great-grandfather
of the artist Edgar Degas, purchased the site a month
after the great fire of December 8, 1794.
Either he or
Senor Jose Faurie, a wealthy merchant during the Spanish
colonial regime, commissioned this storehouse with porte
cochere by 1802. Faurie bought the property from the widow
Rillieux's daughter and son-in-law Santiago (James) Freret.
The newly organized Banque de la Louisiane bought it in
1805 for $25,000. In 1841 Judge Alonzo Morphy, father
of Paul Charles Morphy, the internationally famous chess
player, bought the property and the chess player lived
in this house where he died at 41.
William Ratliff irby,
a benefactor of both the French Quarter and Tulane University,
donated the property to Tulane in 1920. Since 1955, the
brennan family has run a festive restaurant here, and
they bought the building about 10 years ago. Orleans Parish
landmark.
