“Because this hotel focuses on social spaces, we gave the living rooms in the suites the most generous footprint,” says Staver Gray. A curvaceous custom-made sofa with fringe detail easily seats several guests, and nearby is a burlwood armoire that holds all the essentials for pouring a perfect New Orleans cocktail. The Ward + Gray-designed irregularly shaped wool rug is inspired by folk and voodoo art, and the Creole-inspired painting that hangs behind the sofa is one of several commissioned for the hotel from artist Rebecca Jack. Photography by Jacqueline Marque.
Shared adventures are on the itinerary at New Orleans’ new Hotel Perle, a boutique hotel designed for group travel
You hear it before you see it—the iconic green steel vehicle that is the St. Charles Avenue streetcar. The oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world, this postcard-perfect mode of transportation hums, squeals and clacks its way through some of the most picturesque parts of New Orleans.
Designed by Perley Thomas, an early 20th-century engineer, the solidly built St. Charles Avenue streetcars fittingly make one of their stops directly in front of the new Hotel Perle, which was named in Thomas’ honor. The three-story brick building actually served first as a hotel in 1916, only a few years before Thomas’ electric streetcars first rolled down these tracks. In 1985, the Warehouse District building was converted into offices, and its origins soon seemed long forgotten.
Before the renovation, the area that now serves as the hotel lobby was a gated exterior courtyard. An antique French console with a marble trompe-l’oeil top was retrofitted with a custom Ralph Lauren Home skirt for use as the reception desk. The floor is covered in custom hand-chiseled Belgian bluestone and limestone, and the curved staircase is inspired by old New Orleans homes. Hanging above the desk is a three-tier palm-motif crystal chandelier commissioned from a factory in Venice, Italy.
The ceilings are more than 20 feet high in this atrium space just beyond the lobby. Rich textures fill this space, from the rough plaster walls painted in Benjamin Moore’s “Imperial Gray” to the mustard-colored velvet sofa and rattan coffee table. A weathered zinc garden mirror makes this a good spot for a last-minute fit check before hitting the town.
A pair of striped slipper chairs in the lobby is a comfy spot for hanging out. The Ward + Gray designers discovered the large French antique oil painting on Etsy and knew it would be perfect for this spot.
That is, until developer Urban Properties Real Estate set out to return the structure to its roots—but with a twist. The new Hotel Perle would be aimed at group travelers, with suites designed to allow groups to stay together and still maintain privacy.
“There were sadly not a lot of beautiful architectural details inherited from the building’s past lives, apart from the generous ceiling heights and large windows,” says Staver Gray of New York-based design firm Ward + Gray, which worked alongside New Orleans architecture firm Rome Office on the project. They created 10 multi-room suites, each with its own living room, kitchen and dining space as well as anywhere from two to seven bedrooms. As many as 14 guests can stay together in a suite, making this an ideal property for bachelor and bachelorette trips, family reunions, corporate and church retreats, and other situations when small groups might be traveling together.
Built-in bunks in this bedroom allow for even larger groups to comfortably stay together. But this room doesn’t sacrifice style; it has the same ceiling murals and other design details of the bedrooms with larger bed sizes.
Guest bedrooms within the suites are color-drenched in varying hues pulled from Creole cottages that the Ward + Gray team photographed during early visits to the city. Each room features a custom ceiling mural and juxtaposes a formal-style headboard against a more rustic French colonial-inspired rattan armoire.
Each suite has its own kitchen, designed for true function as well as timeless style. The design of the custom island is based on an antique carved console table the Ward + Gray team photographed during a local antiquing trip; the island is topped with honed marble. Simple cabinetry is dressed up with antique-inspired polished nickel hardware, while banded globe light fixtures illuminate the cooking process.
Ward + Gray paid homage to New Orleans itself—with its wide range of architectural styles, rich colors and artistic influences—as the firm devised a distinctive interior look and feel for the new hotel. “We found endless inspiration in the antique shops of Magazine Street and in the cultural and artistic history of New Orleans,” says designer Christie Ward.
Within the suites, Ward + Gray layered custom pieces ranging from voodoo-inspired rugs and curved sofas to crystal chandeliers and bespoke patterned wallpapers. They also added unique locally found pieces from small shops, including Consign Consign on Magazine Street. “As a studio,” Ward explains, “we never employ a one-size-fits-all approach.”
This seating area adjacent to the terrace pool deck offers prime views of the city. Green ticking-striped cushions and a mix of metal details give this area a taste of Southern comfort with a collected feel.
The terrace pool was added during the renovation and craned up to what was the roof of the parking garage structure below. Ornamental wrought-iron lounge chairs reflecting the city’s French influence are topped with deep green cushions for a formal feel and sit atop a gray and white checkerboard-patterned pool deck.
