Located at the corner of Prytania Street and Jackson Avenue in New Orleans's Garden District, a Greek Revival mansion built in 1857 has undergone a dramatic transformation. Originally owned by a cotton merchant who died of yellow fever and later by an individual fatally struck by lightning, the property has a storied and often scandalous history. In the 21st century, it was purchased by a Tina Turner impersonator who operated it as the Magnolia Mansion B&B, featuring suites with names like Vampire Lovers' Lair and Moulin Rouge. Subsequent ownership by a former professional boxer and a local political figure ended following an FBI raid on the premises.
The estate, known during its B&B era as the Harris-Maginnis House, was named by USA Today as one of the top places in the nation to sleep with a ghost. It became a staple on local ghost tours, with guests reporting sensations of being tucked in at night, unseen presences watching them sleep, mysterious footsteps, and slamming doors. When the new team acquired the property, they found gothic-coded wall murals and dark purple velvet throughout the building.
To reimagine the space, Gretchen Trauth, CEO of the investment firm behind the project, enlisted local design firm Logan Killen, led by Jensen Killen and Katie Logan Leblanc. Their goal was to create a hotel where it is unclear if a designer has touched it, aiming for a feel that suggests the building has been someone's home for a long time. The resulting aesthetic is romantic, lived-in, and filled with curios, designed to encourage guests to linger. Architect Seamus McGuire of Cicada assisted in navigating historical codes and redrawing the floor plan to restore lost glamour.
The hotel, named after poet Walt Whitman who spent three months in New Orleans around the time of the home's construction, features several unique spaces. A mahogany-paneled library has been converted into a gallery displaying antique dog portraits and housing volumes from Faulkner House Books. Leblanc describes the clubby room as dark and moody, ideal for cocktails or whiskey. Other social areas include a sunroom with banquette seating, wicker chairs on a wraparound porch, and a breakfast room adorned with Pierre Frey Les Colonnes wallpaper.
The main lounge presented a significant design challenge due to its large size and potential emptiness. Intended to function as a great room by day and an atmospheric cocktail bar by evening, the space features blue paint that appears ethereal in daylight but warm at night. The team added a custom grid carpet to tailor the expansive area and installed a salon-style wall of works by Louisiana artists Robert Moreland and Mallory Page.
Adhering to landmark rules that forbid faking history, the second-floor bar was designed with an openly Deco aesthetic rather than attempting to mimic a false past. McGuire emphasized the importance of not giving a contemporary bar a false sense of history within such a historic property. The bedrooms also resist uniformity; alongside classically designed units, there are four cozy garden rooms with low ceilings and glossy oxblood walls, as well as three airy cabana rooms featuring bamboo beds and high ceilings. Killen notes that the design narrative ensures it does not feel as though everything was changed by a single person at one time. As for the building's rumored ghosts, no sightings have been reported since the renovation.
Sources: Architectural Digest.