"The French Quarter property that is now home to the Bourbon Orleans Hotel was originally a theater and ballroom, constructed in the early 1800s and destroyed by a fire in 1816. The remains were purchased by entrepreneur John Davis, who commissioned British-born architect Henry Latrobe—who designed the U.S. State Capitol—to rebuild both the theater and ballroom. The newly constructed, 1,300-seat theater placed New Orleans on the map as one of the country’s major cultural centers and was the setting for hundreds of Creole soirees, plays, and operas." - Mae Hamilton
