While they were in their 20s, every November Liz Barrett and Bess Morgan Watson would travel from Greenwood to New Orleans to buy Christmas presents for their children.
“We would be strolling along the streets down in New Orleans, and we were always in awe of these beautiful buildings,” Barrett said. “We never dreamed that we would ever have one.”
Over the last eight years, the best friends have made their dream a reality by purchasing and renovating between them six residential units in a condominium in the historic French Quarter District.
The almost 200-year-old building at 910 Royal St. has a regal history. It was the birthplace of the first American-born princess of Monaco.
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Dr. Christian Miltenberger and his wife, Marie, moved to New Orleans in the 1790s after they fled the French island colony of Saint-Domingue during the slave insurrections. Christian, famous for his theory that yellow fever was not a contagious disease during the virus’ epidemic, was appointed by the mayor of New Orleans to supervise indigent health care.
After the physician died, his widow built in 1838 a row of three connected homes at 900, 906 and 910 Royal Street for her three sons — Gustave, Aristides, and Alphonse. Members of the family — including Alphonse’s granddaughter Marie Alice Heine — continued to live there for at least three generations.
Known as The Miltenberger House, the complex is unique for its lacy cast-iron galleries covering the sidewalks, the narrow band of iron leaves set below the galleries, and the floor-to-ceiling windows, according to a New Orleans tour website.
During the American Civil War, Heine’s family moved to Paris, where she would meet her first husband, Armand Chapelle de Jumilhac, Seventh Duke of Richelieu. The couple married in 1875 and had two children. He passed away five years later.
In 1889, Heine, who went by her middle name, Alice, married Prince Albert I of Monaco, an oceanographer. It was his second marriage, too.
As princess of the tiny sovereign state located on the French Riviera, Heine was instrumental in the development of the arts in Monaco.
Although the couple separated in 1902 and did not have children together, they were never legally divorced.
Heine died on Dec. 22, 1925, in Paris.
Almost a century later and during New Orleans’ tricentennial celebration, Prince Albert II of Monaco visited his great-great-stepgrandmother’s birthplace to unveil a plaque as a way to promote relations between Monaco and New Orleans.
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Watson and Barrett own a large portion of the building at 910 Royal St.
Barrett and her husband, Noel, own the second floor, and Watson and her husband, David, own residence quarters on the first, third and fourth floors.
In 2010, the Barretts were the first to purchase some of the building’s units. Liz Barrett said she was initially attracted to it because of the large balcony gallery.
She spent the next six months remodeling her New Orleans home. Meanwhile, Watson, who had moved from Mississippi to Atlanta several years earlier, was at home there caring for her mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer.
“I said, ‘Bess, when your mother gets well, why don’t you come down to New Orleans?’” Barrett recalled. “So Bess comes down, and she is just in awe of Royal Street and the balcony, and she just said, ‘Oh, I want to do this, too.”’
When the third floor went up for sale in 2014, Watson purchased the property, and slowly the two friends began to expand their holdings. Within two years, they purchased between them all six residences within the building. Cafe Amelie and an art gallery also reside in the building but have a different owner.
Remodeling in the French Quarter is no easy feat. Any changes to the outside of the property have to be approved by the Vieux Carre Commission, a foundation that preserves historic architecture in the French Quarter.
“You can do anything on the inside, but if you do anything on the exterior, it has to be passed by the VCC because they want to preserve the historical architecture,” Barrett said. “If you didn’t, it wouldn’t be the French Quarter anymore.”
The original cast-iron balconies and the moulding inside have been preserved, and renovations were just recently completed, she said.
One of the most interesting features of the building is a hexagon addition that was created by the architect Henry Howard in 1857, the year before Heine was born.
The date of the Howard addition can be seen in the Watsons’ third-floor bedroom.
For the Watsons, the experience of acquiring and remodeling the historic property has been a shared delight.
“We have not had a project or anything like that together, and this has been something that we have done together and really enjoyed doing it,” Bess Watson said. “Our place down there is like our home together.”
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In February, Barrett was contacted by the Washington office of Monaco’s ambassador to the United States. She was told that Prince Albert II wanted to unveil a plaque at Heine’s birthplace as a birthday gift to the 300-year-old city.
She and Watson offered their Royal Street homes to be used for a reception and as an opportunity for the 60-year-old prince — the son of Prince Rainier III and actress Grace Kelly, the second American-born princess of Monaco — to see the property. A plan was set in motion by the embassy. Barrett said she received hundreds of emails with details about caterers, photographers and even bomb-sniffing dogs.
In preparation for the March 18 visit, the Barretts and the Watsons were given a minute-by-minute schedule for the day. Although they were not involved in the planning of the prince’s arrival, the women made one request — to bring their mothers.
On the day of the event, joining the Barretts was Liz’s mother, Susan Blasingame, and joining the Watsons was Bess’ mother, Bettye Jim Morgan. The members of the welcoming party were instructed not to touch the prince or shake his hand unless he offered first, and they were to address him as “His Serene Highness.”
“I gave him a tour, and he asked questions about the house,” Barrett said. “He was really interested in the architecture of the house.”
The prince then went to see the Watsons’ residence on the third floor. Bess Watson said he seemed most interested in her family photo gallery.
“It was so cool that the prince really talked about the photos,” she said. “He was really into my family history looking at the wall.”
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and his wife, Donna, were among the dignitaries in attendance. So were New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and members of its City Council.
Watson said her favorite part of the experience was being able to share it with her family and Barrett, as well as the friendships she has made because of the building’s history.
Barrett said she told herself before the prince’s arrival that this was no time for jitters.
“I think I realized that this is a once-in-a-lifetime event for me, and I said, ‘I am not going to be nervous. I am going to enjoy every moment of it.’’’
After the reception, the plaque — hung outside of 910 Royal St.— was unveiled. Then just like that, His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco was gone, but he left behind another addition to the building’s storied history.
• Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@gwcommonwealth.com.
