Hotel Monteleone

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Hotel Monteleone is a family-owned hotel at 214 Royal Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. It has the only high-rise building inside the interior of the Quarter and is famous for the Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge, a revolving bar. Built in 1886 in Beaux-Arts style with eclectic touches, it is a historic landmark and a member of Historic Hotels of America. The hotel has 570 guest rooms, including 50 suites.

Antonio Monteleone, a Sicilian cobbler, arrived in New Orleans around 1880. He bought a small hotel at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets in 1886 and later expanded by acquiring the nearby Commercial Hotel. The hotel has undergone five major expansions: in 1903, 30 rooms were added; in 1908, 300 more rooms were added and the hotel’s name changed from the Commercial Hotel to Hotel Monteleone. Antonio died in 1913, and his son Frank took over. In 1928 Frank added 200 more rooms, just before the Great Depression. The hotel survived the era and remained mostly unchanged until 1954, when the original building was demolished and replaced with a new one featuring guest facilities, ballrooms, dining rooms, and cocktail lounges. Frank died in 1958 and was succeeded by his son Bill. The fifth expansion in 1964 added more floors, more rooms, and a Sky Terrace with pools and lounges. The hotel later served as the campaign headquarters for Governor Edwin Edwards during his campaigns from 1972 to 1991. Bill died in 2011, and his son William Jr. took over. Today, Hotel Monteleone remains one of the nation’s few long-standing, family-owned hotels.

The hotel has long been beloved by Southern writers and appears in numerous works. It was designated an official literary landmark in June 1999. Only two other U.S. hotels, the Plaza and the Algonquin, share this honor.

The Carousel Bar is the only revolving bar in New Orleans. It opened in 1949 and seats 25 people. The bar turns about every 15 minutes on nearly 2,000 steel rollers, powered by a 1/4-horsepower motor. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Swan Room hosted performances by stars such as Liberace and Louis Prima.