Palmyre, a Parisian-Inspired Paradise

Palmyre, a Parisian-Inspired Paradise

Inspired by one of Lafayette's most iconic early-twentieth century socialites, River Ranch's new cocktail lounge drips with open-armed opulence

By Ashley Hinson

If River Ranch is the cultural seat of style in Southside Lafayette, then its newest cocktail lounge, Palmyre, is the curated crown jewel. Nestled among Acadiana’s most high-end shops and a chic community of townhomes, Palmyre seamlessly layers sophisticated playfulness with traditional, old-money Southern hospitality.

Photos by Mary Craven Photography, courtesy of Palmyre.

Stepping into Palmyre on a warm, rain-misted evening is like stepping out of time. This evocation, like every detail inside the parlor-esque lounge, is intentional.

Palmyre is named for a real Southern lady: local legend Palmyre Billeaud. She earned her socialite status—and then some. Billeaud was the wife of the President and General Manager of the Billeaud Sugar Factory, Martial Billeaud, a mother to many, and a friend to all. The family left an indelible mark on Acadiana, farming sugar until federal subsidies ended in 1974, then shifting into the commercial real estate market, becoming Billeaud Companies. The family sugar mill is still in Broussard to this day, as is Martial Billeaud Elementary School.

The socialite arrived on the scene with all glamor and no pretense. Colleen Ottinger would know. Palmyre Billeaud was her great-great-grandmother.

“She was the epitome of Southern upbringing,” said Ottinger, who owns Palmyre, as well as the Verot School Road eatery Mercy Kitchen, with her husband Stuart. “She was liked by all walks of people. She was like a modern-day Jane Scott Hodgins.” In 1915, Billeaud died unexpectedly at the age of forty-eight due to “acute indigestion that left her in a weakened condition and unable to throw off the insidious ravages of a chronic ailment,” according to her obituary. She left behind five children, and over 1,200 people attended her funeral “many being unable to get in the church, which was packed to the doors despite the great heat.” Today, many of Lafayette’s Billeaud and Beaullieu families can trace their ancestry back to her. “She was really loved,” said Ottinger.

As a beauty of exalted rank from one of Acadiana’s preeminent families, Billeaud and her brood made excellent taste a family trait. Between conquering the sugar market and taking trips abroad, they collected items that, over a century later, visitors to the Palmyre lounge can admire—from gorgeously-etched glassware to a taxidermied cheetah, forever posed on the prowl. Their portraits, in original frames, hang alongside the fireplace, taking in the revelry.

“Palmyre [was] a local socialite, and I wanted the interiors to feel as if you were in her home,” Ottinger said. “Some of her descendants are still here living in town. I wanted it to feel as if she was serving you.”

Photos by Mary Craven Photography, courtesy of Palmyre.

To execute this vision, Ottinger sought out the expertise of coveted Nashville interior designer Lindsay Rhodes, whose list of notable clients reads like a Grammys invite list, featuring country-disco darling Kacey Musgraves and Lady A’s Charles Kelley, to name a few.

“Lindsay would never in a million years do a commercial project, but she’s my best friend,” Ottinger said. The two met in Nashville in 2006 and instantly connected over a shared appreciation for elevated aesthetics and aligned life paths.

“We were both engaged at the same time,” Rhodes recalled. “We had all these things in common, and we would start a little Saturday shopping tradition. Every season, we would buy the same matching shoes. It was our little tradition. We ended up having our first children one week apart. The same month the boys were born, she moved to Lafayette. We just got to be good friends.”

Rhodes said working with creative minds like the Ottingers’ informs her design process. “[Colleen] would have an idea, and it would inspire me to have ten more,” shesaid. “We would be texting at midnight, like, ‘Let’s do this.’ She was great about having a good direction and good descriptions, and I just get her. She would send me a random picture of a woman, and I’m like, ‘I got it. I get the feeling.’ Colleen has a larger-than-life personality, so you can go big with that.”

Palmyre’s interiors introduce to Lafayette a trend observed lately in larger cities’ tastemaking circles: lush, exuberant excess. The clinically all-white-everything, Edison-bulb industrial era is coming to a close. Within the lounge, the eye bounces from the layers of paper-thin European wallpaper, to the plush velvet seating dripping in tassels, to the way light plays with shadow beneath an assemblage of modern and antique lighting. When brought together, the elements of Palmyre are a masterclass in Southern maximalism.

And, yes. The wallpaper in the bathrooms is Gucci. “Everybody has been doing everything white. This was the opposite,” Ottinger said. “We weren’t setting up to be anybody but ourselves, and it just created this whole vibe.”

The setup evokes that of a fabulous house party. Hostesses greet and seat you, just like Palmyre would. Instantly you are struck by the environment’s textured buzziness—an exciting brand of refinement. You might settle into a corner with a friend, marveling at the mixed-media quality of the patterns at play while sipping from a delicately-etched vintage cocktail glass. Or take a seat at the massive marbled bartop, which extends to almost the entire length of the building, to watch the cocktail artisans in action. Or perhaps you open yourself to the room, perching (or peacocking) at one of the lounge-esque conversation areas, featuring European couches and chairs luxuriously decked out in the most flamboyant of patterns, all circled around gleaming art pieces of coffee tables beneath custom-made chandeliers that bear the same pattern as the wallpaper.

“We have this mixture of antiques and mid-century pieces,” said Rhodes. “It’s just a bar that feels like you’re at [Palymyre’s] home and having a happy hour cocktail. It’s very collected, very French-inspired, but then always going back to Palmyre. She is someone who appreciates history but is pushing the envelope and on the forefront of setting new trends as well. It’s that nice blend of paying homage but also having the modern woman in mind, always embracing the newness as well.”

Upstairs, like a secret, is the whimsical indoor champagne garden. A dream within a dream, its AstroTurf floors, brass fixtures, and Murano glass butterflies are perfect for the private parties for which it holds space. One particularly famous Nashville-based actress has approached Palmyre to recreate the experience via franchising—something Ottinger said is impossible.

Photos by Mary Craven Photography, courtesy of Palmyre.

“It’s the real stuff,” Ottinger said, emphasizing the one-of-a-kind nature of the space’s very-intentional pieces and overall experience. “I don’t know if I knew it was going to come together. You’re coming in and the furnishings are as beautiful and unique as a personal home.”

Touching on Lafayette’s particular connection to and affinity for its unique French heritage, Ottinger said that she hoped Palmyre’s Parisian influence would offer a more chic interpretation of that. “These Cajuns, sometimes, we want to feel a little glammed up,” she said. “We leave to go to Antoine’s and Galatoire’s to have this experience. That’s what Palmyre offers.”

When asked if it was hard for her to share her family’s treasured objects with the public, Ottinger shook her head. “Not at all,” she said. “I wanted to do something different, special and elevated because I feel like our community has such nice people, some of the best people who are rich in culture. Every now and then, we want to have a nice martini and be treated to beautiful interiors.”

At Palmyre, Lafayette is being treated to a kaleidoscope of style with sparkling, delicate, and intricate pieces of its past. Welcome home. Have a seat. She’s been waiting for you.

thepalmyre.com

Photos by Mary Craven Photography, courtesy of Palmyre.