Bendel Housekeeper's Home
318 Clinton Street
Built c: 1900
Architectural Style: Victorian Shingle/Eastlake
This house was built by Henri Bendel (1868-1936) for his beloved, long-
time housekeeper. Henri was well known for his generosity to employees,
family and friends. In addition to this house, he also built a house for his
sister, now called La Maison Française and located on UL Lafayette campus
at 1511 Johnston Street. Henri was born in Vermilionville, to William
Louis Bendel and Mary Plonsky Bendel. Henri's father died in 1874 when
Henri was six years old. His mother was an astute businesswoman who
owned and operated a retail furniture outlet, a drug store, a dry goods
store, and an undertaking parlor. She remarried in 1878 to Benjamin Falk,
who would become one of the most successful Lafayette businessmen of
his time. They operated a dry goods store, above which was Falk's Opera
House. In 1894, Henri Bendel married Blanche Lehman, a daughter of
Aaron Lehman and a member of the Henry Lehman family. Henri had
exceptional fashion designing skills, and by 1895 he opened a ladies
accessories shop in Greenwich Village. The French-speaking Bendel
enhanced his store's exclusivity by importing fashions from Paris, and
in 1907, he began branding the brown and white striped boxes that are
still identified with the Henri Bendel company today.