- Chateau Bourbon
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Chateau Bourbon 
General information Status Open Type Hotel Location 800 Iberville St., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States Coordinates 29°57′17″N 90°04′09″W / 29.954678°N 90.069083°WCoordinates: 29°57′17″N 90°04′09″W / 29.954678°N 90.069083°W Opening 2008 Chateau Bourbon [1] is a hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana.
On October 15, 1849, Daniel Henry Holmes established the D.H. Holmes department store, which went on to become a very significant part of New Orleans history. Situated on Canal Street for 140 years, the store became a French Quarter landmark,[2] and was known as one of the most successful retail establishments in the country. In 1989, the Dillard's Department Store chain bought D.H. Holmes.[3] The City of New Orleans and Historic Restoration Inc. joined together to turn the building into a luxury hotel.[4] Initially, the hotel was named “Chateau Sonesta” when it opened in 1995 but was renamed “Chateau Bourbon” when it was acquired by the Wyndham Chain in 2008 [5]
The D.H. Holmes department store achieved some notoriety due to the fame of the clock on Canal Street which was in front of the store's building. Under the clock is the life-size sculpture [6] of Ignatius Reilly, financed by Chateau Sonesta (the name of the hotel at the time) and the Downtown Development District.[7] In his Pulitzer prize winning novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, created the character of Ignatius Reilly who meets his mother in front of the clock in the opening scene. The clock went missing about the time D.H. Holmes closed but was returned to the hotel in 1995.[8] The Chateau Bourbon contains a Suite honoring O’Toole as well as Louis Armstrong & Tennessee Williams.[9]
References
Categories:- Hotels in New Orleans, Louisiana
- Hotels established in 1849
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