The private breakfast room at Maison De La Luz features custom wall coverings and abundant natural light. All photographs courtesy of the hotel.
From its breathtaking French architecture to the high-spirited Mardi Gras celebration, New Orleans suffers no shortage of sights, sounds, and libations to keep visitors busy well past their usual bedtimes. There’s a new dreamy place to sleep off the revelry: Maison de la Luz, a 67-room guest house in the city’s historic Warehouse District.
Formerly a City Hall annex, the 1908 building has been reimagined by Atelier Ace, the creative agency behind the Ace hotel group. For this property (which is next door to the rowdier Ace Hotel New Orleans), the group commissioned interior design firm Studio Shamshiri to create a space that feels at once intimate and ornate. The result is six stories of grand staircases, marble vanities, and rich color schemes. Plush yet unfussy furniture and eclectic artwork, including multiple pieces by New Orleans native Clair Crespo, add to the sensibility that incorporates Southern charm and French elegance. Even the bathrooms delight, with custom four-color marble floor tiles, porcelain soap dishes inspired by Gulf Coast oysters, and serpent-shaped shower handles.
Adjoining the hotel is Bar Marilou, a craft cocktails bar with an innovative list of offerings. We’re especially drawn to the pastis, passion fruit, grapefruit, and mint concoction called Canaille — Cajun French for a tricky person who is hiding something. Coy as they want to play it, nothing is going to stop us from paying them a visit.