In the early 1830s, the Baroness Pontalba y Almonaster purchased the Dreux’s bakery and the surrounding lots with the idea of opening an Inn for friends and business associates. The bakery often supplied the Colonial Spanish, and later, the Colonial French Soldiers, who were stationed at the Place d’Armes (present day Jackson Square). Wagons and carriages would drive through the archways in the courtyard to deliver goods and to pick up deliveries. The third floor of their property was used to store imported and exported goods.
Shortly after, the Dreux family opened up a shop on the ground floor and used the second floor for family living. The original property deed was issued to a baker named Dreux in 1722.
