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Hotel Overview

"In a way, our approach is much like Frank Lloyd Wright's 'organic architecture,' designed to rise naturally from the time, place and people it is intended to serve and Aldo Rossi's similar idea of the 'urban artifact,' in which he brought in far more than the physical building via a connection to general human life. People respond to our lofts because in them they discover something real: imaginative design, keen attention to detail and, like New Orleans itself, a soulful celebration of life. Each project we do is created around idea. Each is unique. No other like it."

- Sean Cummings

Loft 523...the people behind the next generation in New Orleans hotels.

Loft 523 is the quintessential loft hotel. It's a sexy, sophisticated sanctuary. It's New Orleans' newest boutique hotel, and it just raised the design bar substantially. Its understated design stimulates the spirit and heightens the senses.

Like International House before it, Loft 523 begins with a strong idea. This time it's about soaring spaces. Pure lofts - designed with an edge, modern electronics, architectural artifacts, and a local take on concealing and revealing the individual character of the building. These 18 lofts, including three penthouses, stand in tribute to loft style, and offer each guest a stunning urban canvas sure to set the design muse free.

Space and proportion are the touchstones of architecture. This cavernous old carriage and dry-goods warehouse at 523 Gravier Street, one of the Central Business District's pioneering architectural designs in its day (circa 1880), has undergone extensive remodeling and restoration over a ten-month period.

Space is the essence of a great loft and of Loft 523. Rooms average 600 square feet, with spacious spa-like bathrooms topping 120 square feet. Each guest loft has great sex appeal: it is both intimate and expansive. Hand-hammered copper doors mark entries that have all been lowered from the original, industrial height to a more human scale, creating a dramatic transition into the massive space of each room, with 12-foot ceilings boosting the sense of volume and elevating the human spirit. Floor-to-ceiling windows bathe each room in natural light. The walls are painted with warm whites to accentuate the openness. In every inch of the hotel, one is reminded of David Hockney's words, "Our perception of space has incredible effects on us. Ultimately, it is about our identity: who we are and why we are. Not a mere matter."

Loft 523 is also about design, lasting style, and edge. The rooms are in harmony with natural structure, a "shelter" for the soul, as well as for the body. As one critic wrote, "Design must seduce, shape, and perhaps most important, evoke emotional response." From Modern Fan Company's 52-inch opal-glass ceiling fans to legendary photographer/painter/chemist/Renaissance man Mariano Fortune's acclaimed 1907 Fortuny lamp, to Agape's acclaimed "Spoon" tubs in spacious spa-like bathrooms in all Superior room types accessories and king beds by Mondo, Loft 523 is a joyous celebration of design and the emotional response it elicits. The bed and its wenge sidetables, like all of the furnishings, are low to the ground - anchors of stability set to a scale that accentuates soaring space. The headboard is covered in textured mocha and cream intreccio fabric, while the bed itself is a divine combination of triple-sheeted Frette linens, king-size pillows, and one decadently luxurious throw. Arranged in harmonious seating areas, a variety of different chairs of Italian design and a custom-made ebonized pecan wood desk with an award-winning Herman Miller desk chair contribute to the uniqueness of each guest accommodation.

At Loft 523, texture and material are highlighted, not homogenized. In the guest rooms, plaster walls, sprinkler pipes, columns, and heavy-timber beams tell a story. In the bar, original cast-iron columns, wi

Hotel Facilities

Setting: City.

Hotel amenities: Palacial bathrooms,Spectacular suites.

Business: Business centre.