Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness De Pontalba

441 Pages·2004·25.181 MB·English

by  Christina Vella

Intimate Enemies
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Intimate Enemies
THE TWO WORLDS
OF THE
Baroness de Pontalba
CHRISTINA VELLA
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Eaton Rouge
Published by Louisiana State University Press
Copyright © 1997 by Christina Vella
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Louisiana Paperback Edition, 2004
Fifth printing, 2011
Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to publish excerpts from unpublished materi-
als in the following collections: Manuscripts, Louisiana Historical Center; Louisiana Supreme
Court Records, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans; Special Collection, Howard-
Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University; Louisiana Division, New Orleans Public Library;
Archives du Maréchal Ney, Archives Nationales, Paris. The author also wishes to thank Count
Adrien Balny d'Avricourt for permission to quote from a letter of Blanche de Pontalba to her son
Henri, in the collection of Andre Maricourt.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vella, Christina, 1942,-
Intimate enemies: the two worlds of the Baroness de Pontalba / Christina Vella.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-8071-2962-3 (pbk.)
i. Pontalba, Micaëla Leonarda Almonester de, baroness, 1795-1874.
2. Women—Louisiana—New Orleans—Biography. 3. Nobility—
Louisiana—New Orleans—Biography. 4. New Orleans (La.)—
Biography. 5. Historic buildings—Louisiana—New Orleans.
6. Paris (France)—Biography. 7. Historic buildings—France—Paris.
I. Title.
F379.N553P668 1997
976.3'3505'092'—den
[B] 96-52688
CIP
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for the Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. ©
To Wendy, Peter Pan, and Tink
with all my love
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Contents
Acknowledgments / xi
Introduction / i
I New Orleans in 1795 / 6
II Almonester / 40
III Pontalba / 70
IV The Widow / 99
V Mont-1'Évêque / 112
VI We All Live Here / 135
VII A Separation of Body and Belongings / 199
VIII Home Alone / 222
IX New Orleans in 1850 / 254
X Building / 277
XI The War Is Over / 301
New Orleans Street Names: Family, Friends,
and Intimate Enemies of the Baroness de Pontalba / 347
Notes / 353
Bibliography / 401
Index / 415
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Illustrations
following page 172
Andrés Almonester in 1797, in a painting by Salazar
"Portrait of my mother," by Gaston de Pontalba
Célestin Delfau de Pontalba
Joseph Xavier Delfau de Pontalba, Micaela's father-in-law
Célestin, ca. 1830
Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, ca. 1825
Chateau Mont-l'Évêque, just outside Senlis, where Micaela lived with her
husband and his parents
The commune of Mont-1'Évêque with the gate to the Pontalba château
The Little Chateau where Micaela was confined in 1832
Micaela, ca,. 1840, when she was about forty-five
Letter from Micaela to her cousin in 1835, after the shooting and the first
trial
Visconti's Hôtel Pontalba as it looked when Micaela lived in it with her
sons
The U.S. Embassy residence in Paris, formerly the Hotel Pontalba
"The Architect Visconti Presents his Plans for the New Louvre to the
Sovereigns," by Ange Tissier
Chinese lacquer panels installed in the Hotel Pontalba
The Louis Seize room of the U.S. Embassy residence
Micaela's son, Célestin, ca. 1836