the infamous Louisiana pirate, Jean Lafitte.
We’re not sure how the Pimm’s Cup got to be their house specialty (surely there’s a story), but whatever you do, don’t leave without trying the absinthe-dabbed Sazerac. Uncle Joe Impastato, the visionary founder of Napoleon House, had a discerning palate that leaned away from potent alcoholic beverages. Acquainted with Pimm's Cup during his travels in England—a refreshing, low-alcohol libation perfect for summer—he introduced it to Napoleon House. As a trailblazer, Napoleon House proudly became the first establishment in America to offer Pimm's Cups, surpassing global sales records, second only to the historic London bar that birthed this iconic drink. "We wanted [our friends and family] to feel sexy and welcomed and love and laugh, and have delicious food and indulge and enjoy incredible music. And we wanted to say, 'And hey, if you stick around, it'll continue to be like this. Come to our house. We'll do more of this,' " she explains.
Nicholas Girod did not have any children but his extended family lived in the house through the nineteenth century. In the early 1900's the property was owned by a few different people and it eventually became a grocery store. Nicholas Girod, left, a wealthy merchant and former mayor of New Orleans, was part of a plot in 1821 to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte from his exile on St. Helena and bring him to the city.
A handful of famous artists attended the wedding, including "Mad Men" creator Matt Weiner and actress Mae Whitman. Shirley Manson, the lead singer of Garbage and a close friend of Hendricks, also attended to officiate the wedding. On top of that, by 1821 — the year the plot was ostensibly set into motion — Lafitte had vamoosed, trading New Orleans for Galveston, Texas. It wasn’t until 1821 that the plot allegedly hatched seven years earlier was finally set into motion, according to most versions. Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 — the very same month of Girod’s inheritance — although he wasn’t shipped to St. Helena then. Back then, Napoleon was imprisoned on the remote island of St. Helena, but, the story goes, a group of sympathetic Frenchmen hatched a plan to rescue him — with help from some amenable pirates — and deliver him to New Orleans to live out his golden years.
According to People, the lovebirds invited 76 guests for a three-day wedding extravaganza, which kicked off with a welcome cocktail party followed by a ghost tour in the French Quarter. The Napoleon House was the couple's ideal wedding ceremony location because of its rustic European aesthetic, Hendricks said. She added that the couple fell in love with the historic venue's old charm, from the dilapidated walls to the grand dining rooms. Thetraditional taste of Napoleon House is safe in the hands of chef Chris Montero, a veteran of the RalphBrennan Restaurant Group, whose own Creole roots in New Orleans reach backabout as far as Napoleon House, itself.
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