A corner view of a historic building with beige walls, arched windows, and green signs displaying Balconies. The ground floor has large windows and a door, while the upper floors feature French doors with small balconies. Cloudy sky above.

537 Chartres Street

Ice House

Three-story brick structure, built 1907

537 Chartres Street

Ice House

Three-story brick structure, built 1907

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537 Chartres Street: Ice House

The three-story Ice House is named for its history as an ice manufacturing plant. Housing offices for several HNOC departments, which are accessed at 606 Toulouse Street, the Collection leases the ground-floor corner storefront at Chartres and Toulouse Streets.

Timeline

1828: François Marie Perrilliat purchases the corner lot at Chartres and Toulouse. The lot includes a main house fronting Chartres Street, a rear courtyard, and a group of shops fronting Toulouse Street. HNOC will eventually buy two other properties developed by Perrilliat, the Williams Research Center and Perrilliat House.

1830–51: The lot and its structures change hands five times, with several transfers related to a family drama centering on Marie Ursule Moquin, Perrilliat’s widow. The parcel stays in the extended Perrilliat family for the rest of the 19th century. Among the businesses to lease the Toulouse Street storefronts is a publisher operated by Justin L. Sollée. His shop prints a number of French-language materials and also briefly houses the Spanish paper La Patria.

HNOC, 59-222-L

1906: Eugene Braquet, one of Perrilliat’s grandsons, sells the lot to Cosmopolitan Ice Co., which begins construction on a new three-story brick building on the site. The following year it opens as an artificial ice plant, producing up to 150 tons of ice per day using a steam-powered process.

Article announcing the construction of the Cosmopolitan ice plant, New Orleans Item, 1907. Courtesy of NewsBank

1913: Cosmopolitan sells the plant to Panama Ice Co. The ice manufacturing business continues to boom through the 1930s. It becomes an $8 million industry in New Orleans, employing around 1,500 people at 49 plants throughout the city.

1940: As advances in home refrigeration signal a decline in large-scale ice manufacturing, Panama Ice sells the plant to prominent antiques dealer Ulrich Rosen. Rosen runs a thriving antiques shop out of the building.

1973: Irving Rosen, Ulrich’s son, leases the building to WDSU-TV, which already operates out of the adjoining Seignouret-Brulatour Building at 520 Royal Street.

2009: M. S. Rau Antiques, located around the corner on Royal Street, acquires the property, using the ground floor as a showroom and upper floors as storage.

Charcoal drawing of M. S. Rau Antiques, 1940s, by Paul Ninas. HNOC, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Martin, 2012.0005

2015: M. S. Rau sells the building to HNOC, which uses the ground floor as a classroom for the education department. Publications and Communications are among the departments that move their offices to the upper floors, which are accessed at 606 Toulouse Street.

1830–51: The lot and its structures change hands five times, with several transfers related to a family drama centering on Marie Ursule Moquin, Perrilliat’s widow. The parcel stays in the extended Perrilliat family for the rest of the 19th century. Among the businesses to lease the Toulouse Street storefronts is a publisher operated by Justin L. Sollée. His shop prints a number of French-language materials and also briefly houses the Spanish paper La Patria. HNOC, 59-222-L

Article announcing the construction of the Cosmopolitan ice plant, New Orleans Item, 1907. Courtesy of NewsBank

Charcoal drawing of M. S. Rau Antiques, 1940s, by Paul Ninas. HNOC, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Martin, 2012.0005

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