Located on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans, Maison Blanche opened in 1897, backed financially by Isidore Newman. Over the next century, it became one of the city’s premier department stores. After a series of ownership changes, Maison Blanche eventually closed in the mid-1990s.
Like D. H. Holmes, Maison Blanche was home to an in-store restaurant. Known as The Rendezvous, it offered shoppers a place to dine inside the department store. The exact dates that the restaurant opened and closed are unclear.
Unfortunately, we have no china that can be identified with certainty as having been used in The Rendezvous. We do, however, have two interesting possibilities. Both bear the initials MB, but those initials alone are not enough to establish that either piece was actually used by Maison Blanche or its restaurant.
The first is a plate made by Syracuse China and dated 1924. Its monogram makes it an intriguing possibility, but so far we have found no photograph, advertisement, or other documentation that confirms its use at The Rendezvous.
The second piece is a small cream pitcher bearing a different MB monogram. It appears to be of a later design, and its manufacturer has not yet been identified. As with the plate, we have not found documentation connecting it conclusively to The Rendezvous.
For now, both pieces remain possibilities rather than confirmed examples of Maison Blanche restaurant china—and perhaps someday another photograph, menu, advertisement, or surviving piece will help solve the mystery.
Share Our Memories
Do you remember visiting this place, or have a story, memory, or information about it you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you. Visit Share a Find to share your memories with us.