I’d been planning to add the Maison Dupuy to the historic hotels section of themuseumgoer.com sometime in the next few weeks, but I’ve hit pause because of the recent news that the property – which, built in the early 1970s and surrounded by centuries-old neighbors, isn’t really all that historic – was getting new ownership.
A Sunday A1 Times-Picayune story on June 28 announced that Valentino New Orleans Hotels had purchased the hotel from the J Collection hotel group. A major renovation is planned. Online reservations are blacked out indefinitely.
The Valentino family operates several stellar small hotels in the city. The Maison is also very near the Valentino-run Basin Street Station welcome center, home to the Brakeman Hotel (read about my visit here) and also headquarters for the red Hop On Hop Off tour buses and St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tours.
The Maison Dupuy was considered the French Quarter’s oldest “new” hotel until the ONE11 Hotel opened in late 2020. After the completion of midcentury infill projects like the Four Points by Sheraton, Royal Sonesta, and Omni Royal Orleans, a 1969 municipal moratorium stopped new hotels from coming into the historic district for more than a half-century.
Though not historic-historic, the Maison Dupuy has a fascinating development history (simulated “old” townhouses built around a huge courtyard on a block previously occupied by a sheet-metal company), colorful founding characters (brothers Clarence and Milton Dupuy, a city councilmember and former Levee Board president, respectively, though Milton sued Clarence within a few years of the hotel’s opening), and holds an important spot in New Orleans culinary history (its Bon Creole Room restaurant was, in 1974, one of the first New Orleans kitchen destinations for chef Paul Pruhomme, who would later make history with K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen).
My visit in November 2025 resulted in a quiet, comfortable stay. I found the hotel quirky-cool and a great value at less than $100 a night, as I recall, but in dire need of the kind of makeover the Valentino team will now give it. (On-site valet parking was about $50 a night, which is competitive for the neighborhood.) My room was small and narrow with a view of the interior courtyard and pool. The Quarter was quiet during the week I visited, and the hotel felt nearly empty. The hallway to my room seemed dark, or at least it did until I witnessed a maintenance team changing all the lightbulbs in the corridor to a brighter wattage. The paint in the small elevators seemed to be layered on in strata that would eventually reveal the Vishnu Schist if you started scraping. The front desk and parking valet staffers were great. After dark, lights on the courtyard pool threw a psychedelic reflection onto my room’s ceiling.
On my second night, I arrived in the lobby after a day of museumgoing to discover it was filled with music. The live sounds coming from the Bistreaux space at the corner of Toulouse and Burgundy were powering a regular swing dancing night. Populated by folks of all ages (and I’m guessing mostly locals), the room was full of fun, and the music followed me up the elevator to my floor. It was a great way to end my stay.
Anyway, here are some photos that will serve as a “before” collection once the renovation is complete.
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