Hotel Peter and Paul ★★★★

Four Nineteenth-Century Buildings, One Hotel

Hotel Peter and Paul occupies what used to be a working parish: a Catholic church designed by architect Henry Howard, its rectory, an attached schoolhouse, and a convent, all built in the nineteenth century on the same Faubourg Marigny block. Local resident Nathalie Jordi and the New York studio ASH NYC led the conversion, keeping cypress moldings, stained glass, and marble fireplaces intact rather than stripping the buildings down to a neutral shell. Antique chandeliers and hand-knotted rugs from India were added afterward, and each of the 71 rooms was furnished individually rather than to a single template, so no two feel quite alike.

Why It Works

We chose Hotel Peter and Paul because the conversion resists the instinct to sand off everything that made these buildings what they were. A deconsecrated church could easily have become a generic great room; here it still reads as a church, repurposed rather than erased. Guestrooms lean into period detail instead of competing with it, pairing canopy beds and Italian linens with the original architecture. The result feels specific to this one block of Burgundy Street, not replicable in another city with a different set of old buildings.

Why This Location

The hotel sits on Burgundy Street in the Faubourg Marigny, a neighborhood of shotgun houses and corner bars just downriver from the French Quarter. Frenchmen Street, with its live-music clubs, is a short walk away, close enough for an evening out without putting the noise at the front door. Coffee shops and small galleries fill the surrounding blocks, giving the address a residential, lived-in feel that the French Quarter proper has largely traded for foot traffic. It is a neighborhood built around people who live there, which shapes the pace of a stay accordingly.

Fast Facts

• Prix : Haut de gamme (€€€)

• Vibe : historic, individually furnished, church-turned-hotel

• Chambres : 71, each furnished differently with canopy beds and Italian linens

• Best For : travelers who want architecture and history alongside the stay

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel : the deconsecrated church that still hosts weekly concerts and classes

• Dining : Elysian Bar, from the team behind Bacchanal, plus a coffee and pastry cafe and small-batch ice cream

• Amenities : brick courtyard with palms and ferns, two parlors, a Giverny-inspired sun room

• Attractions : Frenchmen Street's live-music clubs a short walk away; French Quarter just beyond

A Deconsecrated Church That Still Hosts the Neighborhood

The church at the center of the property was decommissioned rather than demolished, and it still functions as a gathering space: weekly concerts, yoga classes, and floral-design workshops keep it in regular use by people who are not necessarily staying the night. That choice, to keep the building active rather than preserve it as a static lobby backdrop, is what separates Hotel Peter and Paul from a simple adaptive-reuse project. Guests end up sharing the space with the neighborhood rather than being sealed off from it, which fits a block where hotel guests and longtime residents still cross paths on the sidewalk.

Elysian Bar and a Courtyard Built for Lingering

Elysian Bar, staffed by the team behind the James Beard-nominated wine bar Bacchanal, serves Gulf shrimp and braised short ribs in a room that still carries the weight of its former life as part of the parish complex. An amber-toned bar pours low-proof spritzes for an aperitivo hour, and Sundae Best turns out small-batch ice cream from seasonal, local ingredients a few steps away. Outside, a brick courtyard planted with palms, ferns, and vines gives the hotel its one unmistakably New Orleans room: humid, green, and built for sitting rather than passing through.