HOTEL MONTELEONE

Built in 1886 in the Beaux-Arts architectural style with an eclectic flair, the Monteleone is one of the last great family-owned hotels in New Orleans. The hotel is a historic landmark and member of Historic Hotels of America — the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Monteleone has 570 guest rooms, including 50 suites, the Criollo Restaurant, Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge, gift shop, a heated rooftop swimming pool, Spa Aria, an exercise facility, a business center, and valet parking. The hotel also offers 25 meeting and reception rooms. Since 1886, five generations of the Monteleone family have dedicated themselves to maintain their hotel as the most prestigious hostelry in the French Quarter.

Literary Landmark

Hotel Monteleone was a favorite of many Southern authors. References to the hotel and its Carousel Bar are included in Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo and Orpheus Descending, Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere, Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers, Richard Ford’s A Piece of My Heart, Eudora Welty’s A Curtain of Green, Erle Stanley Gardner’s Owls Don’t Blink, Ernest Hemingway’s “Night Before Battle”, Harry Stephen Keeler’s Voice of the Seven Sparrows and John Grisham’s “The Reckoning.”

Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, and William Faulkner made a point of staying at the Hotel Monteleone while visiting New Orleans. During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Truman Capote once boasted falsely that he was born in the Hotel Monteleone. Anne Rice, Stephen Ambrose, and John Grisham have also stayed at the hotel.

In June 1999, the hotel was designated an official literary landmark by the Friends of the Library Association. The Plaza and Algonquin Hotels in New York City are the only other hotels in the U.S. that share this honor.

Carousel Bar

Hotel Monteleone’s Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge is the only revolving bar in New Orleans. The 25-seat carousel bar turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, pulled by a chain powered by a one-quarter horsepower motor at a rate of one revolution every 15 minutes. The Carousel Bar celebrated its 60th anniversary in July 2009.

Since 1886, five generations of the Monteleone family have dedicated themselves to maintain their hotel as the most prestigious hostelry in the French Quarter.