An enormous 1858 Greek revival residence—known to locals as Magnolia Mansion—wraps the corner of Prytania Street and Jackson Avenue in New Orleans’s storied Garden District, its deep veranda supported by 11 Corinthian columns. Inside, across the 13,000-square-foot property, original details include a curving staircase, 15-foot ceilings, and pocket doors opening onto a series of parlors.
“You cannot help but feel the grandeur when you come through the gate,” says New Orleans native Gretchen Trauth, CEO of ERG Enterprises, the New Orleans–based company behind the property’s transformation into the Whit. The 15-room hotel is now accepting reservations from November 2026. “It was certainly not in its best shape for use, but we saw such potential.”
Getting to this point, however, proved complicated. ERG signed a purchase agreement for the property in 2018, but the deal didn’t close until 2023.
From Red Cross headquarters to themed hotel—and an FBI raid
Officially known as the Harris-Maginnis House, the mansion was built in 1857 as a private residence for cotton merchant Alexander Harris and his wife, Elizabeth. In 1939, it was donated to the New Orleans chapter of the American Red Cross and served as its headquarters during World War II.
The mansion later changed hands several times. In 2001, Tina Turner impersonator Hollie Diann Vest purchased the property and turned it into a bed-and-breakfast. Rooms eventually took on themes with names such as “Gone With the Wind” and “Vampire Lover’s Lair.”
By 2013, the hotel and event space was owned by former professional boxer and local political donor Fouad Zeton. In 2021, the FBI raided the mansion as part of an investigation involving an insurance claim over allegedly stolen artwork; Zeton later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. ERG Enterprises ultimately acquired the property in 2023 and began its multimillion-dollar overhaul.
What the Whit will bring to New Orleans
The hotel takes its name from author and poet Walt Whitman, who lived briefly in New Orleans in 1848 and wrote about the city’s natural beauty and its more hedonistic side.
Local design firm Logan Killen drew on those contrasts, with interiors that respect the mansion’s history as well as the city’s laissez-faire attitude. The result retains the grandeur of a historic New Orleans mansion, while bringing in a more playful sense of place.
The 15 rooms and suites, which start at $500 a night, come in several configurations. The Dormer overlooks the hotel’s dramatic entrance, with a king bed and two twin daybeds for kids. At garden level, the Bungalows are drenched in merlot-colored paint and furnished with brass sconces, soaking tubs, and oxblood leather chairs. Alongside the swimming pool, the Cabanas take a more tropical turn, with bamboo-carved beds, printed curtains, and palm ceiling fans.
New Orleans has no shortage of historic homes reimagined as hotels, but Trauth believes the Whit’s communal spaces will distinguish it. “I think our gathering spaces will set us apart,” she says. “The Library is moody, filled with dog portraits and old books from Faulkner House Books. The East Parlor is lighter, with intricate plaster work and tons of natural light.”
The parlors will offer lunch and dinner, along with tiered towers of refreshments, including oysters and tea-style sandwiches. The Salon, the Whit’s cocktail bar, will have a beverage program from Neal Bodenheimer, co-owner of Cure, a James Beard Award–winning bar. The menu will include punch bowls and group martini service, mixed tableside.
Events will be another focus. A 1,600-square-foot courtyard will eventually be joined by a 2,000-square-foot iron-and-glass garden pavilion, slated for 2027. The pavilion will accommodate 100 seated or 200 standing guests, while outdoor events will have a capacity for 300.
For wedding parties, the Josephine and Elizabeth suites can be combined to form the Wives Suite, complete with a chrome soaking tub, wet bar, and makeup vanity.
“It’s hard to pick a favorite moment,” Trauth says. She’s particularly fond of the mansion’s original staircase. “It’s curved and steep—a bit treacherous—but I envision brides coming down, hopefully barefoot,” she says with a laugh. “Yesterday, porch furniture arrived. We sat, looking across the big columns to the trees. It made us so excited to welcome guests through the doors.”
