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The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States · Ritz-Carlton · High Luxury
The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans opened in 2000 inside the 1908 Maison Blanche building, the Beaux-Arts Crown Jewel of Canal Street, whose terra-cotta façade was manufactured in New York and whose upper floors once housed New Orleans' first radio station, WSMB. A jazz lounge named for trumpeter Jeremy Davenport, who performs there weekly, sits at the threshold of the French Quarter.
- 452 rooms
- Opened 2000
- Neighborhood: French Quarter
- Rooms from 350 sq ft (33 m²)
- Architect: Samuel Stone Jr
About The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
- Canal Street, where the hotel stands, once divided New Orleans' American sector from the Creole quarter of the antebellum city, two halves that developed distinct architecture and customs on either side of the line.
- The hotel's 25,000-square-foot Ritz-Carlton Spa is the largest hotel spa in the French Quarter.
- Courtyard gardens sit behind the 1908 Maison Blanche Beaux-Arts facade, a quieter outdoor room than the Quarter two blocks away.
- M Bistro, in the restored atrium, continues the building's habit of feeding Canal Street, this time with Southern-inspired cooking.
History
The building that now houses The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans has one of the most layered commercial histories on Canal Street, which is itself one of the most storied blocks of retail and civic life in the American South. The structure was purpose-built in 1908 for the Maison Blanche department store, a New Orleans institution that had been dressing the city's middle and upper classes since the 1890s. The architect was Samuel Stone Jr., and his design announced itself as a full-throated Beaux-Arts statement: a terra-cotta façade whose ornamental components were fabricated in New York and shipped down by rail, carved limestone details at the cornice line, and a ground-floor arcade fronting Canal Street that invited passersby inside with the unambiguous confidence of a city at the height of its commercial ambitions.
Maison Blanche quickly became one of the Gulf South's most important retail addresses, earning the nickname the Crown Jewel of Canal Street. The store occupied the building's lower floors for decades and expanded into neighboring structures over time. Among the unusual chapters of the building's commercial life was the decision, sometime in the early years of radio broadcasting, to install New Orleans' first radio station, WSMB, in the upper floors, an arrangement that gave the building a cultural significance reaching beyond retail and into the living rooms of the region's households.
The department store era wound down across the latter decades of the twentieth century as Canal Street lost retail ground to suburban malls and the city's broader economic struggles. Maison Blanche closed its flagship location, and the building spent years in search of a purpose suited to its grandeur. The transformation into The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans began in the late 1990s, and the hotel opened in 2000 after a restoration that required balancing the demands of a modern luxury hospitality operation with the obligations owed to a designated Beaux-Arts landmark. Original marble floors were preserved and refinished, ornate iron railings were retained, and the limestone façade was cleaned and repaired rather than replaced.
The result is a hotel that wears its Canal Street address with appropriate authority, positioned at the edge of the French Quarter, a dozen minutes on foot from both St. Louis Cathedral and Preservation Hall, and embedded in the city's jazz and Creole cultural fabric. The Davenport Lounge, named for and performing regularly with trumpeter Jeremy Davenport, is perhaps the most fitting expression of that placement: a live jazz venue in a former department store on the street that once divided the American and Creole sides of antebellum New Orleans. The hotel has held AAA Four Diamond designation continuously since 2001 and the M Bistro, set within the restored atrium, continues the building's tradition of feeding the city in style.
The setting
The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans occupies 921 Canal Street inside the historic Maison Blanche Building, a Beaux-Arts landmark built between 1906 and 1909 and recognized as the Crown Jewel of Canal Street. The building's ornate white terra-cotta facade once defined the Gulf South's grandest department store experience, and also housed the city's first radio station, WSMB, before reopening as a hotel in 2000. Preservation Hall, the temple of traditional New Orleans jazz, is a twelve-minute walk, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum twelve minutes, and St. Louis Cathedral fifteen minutes on foot. The hotel anchors an exceptionally dense luxury corridor alongside another landmark address steps away.
Restaurants and bars
- M Bistro — Restaurant · French
- Davenport Lounge — Bar
- Spa Café — Café · Local favorites
Experiences
- Davenport Lounge jazz and Afternoon Tea — Jazz by Jeremy Davenport and his ensemble most evenings, plus Saturday and Sunday Afternoon Tea, a cherished hotel tradition with reservations.
- Signature spa treatments and rituals — Signature spa treatments and rituals at the hotel's spa, described as the City's Largest Spa.
- New Orleans Holiday Magic — Festive holiday menus and family activities during the season.
- Vieux Carre and French Quarter immersion — Immersive encounters with the history, music and spirit of the French Quarter, a block from Bourbon Street.
Amenities
- Historic 1908 Maison Blanche Beaux-Arts building
- 25,000 sq ft Ritz-Carlton Spa — the largest hotel spa in the French Quarter
- Club Lounge with five daily food presentations
- Two blocks from the French Quarter and Bourbon Street
- Davenport Lounge live jazz three nights per week
- Indoor pool
- Sauna
- Fitness center
- Pet-friendly
- EV charging
Awards
- AAA Four Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star (2026)
- MICHELIN One Key (2026)
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