Pontchartrain Hotel

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The Pontchartrain Hotel is a historic hotel building on St. Charles Avenue in Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. (History, 2006)

The Pontchartrain Hotel, with the St. Charles Streetcar running in front.

Named after Count de Pontchartrain of the court of Louis XVI, the Pontchartrain Hotel commenced operations in March, 1927. The grade elevation of the hotel was four feet above mean sea level as of the year 1990 according to a survey by Earth Metrics, while the elevation of the Mississippi River stood at 14 feet above mean sea level. (Hogan, 1990) An earlier hotel was in operation as early as 1825 as reported by Bernard; this predecessor structure was described as "behind the old fort". (Bernhard, 1828) Noted guests of the Hotel Ponchartrain include Tennessee Williams, (Staggs, 2005) Jose Ferrer, Rita Hayworth (Frommer, 2007) and George H. Bush. Williams worked on his classic play Streetcar Named Desire while staying at the Pontchartrain Hotel. (Staggs, 2005)

The hotel has also had restaurants, producing such notable original dishes as "mile high pie". Pianists with long time gigs at the hotel have included Tuts Washington and Philip Melancon. Despite some damage from Hurricane Katrina, the hotel reopened afterwards. There was more damage from looting and vandalism than from weather related factors. (Frommer, 2007)

The 80 year old hotel building was closed for extensive renovations in July of 2007, expected to take about a year.