The Whit, the 15-room boutique hotel in a restored 1850s Greek Revival mansion at 2127 Prytania Street, is now accepting reservations for stays beginning this month, and its ground-floor salon has opened to bar bookings. The property sits at the corner of Prytania Street and Jackson Avenue on the edge of the Garden District and Lower Garden District.

ERG Enterprises acquired the mansion in 2023 and has since carried out a multimillion-dollar overhaul to convert it to hotel use. Gretchen Trauth, a New Orleans native and CEO of ERG Enterprises, developed the project, which she has described as a deeply personal one.

The development team is drawn largely from local firms. Seamus McGuire of Cicada Architecture handled the architecture, Jensen Killen and Katie Logan of Logan Killen Interiors designed the interiors, and landscape architect Wes Michaels of Spackman, Mossop and Michaels designed the grounds. Kyle Brechtel of Brechtel Hospitality is involved in operations, and Neal Bodenheimer, founder of Cure, built the drinks program for The Salon, which runs from morning coffee and tea service through evening cocktails.

The hotel’s food and beverage model avoids a full restaurant. The Salon serves as the central gathering space, supplemented by private dining and event rooms, an approach Trauth expects to distinguish the property from the many other historic homes in the city that have been converted to lodging. The Salon is listed as a bar and lounge with a smart-casual dress code and street parking.

The building carries a long and unusual history. Over the decades it has served as a Red Cross headquarters and as a themed property, and it was the subject of an FBI raid before ERG bought it. The hotel takes its name from Walt Whitman, who lived briefly in New Orleans in 1848 and wrote about the city.

The Whit joins a run of small-format hotel openings on and around St. Charles Avenue this fall. The Warbler opened 58 rooms at 1923 St. Charles in October, the Monarch added 34 rooms in a restored 19th-century building on the avenue in April, and VCAY reopened 1000 Howard Avenue as a 179-bed boutique property this month. At 15 keys, The Whit is the smallest of the group, with its salon and event business likely to carry much of the revenue.

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