A hotel with character in abundance and personality to spare. A beautiful iconic landmark that captures the exciting energy and rich history of its fascinating neighbors. You can’t help but feel our gracious Southern hospitality, it’s woven deep into the fabric of the place.
Rich history, vibrant traditions, an incredible sense of place. And one of the most haunted!
The history of New Orleans is fascinating and colorful and the story of Bourbon Orleans is no less captivating. Walking our halls and exploring our rooms it’s easy to imagine the hotel when it was the gathering place for Creole society. Or be reminded of the visitors that have never left.
Before becoming the setting for European operas and entertainment for Creole society in New Orleans, the Orleans Theatre has a rocky start. Construction actually begins on the original Théâtre d’Orléans in 1806, but the War of 1812 delays the opening until 1815, and is then completely destroyed by fire in 1816. In 1817, entrepreneur John Davis purchases the land and re-builds the Orleans Theatre and adds the Orleans Ballroom, designed by British-born architect Henry Latrobe, designer of the U.S. Capitol.
In 1881 the Sisters of the Holy Family—the first African-American religious order in the United States, founded by Henriette DeLille in 1842—purchases the former Orleans Ballroom and converts the building into a convent: a motherhouse and school for African American girls called St. Mary’s Academy.
In 1964, the Sisters of the Holy Family sell the property to the Bourbon Kings Hotel Corporation, which has to get approval from the city and the Vieux Carre Commission to develop a $7 million hotel, restore the former Orleans Ballroom building, and to construct a new building on the site of the former asylum for orphan girls at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans Streets.
A Confederate soldier. Children and nuns from the former convent and orphanage. And a lonely ghost dancer. All stories that help rank the Bourbon Orleans Hotel among the top 10 most haunted hotels in the U.S. according to USA Today’s 10Best, Top Ten Haunted Hotels In America.
Prestigious European operas, masquerade balls, carnival balls. Even State Legislature and First District Court sessions. The 1,300 seat Theatre quickly places New Orleans on the map as the opera capital of the United States throughout the nineteenth century, as well as the most important venue for Creole society and the setting for the most select affairs in New Orleans.
In 1866 a fire sweeps through the area, destroying the Theatre but sparing the Ballroom. By 1881, both the Orleans Theater and Ballroom are acquired by the Sisters of the Holy Family for use as a school, orphanage, and convent, where they remained for 83 years.
In 1881 the Sisters of the Holy Family—the first African-American religious order in the United States, founded by Henriette DeLille in 1842—purchases the former Orleans Ballroom and converts the building into a convent: a motherhouse and school for African American girls called St. Mary’s Academy.
The growing order is then quick to purchase an adjacent lot and builds an orphanage for girls called St. John Berchman’s Asylum for Negro Girls, as well as a courtyard and playground for the orphanage—the site of the current courtyard and pool of the Bourbon Orleans Hotel.
By the 1960s, the Sisters of the Holy Family grows to over 400 nuns and sells the property in 1964 to move to a larger convent with expanded facilities in New Orleans East, where they are located today. Baton Rouge contractor Wilson P. Abraham plans to restore the former Orleans Ballroom and build a hotel.
Today, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel offers a rich legacy of a historic hotel without having to compromise on modern amenities, gracious hospitality, or welcoming service, and has been voted as a top Hotel in Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers Choice Awards.
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