| Louisiana Division/City Archives | New Orleans Public Library |
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| VIRGINIE CARNATZ & LEONIE DE VARENNE
Virginie Carnatz, with her sister Leonie de Varenne, founded The Carnatz Institute, a day and boarding school for young ladies, in 1865. Madame Carnatz came to New Orleans from France in 1849 and taught French at the Young Ladies’ High School of the Second District and later at Miss Hull’s academy. Leonie, was born in GuadeIoupe and joined her sister in New Orleans as a girl. In 1865, the sisters started their own day and boarding school on Camp Street, which moved shortly afterwards to Prytania Street at the corner of First Street, the “elegant mansion formerly occupied by General W. R. Miles as a residence.” The school soon became a success, with a curriculum that emphasized literature, mathematics, music, and languages. |
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Show here is an ad for the school, after its move to Prytania Street.
(Daily Picayune, September 1, 1867) |
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Madame Carnatz was widowed a few years after the school opened. By 1880, the Institute moved to 222 (now 2708) Coliseum Street. In 1884, Mlle de Varenne purchased the building and took over as principal. Madame Carnatz died two years later, but the school continued to operate until 1897, when Leonie de Varenne married Robert T. Leland (at the age of 48). She kept the property on Coliseum Street until 1909 and died in 1914. This ad for the Carnatz Institute appeared in 1889.
(Business Guide of New Orleans and Vicinity, [1889]) |