By J.C. Thomas
There are some vacation destinations for which any decent hotel will do. You just need a clean, comfortable room in a convenient location. New Orleans, especially the French Quarter, is not one of those destinations. This is a singular place of magic and idiosyncrasy, where anything bland or unremarkable simply will not stand.
When you’re choosing a place to stay in the French Quarter, insist on a hotel with a deep local heritage, a sense of history and verve. Where horse-drawn carriages clomp along the cobblestones outside your window, cats sun themselves on cafe tables, and jazz notes — real or phantom — dance in the air. And also good WiFi, in-room coffee and super-comfy beds, please.
You’ll get all that and more at Hotel St. Pierre.
Hotel St. Pierre’s remarkable history
Today, Hotel St. Pierre is a 79-room, pet-friendly boutique hotel, part of the Nola Hotel Group. It has a prime location at the corner of Burgundy and Dumaine streets, in a quiet section of New Orleans’ famed French Quarter. Bourbon Street is just a few blocks away, and many other top tourist attractions as well as countless dining and entertainment options are within easy walking distance. While open to the public as a hotel since 1969, Hotel St. Pierre is in fact one of the oldest properties in the French Quarter.
In the lobby of the hotel, guests can pick up a paper scroll detailing its lengthy and storied history. Hotel St. Pierre comprises several restored French colonial cottages dating to the 1700s. The oldest structure is the Peyroux Building, built in 1781 in the French Creole “briquette-entre-poteaux” (small brick between posts) architectural style using Mississippi River mud, Spanish moss and horsehair. It was initially built on a plantation owned by the prosperous French-born apothecary Gabriel Peyroux, and later moved to its current site. The Peyroux Building is notable as one of very few French Quarter buildings to survive two major fires in the late 18th century.
The Peyroux family owned the building until 1850, after which it went through a series of uses and saw additional cottages built around it. A neighboring baptist church started renting rooms out in what is now Hotel St. Pierre in the mid-20th century. The property’s next function, starting in 1961, was hosting the world’s first ever jazz museum. Jazz greats including Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton stayed on site while visiting the museum. Tennessee Williams was another famous guest of this era. The New Orleans Jazz Museum’s collection of rare instruments, records and more, is now relocated to the Old U.S. Mint, one of the Louisiana State Museums. But there are various museum artifacts still on display throughout Hotel St. Pierre.
First impressions
While it’s easy to locate Hotel St. Pierre and spot its signage, the property sits harmoniously alongside its French Quarter neighbors. There’s no deliberately eye-catching frontage or grand entrance to distinguish the hotel from the myriad other businesses or private homes on Burgundy Street. This enhances the sense of immersion in the city, helping guests feel like savvy out-of-towners rather than conspicuous tourists. So does the hotel’s configuration as a collection of historic, low-slung cottages and French colonial-style balconied rooms with beautifully preserved exteriors.
When you check in at the bright, airy front desk area, you’ll immediately notice the displays of vintage jazz paraphernalia arranged artfully around the walls and fixtures. Otherwise chic and contemporary decor balances out the time-worn trumpets, records, photographs and other ephemera. Alongside the paper scrolls offered to guests who want to read about the hotel’s history, you’re invited to check out its custom Spotify playlist. Pull up the playlist while you’re settling in and let the songs of such greats as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk set the tone of a jazz-enhanced New Orleans vacation.
From the lobby, make your way through inner courtyards and alleys lined with potted plants to the individual building housing your hotel room. This might be the Peyroux Building, the Jazz Cottage or another historic Creole house dating back to the 1700’s. The sense of authentic old New Orleans is palpable, with each structure made up of pock-marked brick, weathered timber, jewel-toned shutters, and wrought iron accents. You can sense with certainty that centuries of conversations in French, Spanish, English and Creole, music from the birth through the heyday of jazz, hurricanes, humidity and the full gamut of human experience have seeped into this place. And now it’s welcoming you to rest your head before getting out to explore such an awe-inspiring city.
Hotel St. Pierre accommodations
Each guest room at Hotel St. Pierre is named for a prominent jazz musician. For my family’s two-night stay at the hotel, we booked two rooms in the Peyroux Building, each with two queen beds. One was the Bunk Room, which honors Willie Gary “Bunk” Johnson, (1889-1949), a New Orleans jazz trumpet player. His framed pictures and bio are on display in the room. The other surprised us upon arrival with a plaque proclaiming “This room is dedicated to the memory of Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong who stayed here during his visit to the Jazz Museum in 1965.”
The rooms are uniquely decorated although similar in style and configuration. Both have street-facing tall windows hung with heavy drapes, hip-high beds piled with luxury linens, and period-style furnishings that pair French colonial refinement with American oversized scale. Exposed brick and old timbers embedded in the high ceilings remind you that this building dates to the 1700s — baffling for those of us from places with a poorer approach to preservation. But, thorough and essential modernization has taken place, likely many times over, and so the rooms offer all the comforts and amenities guests demand in this century. That includes a large flat-screen TV with cable, air-conditioning, an in-room coffee maker and complimentary Wi-Fi.
Hotel St. Pierre’s heritage means that every room is unique, so guests have many options to consider. Accommodations range from petite rooms with one full bed and a budget-friendly price, to the updated Vieux Carre suites with a jetted tub, king bed and queen sleeper sofa in the sitting room. In between are standard or updated classic king and two-queen rooms, some boasting a balcony overlooking Burgundy Street.
Amenities
Hotel St. Pierre guests enjoy access to two swimming pools set among its lush courtyards. The pools are open year-round, although unheated, with ample seating all around. Inside the lobby is a 24/7 snack shop that includes a freezer stocked with ice creams. There’s also a business area inside the lobby. On-site parking is available in a small lot across the street, for a fee.
Details:
Hotel St. Pierre
911 Burgundy Street, New Orleans, LA 70116
(504) 524-4401
(All photos by California News Press)
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Disclaimer: California News Press and its contributors received goods, services and/or other professional courtesies to facilitate this review. All opinions are those of the author.