downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
landmark, the building was constructed in 1849 and served as a highly successful department store for more than a century. The structure was redeveloped as a
boutique hotel
Boutique hotels are small inventory, design driven, unique hotels with their own character, personality and storytelling at the heart of their concept. Positioning is secondary for these hotels as they focus on authenticity and personalization ...
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
– all of whose work is associated with the city and the Quarter.
Building history
On October 15, 1849,
Daniel Henry Holmes
Daniel Henry Holmes (April 28, 1816 – July 3, 1898) was born in the Point Pleasant area of Clermont County, Ohio. Orphaned at age two, he lacked any formal education. He became a successful businessman, developing the D.H. Holmes department sto ...
established the
D. H. Holmes
D. H. Holmes was a New Orleans department store and later a New Orleans-based chain of department stores. The company was founded in 1842 by Daniel Henry Holmes, after whom it is named.Canal Street. A pioneering venture in retail at the time, and styled after stores in Paris, it became known as one of the most successful retail businesses in the country and a Canal Street landmark. In 1989, the
Dillard's
Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...
department store chain bought D. H. Holmes.
Redevelopment as hotel
The City of New Orleans and Historic Restoration Inc. collaborated to redevelop the building as a luxury hotel, given demand in the French Quarter. The hotel opened in 1995 as the Chateau Sonesta. It was renamed Chateau Bourbon - A Wyndham Hotel in 2008 when it joined the Wyndham chain.
It was renamed Hyatt French Quarter in early May 2012. The Hyatt French Quarter contains a suite named for John Kennedy Toole, an award-winning late 20th-century author, as well as ones honoring
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
and Tennessee Williams, artists associated with the Quarter. The hotel moved from the Hyatt division to the Hyatt Centric division on September 1, 2016 and was renamed Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans.
D.H. Holmes clock
The D.H. Holmes department store was known for its clock on the Canal Street facade, which became a popular meeting place. The clock disappeared about the time the D.H. Holmes store closed, but it was anonymously returned to the hotel in 1995.
Under the clock is a life-size sculpture titled ''
Ignatius Reilly
''A Confederacy of Dunces'' is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's death. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) a ...
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning novel, '' A Confederacy of Dunces.'' In the novel's opening scene, Reilly meets his mother at the clock. The sculpture was financed as public art jointly by Chateau Sonesta (the name of the hotel at the time) and the Downtown Development District.City-Data.com "Chateau Bourbon: A Wyndham Historic Hotel" City Data