Living history: the Hotel Monteleone
The Family Business: A short history of the Hotel Monteleone
Paul Oswell
The Hotel Monteleone is one of the last, classic, family-owned hotels in America, having now been operated by five generations of the Monteleone family over the past century or so. Its beginnings were humble, though, and it now stands largely thanks to the vision of one man.
Antonio Monteleone arrived from Sicily in the early 1880s and worked in a successful cobblers and shoe store owned by his uncle. It didn’t take long for the lure of the American dream to shape his ambition, and he began to buy land on Decatur Street and then St Philip. In 1886, he purchased the building at 54 Royal Street, the lots adjacent to the current site of the hotel. It became the family home for him, his wife Sophia and his children.
Antonio diversified his interests, opening up a small, three-story hotel on the corner of Iberville and Royal. By 1898, he was able to expand. Advertisements ran in local newspapers around that time, announcing the new incarnation of the then-named 'Commercial Hotel’. Rooms started at a dollar a night.
Lot by lot, Antonio bought his way around the block. Luxurious touches were slowly added to the Commercial Hotel, foreshadowing Monteleone’s ambition. Private bubble baths, grand chandeliers, the freshest seafood and – just as important since just about every hotel in town had burned down at some point – state-of-the-art safety features.
Work began on a Louis XIV/French Renaissance-style property, replete with a grand staircase, hi-tech elevators, wooden carvings in the public spaces and 220 rooms, 160 of which had baths and all of which had electric lights (a real feature in those days). The hotel was fireproofed and in 1908, the first guests checked in.
The hotel was an immediate success. Antonio won himself favor with all who worked for him, advocating union labor and averting a number of crises – a man of the people who could mix in the high society circles that hotel ownership demanded. It was an elegant and fashionable block, with the theaters nearby, and an assortment of private gentlemens’ clubs.
1907-08 had been an era-defining year for the New Orleans hotel industry, this also being the year that The Jung Hotel opened on Canal Street, The New Hotel Denechaud (now Le Pavillon) opened on Poydras and The Grunewald (now The Roosevelt) also underwent a major expansion.
Sadly, Antonio died in 1913 while traveling in Germany. He was only 58 years old. Newspapers reported how distressing the news was to the hotel staff and to all who knew him, which was a large slice of the city. The hotel passed to his son, Frank. It’s worth noting that even up to 1926, rooms still started at $1 a night, a bargain for the relative luxury.
This new era saw the addition of The Queen Anne Ballroom and 200 more rooms in 1928, a year before the Great Depression. This economic crash should have been a death knell for a large hotel with high overheads, but somehow the hotel not only survived, but remained in the ownership of the Monteleone family, a rare occurrence during these lean times.
The New Orleans City Guide of 1938 lists these amenities in the hotel at the time, when basic room prices had risen a whole 50c: “Monteleone Hotel, 214 Royal St.; 600 rooms 540 have radios, 500 have private baths, and all have hot and cold running water and ceiling fans; rates $1.50-$3.50. European plan; garage 50c, parking lot 15c; convention hall, dining-room, coffee shop, bar, and beauty parlor.”
America emerged from the Depression, and the Big Band era ushered in a new time of optimism. In 1938, the radio station WDSU had also set up shop in one of the rooms. By 1949, the hotel’s lounge, The Swan Room, was a fashionable music venue, and Frank Monteleone had matured into a sophisticated host and hotelier, welcoming stars such as Robert Mitchum into the hotel and being photographed with the beautiful people of the day.
1949 also saw the addition of the hotel’s most cherished spot. The Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge is the only revolving bar in New Orleans, a 25-seat carousel that turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, powered by a one-quarter horsepower motor at a rate of one revolution every 15 minutes. In the 1950s and 60s, the bar welcomed Liberace, Etta James and Louis Prima as performers. It was high times for the Hotel Monteleone, Antonio’s dreams truly realized.
1954 saw the hotel’s last major redevelopment, an almost total demolition and overhaul that resulted in the hotel we see today. It became the only real high-rise building in the French Quarter at the time, not a universally-popular move at the time. By 1964, however, the hotel was boasting a penthouse space and Sky Terrace that also included a Presidential Suite for visiting dignitaries and even a rooftop putting green for hotel guests.
The hotel had by now built up a reputation as a literary hangout, with noted drinkers…sorry, bon vivants Truman Capote, Eudora Watley, William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams all frequently propping up the bar. Williams often claimed that he was conceived at the hotel. Truman Capote claimed that he was born in the hotel, although the hotel states that he categorically was not, and that although his mother did live at the hotel during her pregnancy, she made it safely to the hospital in time for Truman’s birth.
According to the late hotel historian Charlie Farrae, Hemingway’s short story Night Before Battle was penned during a stay at the Monteleone. Williams mentions the hotel in The Rose Tattoo. A display case in the lobby shows various literary artifacts.
The hotel lives on, much as it always has, now run by the fifth generation of the Monteleones. The famed grandfather clock still chimes in the lobby, the doormen still hail taxis and hold doors for luggage-laden arrivals and that Carousel Bar still revolves, every fifteen minutes.
HOTEL REVIEWS
Paul Oswell
The Hotel Monteleone is one of the last, classic, family-owned hotels in America, having now been operated by five generations of the Monteleone family over the past century or so. Its beginnings were humble, though, and it now stands largely thanks to the vision of one man.
Antonio Monteleone arrived from Sicily in the early 1880s and worked in a successful cobblers and shoe store owned by his uncle. It didn’t take long for the lure of the American dream to shape his ambition, and he began to buy land on Decatur Street and then St Philip. In 1886, he purchased the building at 54 Royal Street, the lots adjacent to the current site of the hotel. It became the family home for him, his wife Sophia and his children.
Antonio diversified his interests, opening up a small, three-story hotel on the corner of Iberville and Royal. By 1898, he was able to expand. Advertisements ran in local newspapers around that time, announcing the new incarnation of the then-named 'Commercial Hotel’. Rooms started at a dollar a night.
Lot by lot, Antonio bought his way around the block. Luxurious touches were slowly added to the Commercial Hotel, foreshadowing Monteleone’s ambition. Private bubble baths, grand chandeliers, the freshest seafood and – just as important since just about every hotel in town had burned down at some point – state-of-the-art safety features.
Work began on a Louis XIV/French Renaissance-style property, replete with a grand staircase, hi-tech elevators, wooden carvings in the public spaces and 220 rooms, 160 of which had baths and all of which had electric lights (a real feature in those days). The hotel was fireproofed and in 1908, the first guests checked in.
The hotel was an immediate success. Antonio won himself favor with all who worked for him, advocating union labor and averting a number of crises – a man of the people who could mix in the high society circles that hotel ownership demanded. It was an elegant and fashionable block, with the theaters nearby, and an assortment of private gentlemens’ clubs.
1907-08 had been an era-defining year for the New Orleans hotel industry, this also being the year that The Jung Hotel opened on Canal Street, The New Hotel Denechaud (now Le Pavillon) opened on Poydras and The Grunewald (now The Roosevelt) also underwent a major expansion.
Sadly, Antonio died in 1913 while traveling in Germany. He was only 58 years old. Newspapers reported how distressing the news was to the hotel staff and to all who knew him, which was a large slice of the city. The hotel passed to his son, Frank. It’s worth noting that even up to 1926, rooms still started at $1 a night, a bargain for the relative luxury.
This new era saw the addition of The Queen Anne Ballroom and 200 more rooms in 1928, a year before the Great Depression. This economic crash should have been a death knell for a large hotel with high overheads, but somehow the hotel not only survived, but remained in the ownership of the Monteleone family, a rare occurrence during these lean times.
The New Orleans City Guide of 1938 lists these amenities in the hotel at the time, when basic room prices had risen a whole 50c: “Monteleone Hotel, 214 Royal St.; 600 rooms 540 have radios, 500 have private baths, and all have hot and cold running water and ceiling fans; rates $1.50-$3.50. European plan; garage 50c, parking lot 15c; convention hall, dining-room, coffee shop, bar, and beauty parlor.”
America emerged from the Depression, and the Big Band era ushered in a new time of optimism. In 1938, the radio station WDSU had also set up shop in one of the rooms. By 1949, the hotel’s lounge, The Swan Room, was a fashionable music venue, and Frank Monteleone had matured into a sophisticated host and hotelier, welcoming stars such as Robert Mitchum into the hotel and being photographed with the beautiful people of the day.
1949 also saw the addition of the hotel’s most cherished spot. The Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge is the only revolving bar in New Orleans, a 25-seat carousel that turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, powered by a one-quarter horsepower motor at a rate of one revolution every 15 minutes. In the 1950s and 60s, the bar welcomed Liberace, Etta James and Louis Prima as performers. It was high times for the Hotel Monteleone, Antonio’s dreams truly realized.
1954 saw the hotel’s last major redevelopment, an almost total demolition and overhaul that resulted in the hotel we see today. It became the only real high-rise building in the French Quarter at the time, not a universally-popular move at the time. By 1964, however, the hotel was boasting a penthouse space and Sky Terrace that also included a Presidential Suite for visiting dignitaries and even a rooftop putting green for hotel guests.
The hotel had by now built up a reputation as a literary hangout, with noted drinkers…sorry, bon vivants Truman Capote, Eudora Watley, William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams all frequently propping up the bar. Williams often claimed that he was conceived at the hotel. Truman Capote claimed that he was born in the hotel, although the hotel states that he categorically was not, and that although his mother did live at the hotel during her pregnancy, she made it safely to the hospital in time for Truman’s birth.
According to the late hotel historian Charlie Farrae, Hemingway’s short story Night Before Battle was penned during a stay at the Monteleone. Williams mentions the hotel in The Rose Tattoo. A display case in the lobby shows various literary artifacts.
The hotel lives on, much as it always has, now run by the fifth generation of the Monteleones. The famed grandfather clock still chimes in the lobby, the doormen still hail taxis and hold doors for luggage-laden arrivals and that Carousel Bar still revolves, every fifteen minutes.
HOTEL REVIEWS