A place for reverie

EskewDumezRipple presents one of its latest project: Maison de la Luz, a new luxury guesthouse in New Orleans, Louisiana designed in collaboration with the interior design firm Studio Shamshiri.

Inspired by the building’s storied history, EskewDumezRipple's design team worked in tandem to transform the legacy six-story, 55,464-square-foot former City Hall annex into a sophisticated destination. The hotel offers 67 guest rooms, a private guest lounge and dining room, plus support spaces. A restored monumental entry portico covered by an ornamental iron and glass canopy defines the entry into the building. Upon entry, a new archway helps emphasize the foyer's verticality, while diffused lighting and custom mauve-lavender paint round out the soothing private sanctuary. The original historic grand stair was lovingly restored to its original patina, with a slight hint of gold dusting added to push it closer to the French style embodied in other design elements found throughout the hotel.

A new, bespoke concierge desk welcomes and orients guests. Along with a variety of original lighting fixtures and historic windows, colorful original marble floors, French wallpaper, and a carefully curated selection of furniture— including skirted armchairs, copper-topped tables, and elaborate Roman mosaic-tile baths—complete the aesthetic. Wherever possible, the design team worked to maintain a variety of original lighting fixtures. The Living Room serves as a lobby where guests can play board games, host a meeting, or have a pre-dinner cocktail—all under light fixtures inspired by corset boning. Here, custom-designed and crafted rugs and furniture, unconventional details and layers of warmth and irreverence complete the design of this stately lounge. Inspired by romance, rebellion, and Frenchinflected details and awash with curated curiosities, oil paintings, classic books and warm furnishings, the spirited sanctuary Bar Marilou is a scarlet jewel box nestled in the former library at City Hall Annex in New Orleans. This craft cocktail bar was developed in partnership with Parisian culinary group Quixotic Projects, and it is accessible through a guest-only entrance from Maison de la Luz.

Each guest room is set back from the shared hallway by an interior vestibule. Local artists and artisans contributed to the design with pieces unique to individual rooms within. The project included meticulously restoring key historic elements, modernization of building systems, and upgrades to the building’s stormwater management system (designed in collaboration with Spackman Mossop Michaels) to meet the City of New Orleans’s new resilience initiatives for stormwater.

Address: 546 Carondelet Street, 70130 - New Orleans, Louisiana, USA