ALL ABOARD FOR The Crescent City!

STORY & PHOTOS BY MELISSA MCBRIDE

TheQ&C

There are many choices when it comes to luxury accommodations in New Orleans, but I was drawn to the modern rustic style of exposed brick walls and original wood floors in the guest rooms at the Q&C. Curious about the name and always intrigued with the backstory, this hotel was renovated in 2014 and became a Marriott Autograph Collection property. The 196 room hotel has not one, but two buildings next to each other which are appropriately named the Queen and the Crescent. The quaint bar and open kitchen restaurant is located at street level in the taller Queen building. It’s one of the cozier bars in NOLA with its amazing craft cocktails and Louisiana brews. Each morning, breakfast was delicious and a side of andouille sausage added local flavor! They are known for their brick oven pizzas, savory snacks and live music events. The personalities of the friendly staff, seasoned bartenders, and diligent management feed into the hip vibe! There’s a fitness area and two meeting spaces, The Den and The Library, which are located in the Crescent building. I love the mixture of leather, metal, wood, and early 1900’s touches. A shuffle board and several comfy conversation areas invite interaction. The rooms are true to the vintage architectural bones of the building with their industrial yet clean, urban feel. Being in the heart of the central business district at 344 Camp Street, it is a favorable, quiet location. It’s within walking distance to both the French Quarter and the Warehouse District. Mother’s and Restaurant August are both local favs and just around the corner.

TheBackstory

The Queen, the taller of the two historic buildings, is 12 stories high. It was completed in 1913, and originally built to house the railroad offices for The Queen and Crescent Route...hence the newly abbreviated and trendier hotel nickname: Q&C Hotel Bar™ . The railroad line had obviously been named after the route that linked two major cities in 1883. It made two runs a day between Cincinnati, “The Queen City”, and New Orleans, “The Crescent City.” Cincinnati had been locally nicknamed The Queen City and was used in the 1854 poem, “Catawba Wine”, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In traveling, I’ve learned the more nicknames a city has, the more layers of fun and interests! You’ve probably heard at least a dozen or more for NOLA. “The Crescent City” became popular after it was coined in the 1835 travelogue written by Joseph Holt Ingraham. He eloquently penned a line using the descriptive nickname “from its being built around the segment of a circle formed by a graceful curve of the (Mississippi) river at this place.”

In 1926, The Queen and Crescent Limited was additionally introduced as a luxurious express passenger train with pullman cars and a dining car. A traveler could ride between the two cities in a little over 22 hours. The Great Depression hit a few years later, and the line struggled financially until service ended around 1949. Throughout the years, the building changed hands and purposes multiple times and first became a hotel in the 90’s, with the latest acquisition and renovation by Marriott Autograph Collection, meaning it is distinctively independent and not like any of their other hotels. Each one in the “Collection” has a lot of style and a unique story. A vintage train theme is the subtle undercurrent in the design features. The custom wallpaper in the guestrooms pay symbolic homage to both the railroad and the city with an elegant black and ecru graphic repeat pattern depicting a train engine, fleur de lis, and beads draped in a flower garland. White subway tiles line the bathroom behind the sliding “train” door. Black and white framed jazz prints are hung strategically in the rooms. Love the Q&C! (qandc.com)