About the Owners

The Chatillon-DeMenil House is significant because it stands as a landmark to mid nineteenth century St. Louis. Its distinction is threefold: architectural, historical, and social. The two men who built it, and how they built it, illustrate a certain sought-after status of contemporary St. Louis life. The history of the house and the histories of the families give the house a unique distinction. The men, Henri Chatillon and Nicholas DeMenil, and their wives, Odile and Delor Lux and Emilie Sophie Chouteau, were part of St. Louis history. All of French heritage, they represent the development of St. Louis and the Mississippi River valley from its roughest beginnings to its elegant aspirations.