The Orleans Ballroom, known as the old “Quadroon Ballroom,” seen here undergoing renovations in 1964, has had an iconic but questionable role in the city’s highly romanticized Antebellum history. Located on Orleans between Royal and Bourbon Streets in the shadow of the St. Louis Cathedral, the venerable early 19th century building was once an elegant ballroom, later a temporary home for the state legislature, and finally a convent, orphanage, high school and, today, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel.
It all began back in the early 1820s when the entrepreneur-owner of the then popular Théâtre d’Orleans at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans built the ballroom as an extension to his theater. Early historians described the ballroom’s façade as “unimposing.” The interior, however, was another matter. The prolific 1930s novelist, journalist and historian Herbert Asbury described the building’s lush furnishings in his 1936 history “The French Quarter.”
“Inside,” wrote Asbury, channeling earlier historians, “the structure was elaborately decorated with crystal chandeliers, costly paintings and statuary, and inlays and paneling of fine woods. In the rear of the ballroom was a wide stairway leading to a flagged courtyard where wines and cordials were served on festive occasions…The principal feature of the building, however, was the ballroom itself — a long, gaudily ornamented chamber with lofty ceiling, balconies which overlooked the gardens in the rear of the St. Louis Cathedral, and a floor constructed of three thicknesses of cypress topped by a layer of quarter-sawed oak. At the time it was regarded as the finest dance-floor in the United States.”
For years, the ballroom has been a popular subject among historians and tour guides. According to the 1938 WPA Guide to New Orleans, 19th and early 20th century writers and historians Charles Gayarré, George Washington Cable, Grace King and others described the ballroom as the site for pre-Civil War mixed race “quadroon” balls. But not all historians agreed. New Orleans journalist and historian Stanley Arthur, the guide continued, refuted those romanticized stories. It was, he claimed, a popular venue but never for quadroon balls.
Then along came 1881 and an interesting twist in history when prominent Black philanthropist Thomy Lafon purchased the ballroom and theater and donated them to the Sisters of the Holy Family, a locally founded order of Black nuns. A few years after they moved into their new convent, the theater burned to the ground. Not to be deterred, the nuns built on the burned-out site an orphanage, which later became a high school for Black female students.
Times changed, however. By the early 1960s, Bourbon Street’s popular “sin city” entertainment environment had become an incongruous place for a convent and girls’ high school. In 1964 the nuns sold the property to developers who sought to build a hotel on the site. After a long battle with the City Council, the Vieux Carré Commission and preservationists, the developers received permission to demolish the high school to make way for the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, which opened in 1966. They also agreed to restore the old Orleans Ballroom to its former glory.
As to the Sisters of the Holy Family, in 1965 the nuns moved their convent and St. Mary’s Academy High School to their new location on Chef Menteur Highway where they continue to this day.
