Hotel Monteleone

Hotel Monteleone is a family-owned and operated hotel located at 214 Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.. The hotel includes the only high-rise building in the interior French Quarter and is well known for its Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge, a rotating bar.

Built in 1886 in the Beaux-Arts architectural style with an eclectic flair, Hotel Monteleone is a historic landmark and a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The hotel has 600 guest rooms, including 50 suites, two restaurants, the Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge, shop, a heated rooftop swimming pool, Spa Aria, an exercise facility, a business center, and valet parking. The hotel also offers 25 meeting and reception rooms.

Antonio Monteleone arrived in New Orleans from Sicily around the year 1880. A cobbler by trade, Monteleone set up shop on Royal Street, then a center of commerce and banking.

In 1886, Monteleone purchased a small hotel on the corner of Royal and Iberville streets. When the nearby Commercial Hotel became available for purchase, Monteleone took the opportunity to expand.

Since then, Hotel Monteleone has experienced five major expansions. Thirty rooms were added in 1903. Then, in 1908, 300 more rooms were added and the hotel's name was changed from the Commercial Hotel to Hotel Monteleone. In 1913, Antonio Monteleone died, and the business passed to his son Frank, who in 1928 added 200 more rooms, a year before the that presaged the Great Depression.

One of the few family-owned hotels in the nation to survive the Depression, Hotel Monteleone remained unchanged until the fourth expansion in 1954. That year the original building was demolished, and the foundation was laid for a new building that would include guest facilities, ballrooms, dining rooms, and cocktail lounges. Frank Monteleone died in 1958 and was succeed by his son, Bill. In 1964, the fifth and final major expansion saw the addition of more floors, more guest rooms, and a Sky Terrace with swimming pools and cocktail lounges.

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