Windsor Court Hotel ★★★★★

A British Soul in a New Orleans Body

The Windsor Court belongs to a small family of American hotels built around a private art collection, and it is the collection that sets the tone here. British and European painting, museum grade and properly hung, runs along the corridors and the public rooms, so the walk to breakfast is a slow one. The building itself is a tower on Gravier Street in the Central Business District, which means the rooms are large in a way that the converted townhouses of the French Quarter cannot match. Afternoon tea is poured daily in Le Salon. It is a very particular idea of a New Orleans hotel, and it has been held to for decades.

Why It Works

Space is the first reason. Suites here are among the largest in the city, with separate sitting rooms and the sort of proportions that make a long stay comfortable rather than merely possible. The second is that the hotel runs three good rooms rather than one: the Grill Room for dinner, Le Salon for tea, the Polo Club for a cocktail and live music every night. The third is the art, which turns the circulation space into something worth crossing slowly. A tower hotel with the manners of a country house is a rare combination.

Why This Location

300 Gravier Street sits one block from the French Quarter and one block from the Mississippi, in the Central Business District rather than in the middle of the party. That distance is the point: Bourbon Street is a walk away when you want it and inaudible when you do not. The Warehouse and Arts District, with its galleries and the National WWII Museum, is a short walk in the other direction, and the streetcar lines are close enough to reach the Garden District without a car.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: English country house manners, Southern warmth, art on every wall

• Rooms: 316 rooms and suites, among the most spacious in New Orleans, with Club Level floors at the top of the tower

• Best For: couples, longer stays, travellers who want the French Quarter nearby rather than underneath

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the museum grade collection of British and European painting hung through the public rooms and corridors

• Dining: the Grill Room for dinner, Le Salon for afternoon tea, the Polo Club for cocktails and nightly live music

• Amenities: rooftop saltwater pool, spa, fitness centre, private Club Level lounge on the upper floors

• Attractions: the French Quarter one block away, the Mississippi riverfront, the Arts and Warehouse District with the National WWII Museum, streetcars to the Garden District

Suites Built for More Than One Night

The room categories climb from generous to genuinely large, and the suites are where the hotel makes its case: separate living rooms, dining space, and windows that take the river or the skyline. The Club Level occupies the upper floors and adds a private lounge with food through the day, which is worth the difference on a longer stay. Ask for a river facing room high in the tower if the view is part of what you are paying for.

Tea at Four, Cocktails at Eight

Le Salon does afternoon tea properly, with a harpist and a trolley, and it is the ritual that regulars come back for. The Grill Room has been one of the city's serious dining rooms for a long time and takes the Gulf seriously without turning it into a theme. The Polo Club is dark, small and has live music every night, which in New Orleans is the minimum standard and here is done without amplification getting out of hand.

Before You Book

This is a business district address, so the streets around it are quiet in the evening and the walk into the Quarter takes a few minutes. Parking is valet. Ask whether the Club Level is worth it for your stay, since it changes the economics of breakfast and drinks. Spring festival season and the autumn are busiest, and the largest suites go first.