Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba

American businesswoman

Date of Birth: 06-Nov-1795

Place of Birth: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Date of Death: 20-Apr-1874

Profession: businessperson, entrepreneur

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio


Show Famous Birthdays Today, United States

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba

  • Micaela Leonarda Antonia de Almonester Rojas y de la Ronde, Baroness de Pontalba (November 6, 1795- April 20, 1874) was a wealthy New Orleans-born Creole aristocrat, businesswoman and real estate designer and developer who endures as one of the most recalled and dynamic personalities in the city's history, though she lived most of her life in Paris.On April 26, 1798, when Micaela was just ?2 1/2 years old, her Spanish father, Don AndrĂ©s Almonester y Rojas, died, leaving her his sole surviving heir.
  • Micaela inherited a considerable fortune.
  • Her estate was capably administered by her mother, Louise Denys de la Ronde, referenced as "a superbly competent businesswoman who had greatly increased the inheritance since Almonester's death." Following Micaela's marriage, in 1811, to her French cousin, Joseph-Xavier CĂ©lestin Delfau de Pontalba, she moved to France.
  • The marriage was not successful and she became a virtual prisoner at the de Pontalba chateau near Senlis. Having failed, despite his concerted efforts over more than two decades, to gain possession of Micaela's entire inheritance, her father-in-law, Baron de Pontalba, eventually shot her four times at point-blank range with a pair of dueling pistols, and then committed suicide.
  • She survived the attack, although her left breast and two of her fingers were mutilated by gunfire.
  • Her husband, Cèlestin, succeeded his father as baron, and Micaela was thereafter styled Baroness de Pontalba.
  • She eventually obtained a legal separation from her husband. Micaela was responsible for the design and construction of the famous Pontalba Buildings in Jackson Square, in the heart of the French Quarter.
  • In 1855, she had built the HĂ´tel de Pontalba in Paris, where she lived until her death in 1874.
  • Her life was worthy of an operatic plot, and eventually became one: Pontalba: a Louisiana Legacy, composed by Thea Musgrave.
  • A play by Diana E.H.
  • Shortes entitled The Baroness Undressed, and several novels, are also based on her dramatic life.

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also