The Southern Hotel

The grand, old belle is back in her party clothes and ready to entertain

In the mid-1800s, western St. Tammany Parish became a popular weekend and summer destination for wealthy New Orleanians. Lively bands serenaded the très chic as they boarded steamboats—and later ferries—to cross Lake Pontchartrain on Friday afternoons and return on Sunday evenings. The area flourished, particularly in the summer, when visitors sometimes stayed for months at a time. Numerous grand hotels, small inns, dance halls, and restaurants thrived, among them The Southern Hotel, which opened its doors on East Boston Street in downtown Covington in 1907. A modern structure for its time, the western wing of the hotel was built on 1,925 square feet of Ox Lot 9, one of the central squares originally built into Covington’s downtown grid for tying up horses and oxen.

Ferry service across the lake ended in 1936, and though some still traveled to the area via a rail service through eastern St. Tammany, the mystique and luster were fading. The 1956 completion of the first Causeway Bridge, followed by the second in 1969, led to a north shore population boom, transforming Covington from resort destination to bedroom community.

Though many of the area’s historic buildings and homes remained, and numerous bed and breakfast operations continued to imbue the bucolic charms of the Old South, the glamour was gone. Covington had morphed from a feisty Scarlett O’Hara into a genteel and homey Melanie Hamilton Wilkes. The grand hotels and dance halls disappeared, replaced by a Super 8, a Days Inn, and a Travelodge. The Southern Hotel remained in business until the 1960s, when the façade was altered to make way for a drug store tenant.

In 1983, St. Tammany Parish bought the building and, for twenty years, used it as office space and courtrooms. After Hurricane Katrina, it was transformed into headquarters for the Red Cross and other federal agencies. For the last few years, the building has stood mostly vacant.

[Pictured: The hotel’s Cypress Bar features murals by artist Grahame Menage depicting Covington’s history.]

In  2011, developers Lisa Condrey Ward, Joseph Ward, and Ricky and Gayle Condrey bought the nearly block-long building for $1.75 million when it hit the auction block.

Three years and $8 million later, Scarlett O’Hara is back in town, only this time adorned with sumptuous, custom-embroidered Garnier Theibaut linens, contemporary art, and glittering Italian light fixtures. Not one to forget her roots, our Southern belle has added a tasteful mix of imagery from the Old South to offset her modern incarnation. She’s alluring but mannerly; those in her company feel special and pampered rather than intimidated and overwhelmed.

The full service, forty-two-room hotel—complete with restaurant, bar, and cooking school—is a very accessible buzz across the Causeway or zip down I-12 or U.S. 90. Once there, guests can ditch their wheels in the parking lot to spend a blissful weekend at ease loafing about in the pool, lounge, or library; partaking in spa treatments; and dining in comfortable splendor.

Lisa Condrey Ward, a meticulous, thoughtful, and detail-oriented attorney and preservationist, played a role on the development team that drove the hotel’s remodel. She said the team wanted the new image to convey a sense of Covington’s caliber as an arts community, as well as place the town in proper historical perspective.

“I wanted to create a distinct sense of place so people understand exactly where they are,” Ward said. “We are an artists’ community with a history as a resort community. People came here because it was relaxed, and it was about nature and just being on the rivers.”

Ward hand picked every item in both the hotel’s communal and private spaces with an eye toward style and luxury. The result is a carefully curated collection driven by emotion rather than aesthetics or methodology. The eclectic mix includes bold as well as subdued colors, local art and photography, Venetian glass fixtures, French and American antiques, custom woodwork, and an artisan fountain.

The tone is immediately set upon entering the lobby from East Boston Street. A colorful, contemporary mixed-media work by Bernard Mattox, a well-known painter and sculptor who operates a studio nearby, sits near the entrance. Above the fireplace, artist Maggie McConnell’s collection of small, sculptural wooden houses teeter on metal stilts, à la roadside fishing camps. A collection of nature-inspired paintings by Rebecca Rebouché invoke the area’s enduring, inherent natural beauty.

Ward commissioned internationally celebrated mural artist Grahame Menage to depict Covington’s history upon the walls in the hotel’s Cypress Bar (which was crafted out of century-old native wood hauled up from a swamp bottom). Copied from hand-tinted postcards, the dreamy, heavily detailed murals depict a bygone era and were painted over the course of a single week. The bar also features a locally made, backlit glass counter over which hangs Murano glass chandeliers from Venice. The bar opens on to an outdoor patio with a wood-burning fireplace. The return of cooler weather will surely result in a stampede to shelter in this intimate space.

Sepia-toned copies of historic photographs culled from the city’s archives line the downstairs public hallways as well as those leading to the upstairs guestrooms, which are accessed through heavily lacquered scarlet doors.

Upstairs, two suites—one named for author Walker Percy, the other for architect Thomas Sully, both of whom have ties to Covington—are outfitted with Creole pencil-post beds, crafted out of cypress by Covington furniture maker Greg Arceneaux. The suites’ bathrooms feature photographs of Louisiana water scenes by Covington photographer Harriet Blum, mounted behind the suites’ deep soaking tubs.

Ward says she will seek out more local pieces when she undertakes phase two of the project: a cooking school adjacent to the hotel. “We want this to be a hub,” Ward said, “a relaxing respite with luxurious amenities, first class service, and access to a variety of activities in and around Covington.”

In contemplating the restaurant that would complete the hotel, Ward invested exhaustive research into chefs before making the move to lure Jeffrey Hansell away from his executive chef position at Veranda in Birmingham, Alabama. Called Ox Lot 9 as a tribute to the space upon which the hotel was originally founded, the farm-to-table, Southern-style restaurant serves the general public while also providing culinary services to hotel guests and for special events. Hansell’s background includes stints under Chef Tory McPhail at Commander’s Palace and John Besh at Lüke.

Hansell and his wife, Amy, own and operate the restaurant. The Hansells’ seventy-five-seat domain, accessible from the corner of East Boston and New Hampshire streets as well as through the hotel lobby, highlights the use of century-old sinker cypress found elsewhere in the building. Soft, tufted banquettes offer a view into the dramatic open kitchen where the chef plies his craft with Gulf seafood, heritage pork, and farm-fresh, local produce. The restaurant features a happy hour and dinner on Tuesdays through Saturdays as well as Sunday brunch. Recent menu selections included a truffled mushroom tart with port wine, herbed roasted pork tenderloin, and poached and chilled lobster along with jumbo local shrimp.

Eight seats are available at the chef’s counter directly in front of the kitchen, and outdoor seating is available when weather permits. Elsewhere in the hotel a 2,400-square-foot ballroom, meeting spaces, and fitness rooms also make it a compelling choice for weddings and small business functions.

 Covington officials are looking to the Southern Hotel to reinvigorate the city’s downtown area and serve as a centerpiece for its historic district.

“It really is the first boutique hotel for the Northshore, and, as such, is adding a new component to what St. Tammany Parish has to offer visitors,” said Renee Kientz, vice president of communications for the St. Tammany Parish Tourist Commission. “Covington especially has long been a popular getaway destination, and the Southern is within short walking distance of more than fifteen restaurants, plus shops, boutiques and art galleries, the farmers market, and the many free concerts and arts events Covington hosts each year. The hotel is the perfect hub for exploring Covington and the rest of the Northshore too.”

Details. Details. Details.

The Southern Hotel

428 East Boston Street

Covington, La.

(844) 866-1907 • SouthernHotel.com