View source for Denechaud House

[[Image:Denechaud House.jpg|right|thumb|375px|Denechaud House in 2010. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/50245058@N03/5004518688/in/photostream/ Photo by Cougar_6]]]
The '''Denechaud House''', originally the '''Denechaud European Hotel and Restaurant''' was a hotel located at 2107 [[2nd Avenue North]], adjoining the [[Florentine Building]] in [[downtown Birmingham]]. The property, owned by New Orleans hotelier E. F. Denechaud and operated by his sons [[Edward Denechaud|Edward]] and [[Louis Denechaud|Louis]], opened in [[1887]]. The building featured one of the most elaborate cornices in town, matched in ornateness by the window surrounds on the front.

The hotel survived only two years, with the sons returning to New Orleans to help operate their father's business. After the hotel's closure, the building has housed a grocery, sewing machine company, a paint supply store, apartments, and a furniture store.

In the late 1920s, the building housed the [[Quality Market]], one of a row of grocery stores and bakeries stretching across half the block. In the 1960s and 1970s, the ground floor was occupied by the [[Peoples Loan Co.]] pawn shop. Extensive work in [[1985]] and [[1986]] restored the historic facade as well as a painted sign high on the building's east wall, long hidden behind an adjacent structure.

From [[1993]]  to [[2002]] [[Designform]] architects had offices in the Denechaud House. It is currently owned by [[William Upshaw]] and [[Patricia Comer]] and houses their  [[Comer & Upshaw]] law firm and a residential loft. Redevelopment of the third floor from office space into a 2,000-square-foot loft was assisted by a City of Birmingham business development loan.

==References==
* {{White-1977}}
* {{Buchanan-2012}}
* Diel, Stan (April 19, 2013) "Top floor of 126-year-old downtown building, originally a hotel, to become a loft." {{BN}}

[[Category:Former hotels]]
[[Category:2nd Avenue North]]
[[Category:1887 buildings]]
[[Category:1887 establishments]]
[[Category:1889 disestablishments]]