NOPSI New Orleans, or the NOPSI Hotel, is a hotel in the historic NOPSI building in downtown

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. The building is the former headquarters of New Orleans' main utilities company, the

New Orleans Public Service Incorporated Entergy New Orleans, formerly New Orleans Public Service Incorporated (NOPSI), is an electric and natural gas utility and former mass transit provider that was based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The various streetcar lines of New Orleans were consoli ...

, which was set up in 1922 to consolidate numerous separate public utilities firms. Its nine-story building was designed by architects

Favrot and Livaudais Favrot & Livaudais (1891–1933) was an architectural firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. The firm designed many buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The firm was founded in 1891 by Charles Favrot (1866-1939) and Lo ...

, and was constructed in 1927. The building "displayed some of the finest architectural finishes throughout the whole city. Perhaps the greatest feature was the ornate lobby that resembled the ground floor of a bank." The NOPSI entity relocated away in 1983, and the building was then vacant for many years. In 1991 it was included as a

contributing building In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

in the listing of the

New Orleans Lower Central Business District The New Orleans Lower Central Business District is a historic district in New Orleans, Louisiana which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1991. It may be referred to as Lower Central Business District. Along with ...

onto the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. With . The NOPSI building was not mentioned in the registration but is included in the maps. Included photo 25 happens to show buildings across Baronne from the NOPSI building. Eventually it was converted into the current 217-room hotel, which opened in 2017. It has been listed by the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

as a member of the

Historic Hotels of America Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels that have maintained their authenticity, sense of pla ...

program since 2016. The hotel is noted as one of few

boutique hotels 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 ...

owned by

black women Black women are women of sub-Saharan African and Afro-diasporic descent, as well as women of Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian descent. The term 'Black' is a racial classification of people, the definition of which has shifted over time and acr ...

Sheila Johnson Sheila Crump Johnson (born January 25, 1949) is an American businesswoman, co-founder of BET, CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts, and the first billionaire African-American woman. Johnson is team president, managing partner, and governor of the ...

, NOPSI's owner who has had other business successes, is credited with reopening the hotel after it had been unused since the 1980s. It is deemed to be a luxury hotel, and its grand lobby has been asserted to be stunning. New Orleans City Business pointed out in 2021 that the renovation was an adaptive reuse project, one of few recent at that time, as suitable properties in New Orleans central business district were simply not available. It is now a top New Orleans hotel. The building is located essentially on the northwest corner of the intersection of Union and Baronne Streets. A small rectangular plaza at the very corner, however, makes a notched footprint into the building, so the building's footprint forms a very heavy L-shape around that rectangle. The plaza is walled off from the sidewalks and is part of the NOPSI property. It is just three blocks ( northeast along Baronne to New Orleans' major Canal Street thoroughfare, and then just one block southeast to the beginning of

Bourbon Street Bourbon Street (french: Rue Bourbon, es, Calle de Borbón) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending thirteen blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars an ...

, noted as a major entrance into the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...

. The building's roof sports an outdoor pool.Google satellite view

References

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External links

NOPSI Hotel
official site Hotels in Louisiana New Orleans New Orleans Lower Central Business District Historic Hotels of America Buildings and structures completed in 1927 Buildings and structures in New Orleans