GOVERNORâS ROW
Since at least 1726, the property where the Court of Two Sisters restaurant is now located has been a significant cultural presence in New Orleans. During that year, Sieur Etienne de Perier, the second French royal governor of colonial Louisiana, became the original resident of 613 Rue Royale. Originally known as âGovernorâs Rowâ, the 600 block of Royal Street was home to five governors, two State Supreme Court Justices and one future Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (Edward Douglas White). Zachary Taylor, who later became the twelfth president of the U.S., also resided for a time at 621 Royal.
THE CAVELIERS
The present structure at 613-615 Royal was constructed in 1832 during the cityâs first major economic boom. It was built for Jean Baptiste Zenon Cavelier, president of the Bank of New Orleans. He and his wife Louise and their five children lived upstairs in the building that was built in the French townhouse style. He and his brother operated stores at 613 Royal and two doors away at 631 Royal. The Court of Two Sisters building passed out of the hands of the Cavelier family in 1854.
TWO SISTERS & A SHOP
The property changed hands twice before 1886 when Emile Angaud purchased the building and the street level store at 613 Royal. This is when Bertha, who was married to Emileâs son Baldomero Angaud, and Emma Camors set up their ârabaisâ or notions shop they called âThe Shop of the Two Sisters.â The two sisters, born in 1858 and 1860 respectively, belonged to a proud and aristocratic Creole family. It was for these sisters that âThe Courtâ was named. Their shop outfitted many of the cityâs finest women with Mardi Gras costumes, formal gowns of the âGay Ninetiesâ, lace and perfumes imported from Paris. Itâs said that occasionally the sisters would serve tea and cakes to their favorite customers in the large courtyard beginning the tradition continued today. In 1904, after Berthaâs husband died the property was passed on to his sisterâs children. Shortly, after this Emma and Bertha found it necessary to close their shop, unable to sustain their business at a time when the French Quarter was rapidly losing its Creole population in the wake of a flood of Italian immigration. However, marriage, reversals of fortune, widowhood â nothing could separate the sisters. Indeed, as the Picayune was to report, the sisters died within two months of each other in the winter of 1944. United in death as in life, the sisters lie side by side at St. Louis Cemetery #3 on Esplanade Avenue. The Fein family who currently operates the restaurant had the sistersâ tomb restored in 1990.
CHARM GATES
The charm gates at the 613 Royal entrance were wrought in Spain especially for The Court of Two Sisters. Legend says that Queen Isabella of Spain had them blessed so that their charm would pass on to anyone who touched them.