A Saintly Stay
The Hotel Saint Vincent melds Garden District history with vintage flair and contemporary opulence
“Saints have no moderation… just exuberance.” ––Anne Sexton
When strolling down Magazine Street, it is impossible to miss the immaculately-restored Hotel Saint Vincent, with its three broad stories of red brick laced with wrought iron details, tantalizingly veiled by the leaves of palm trees, beckoning coyly to visitors and locals alike. Such a degree of historic opulence is hardly unusual in the Lower Garden District, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972—but to be invited past the sidewalk, into the Italianate beauty’s very halls? The Hotel Saint Vincent presents such a rose-tinted, vintage fantasy on a golden platter.
Before stepping through the heavy double doors and saturating oneself in the splendor of sixties and seventies grandeur, it helps to appreciate the original reason the historic brick structure was built. In 1861, Margaret Gaffney Haughery, an Irish immigrant and baker known around the neighborhood as “Our Margaret,” founded the building as the The Saint Vincent’s Infant Asylum, which served as an orphanage and a refuge for the elderly. A short walk from the now-hotel, Margaret Place Park continues to honor her memory with a monument created by sculptor Alexander Doyle, which was dedicated in 1884.
Around a century and a half since its inception, the orphanage has been completely overhauled into its luxurious present state: The Hotel Saint Vincent officially opened its doors on June 22. Boutique hotelier Liz Lambert, formerly of hospitality company Bunkhouse Group, envisioned and oversaw the transformation as the premiere project of newly-formed company McGuire Moorman Lambert (MML) Hospitality. Formerly McGuire Moorman Hospitality, founded by Larry McGuire and Tom Moorman in Austin, the firm changed its name to MML this year with the addition of Lambert. The three have garnered well-earned reputations for hyper-aesthetic hotels and inventive accompanying eateries and bars in Austin and beyond.
“We needed a full re-imagination of the place,” Lambert added. “We wanted to create something grand and a little debaucherous.”
While the newly-rebranded MML Hospitality handles the operations of the seventy-five room hotel, the San Lorenzo restaurant, Paradise Lounge bar, and more, Lambert and McGuire’s interior design and architecture studio Lambert McGuire Design handled the building restorations and interiors. Having spent most of its life in disrepair, the Saint Vincent’s Infant Asylum’s transformation into Hotel Saint Vincent was an extraordinary undertaking.
“We started with an orphanage that was built during the Civil War in New Orleans that had remained fairly untouched structurally since it was built: drop ceilings, and lots of disrepair and abuse, but structurally pretty intact,” said Lambert. “So we approached the building in the spirit of restoration, with the additional intent of layering a new story on top of the historic structure.”
“My favorite hotels always seem to be properties that have been in a family for a long time and passed along to new generations, who in turn layer their own remodels and personal styles on top,” added McGuire. “Liz and I imagined that it was our turn, and we were gonna go sixties-seventies decadence over the beautiful base layer of New Orleans classic Garden District design that already existed.” Lambert spearheaded designs for the rooms and lobby area, McGuire said, while he concentrated on the main restaurant and bar spaces.
“We needed a full re-imagination of the place,” Lambert added. “We wanted to create something grand and a little debaucherous.”
The exuberance is not only for tourists. In addition to its seventy-five luxuriously styled rooms, the hotel boasts three bars and two restaurants that have each already served their share of curious, aesthetic-hungry locals, including this writer.
I started with the Paradise Lounge, which welcomes ample natural light through its tall windows, piercing through an overcast sky to illuminate the artfully-rendered bird of paradise plants blooming on the walls, rich emerald velvet loveseats, and custom mosaic-tiled floors, which were inspired by the original floors of the building. Even the bartenders and cocktail waitresses, in their beige vests and bow ties or ankle-length patterned dresses, are inexplicably model-level attractive, effortlessly adorning the beautiful space to serve up a menu of refreshing spritzes, martinis, and other thoughtful interpretations of classic cocktails.
[Read our guide to New Orleans aperitifs and spritzes here.]
"Orange and gold light seeps through stained glass windows to warmly drench a sleek upright piano upon entry, seducing imbibers to approach the monochrome marble bar, whose underside is upholstered in fuschia velvet."
Across the main foyer, the guests-only Chapel Club (which, you might deduce, was originally the orphanage’s chapel) draws the senses in an entirely contrary, and darker, direction—while still maintaining a sense of elevated, art-nouveau-influenced luxury. Orange and gold light seeps through stained glass windows to warmly drench a sleek upright piano upon entry, seducing imbibers to approach the monochrome marble bar, whose underside is upholstered in fuschia velvet. Lambert’s collection of artful nudes adorns the dramatically-shadowed space. The bartenders turn out an impressive assortment of finely-crafted cocktails in delicate glassware, incorporating ingredients like local, small-batch El Guapo bitters, St. George Absinthe, and egg whites.
And of course, what is a historic New Orleans building without a lusciously-outfitted interior courtyard? Coral and cream-striped lounge chairs, tropical foliage, and water fountains surround a sparkling pool, with equally-sparkling beverages served up to daytime sunbathers from the cabana bar.
The hotel’s signature all-day restaurant San Lorenzo, classically grand in its design, draws influence from Coastal Italy, with a tip of the hat to signature New Orleans cuisine (think: an appetizer of prosciutto and summer melon with white balsamic and fresh basil, or a Scampi Milanese Risotto with saffron and Gulf shrimp). “Early on we knew we wanted to do a restaurant with coastal Italian food with a focus on Gulf seafood,” said McGuire. “In the main dining room of San Lorenzo, we added a thick high wainscot with rope and medallion detailing, and then put a layer of excitement on top of the classic architecture with painted floors and murals, custom mohair couches and wild stones choices.”
[Read our 2016 story on the historic Pontchartrain Hotel reopening here.]
“When you dig into New Orleans, you realize how much there is to draw from—Spanish, Italian, and French, to name a few cultural influences on design,” Lambert said.
Lighter and more casual by comparison is Austin favorite Elizabeth Street Café: a French Vietnamese-style café and bakery offering creative bites like turmeric and coconut marinated red fish with fresh dill and vermicelli noodles, or broiled escargots in Thai basil curry butter with a baguette.
Whether attuned to the eyes or to the touch or to the tongue, tasteful details abound wherever you turn on the property, settling in deep in the hotel’s guest rooms and suites. “When you dig into New Orleans, you realize how much there is to draw from—Spanish, Italian, and French, to name a few cultural influences on design,” Lambert said. The base, she and McGuire decided, would be classical Western European details, with a substantial dose of Italian modernism. “I love Italian modern style. That’s what inspired the palette of greys, salmons, reds, and gold,” she said. “For the bathrooms, we were inspired by the marbled bindings of Margaret Houghery’s financial ledgers, and we worked with one of our friends, George Venson of Voutsa, to create a sort of psychedelic marbled wallpaper, which we loved so much we ended up using it in other places, including robes and headboards.”
An epitome of the phrase ‘gilding the lily,’ the hotel’s lobby shop ByGeorge is a satellite of the Austin fashion and lifestyle outfit by the same name, which offers just the necessities—vintage Rolex watches, exclusive cashmere sweaters, and designer fragrances and jewelry; all against a backdrop of Tiffany blue.
All this to say, if you’ve ever desired to be transported into the colorful, art nouveau wonderland of a Wes Anderson film set—or perhaps, scrolling through Instagram, you’ve found yourself wistfully eyeing the floral wallpaper and velvet sofas of an influencer’s tastefully-filtered photograph, wishing you were reclining in the midst of it all, sipping an aperol spritz—then a visit to the Hotel Saint Vincent might be just the glamorous reprieve you crave. And if all that hasn’t convinced you? It’s dog friendly, too.