Kings & Pawns:
The Bloodlines of Bourbon-Orléans
BY LAURA KUHN
2015
PART FIVE:
The Bourbon Orleans Hotel
There is a haunting beauty within the walls of the Bourbon Orleans Hotel which was established in 1964 after two centuries of convoluted heritage. From the pitter-patter of orphans skirmishing down hallways to the swish of nun’s skirts up the stairwell, from the music and dancing of the old ballroom soirées to the applause of theatergoers witnessing the dawn of French opera in New Orleans... these elements echo throughout the address of 717 Orleans Avenue.
Each transitional phase of the building – which sits on Square 59 between the bordering streets of Royal, Orleans, Bourbon, and St. Ann – did not come to fruition easily. During an inauspicious era of the early 1960s, half the population wanted to keep the city preserved in its historic state, and the other half wished to forget its history and reconstruct the entire district. It was a watershed decade as the preservation of New Orleans came of age.
Between 1961 and 1964, the time of the transfer of property from the Sisters of the Holy Family to the Bourbon Kings Hotel Corporation, Vieux Carré – translated as “Old Square” but known as the French Quarter – was under a cloud of controversy. With a lack of documentation regarding the historical and architectural data on the Quarter’s properties, requests for demolition and reconstruction besieged the city. Internal dissension arose with the proposal to build an elevated expressway bordering the river in front of Jackson Square. This riverfront superhighway for mass transit in New Orleans caused an uproar, commonly referred to as the Second Battle of New Orleans – a fight that lasted several years until the project was canceled at the end of the decade.
In order to ensure no other threat would come to the preservation of New Orleans, the Schleider Foundation funded Tulane University to implement the Vieux Carré Survey. This survey included a block-by-block inventory and evaluation of all properties in the area. People saw Vieux Carré as a work of art, not only as a visual entity of fine architecture, but as a mixture of cultural elements creating emotional responses from locals and visitors.
It became a time of neo-progressive development in New Orleans. Since the early 20th century, certain politicians and real estate agencies saw the aging structures of Vieux Carré as decomposing waste in need of demolition. For many residents such as artists and writers, the decay was picturesque and the buildings historically significant. This mix of aesthetic-minded people formed an association in 1936 to legally protect Vieux Carré and preserve the neighborhood’s traditional architecture and residential character by setting guidelines for design and renovation. The Vieux Carré Commission established zoning laws in the French Quarter, and any construction or architectural alterations, including the paint color for a home or business, would need the VCC’s approval.
Therefore, the purchase of the old convent and the future plans of a five million dollar luxury hotel in its place would require a reclassification and rezoning of the structure. An outpour of concern emerged from the VCC, massively resisting the idea of losing the Vieux Carré Convent to a hotel site in which would demolish its fine latticework, paneling, curving staircases, and chandeliers. The convent was considered one of the most historic and well-known structures in the Mississippi Valley, and its loss would be a calamity.
To add complication, the building’s design violated the height of Vieux Carré’s zoning law. With a fifty-foot limit in the French Quarter for any structure, a contractor from Baton Rouge named Wilson Abraham wanted to build a sixty-five-foot tall, 350-room luxury hotel. The laws did not permit the extra fifteen feet, but Abraham overcame this obstacle by obtaining approval of the Vieux Carré Commission, the City Planning Commission, the City Council, the Department of Safety and Permits, and the Board of Zoning Adjustments.
After the struggle of countless hearings and petitions, Abraham was granted permission to begin the restoration of the Orleans Ballroom and the demolition and reconstruction of the adjacent building. As the nuns moved to their new location on Chef Menteur Highway, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel began its construction in 1964. The old and hazardously cracked walls of the school came down, and the famed Orleans Ballroom was saved and refurbished to its former prominence. Where once a patio for the schoolgirls stood as an outdoor auditorium now swims the blue-green waters of a saltwater pool, and built around the enclosed courtyard are 218 guestrooms including wrought-iron balcony suites overlooking Bourbon Street’s infamous nightlife.
In preservation of life and limb of old New Orleans, the grand staircase was restored, winding from the lobby up a flight of spiraling steps bound on one side by a carved mahogany railing. At the carpeted top, the ballroom of long windows and heavy curtains opens to a balcony that overlooks Orleans Avenue and the superior view of the Basilica’s garden.
The cultured pearl of New Orleans, the vintage jewel of Vieux Carré, the elegant treasure of the French Quarter stands proudly today as the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. With its two hundred years of controversy and triumph, this landmark of old Creole society offers an atmospheric glimpse into the many folds of history wrapped around its broad shoulders like a royal cape. It dons the crown of a king while wearing the shrouds of a humble servant indentured to a great city... the one and only New Orleans.