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Pharmacy Museum (Dufilho’s Pharmacy)

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1823; 1837, J. N. B. de Pouilly. 514–516 Chartres St.
  • (Photograph by Robert S. Salzar)
  • (Photograph by Robert S. Salzar)

Louis J. Dufilho Jr., one of the first licensed pharmacists (1816) in the nation (Louisiana passed a law in 1804 requiring a licensing examination for pharmacists), acquired the site on which the building now stands in 1822. The present building is either a remodeling of his apothecary shop and residence built in 1823, or a new structure of 1837. Dufilho’s apothecary shop and residence is in the style of a typical Creole-American town house. The three-story building is brick covered with plaster. Three large round-arched openings in the lower facade are matched by a similarly shaped carriage entrance at one side. An entresol between the first and second stories is lighted by the upper portion of the window arches. A botanical garden in the courtyard supplied Dufilho’s medicinal herbs. Dufilho sold the building and its contents in 1855 and it subsequently changed hands and uses several times. In 1937, then-mayor Robert S, Maestri purchased the building and donated it to the City, which restored it and opened it as a pharmacy museum in 1950. Since 1987, a nonprofit organization has operated the museum. The courtyard has recently been replanted with medicinal herbs.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas
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Data

Timeline

  • 1823

    Built

  • 1837

    Remodeled or new building constructed

What's Nearby

Napoleon House (Girod House)
Omni Royal Orleans Hotel (Royal Orleans Hotel)
Louisiana Supreme Court and Orleans Parish Civil District Court (Louisiana Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Williams Research Center, The Historic New Orleans Collection (Second City Criminal Court and Third District Police Station)
The Historic New Orleans Collection (Merieult House, Williams House)

Citation

Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas, "Pharmacy Museum (Dufilho’s Pharmacy)", [New Orleans, Louisiana], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/LA-02-OR11.

Print Source

buildings of new orleans book

Buildings of New Orleans, Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018, 27-28.

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