The boutique hotel showcases historic architecture and local artwork
For years, the row of historic buildings at 306-310 South Rampart St. sat vacant and neglected, with long-boarded storefronts and windows hiding their water-damaged and termite-ridden interiors. After an extensive rehabilitation by co-owners Robert X. Fogarty and Beau Baudier, the 19th-century buildings are once again brimming with life as the Mary Beth, a boutique hotel and art gallery.
The three adjacent commercial buildings were constructed sometime between the 1850s and 1870s, with Greek Revival-style facades adorned with cornices, dentils, and scored stucco resembling stone blocks. At 310 South Rampart St., the exterior was modified in the early 20th century with Craftsman details, including textured stucco and a prominent parapet.
The buildings served as horse stables, saloons, shoe stores, pawn shops and various businesses throughout their shared history. The original storefronts had been removed by the time Fogarty purchased the property in 2015, and the buildings had been reduced to shells of their former selves. A failing roof caused extensive water damage and wood rot, and only small sections of the wooden second stories remained. Plaster walls were failing, exposing the brick beneath.
“I like seeing somewhat that was dilapidated come back to life,” Baudier said. “I think that is probably the most rewarding part of the project.”
Shortly after buying the buildings, Fogarty partnered with Baudier – a local developer whose renovation experience includes 419 Carondelet and the Motorworks Apartments and Lofts on Howard Avenue – to restore the site. Baudier’s contracting company, DEI Contractors, worked with Welty Architecture to design the renovation. Financing the project after the pandemic, when construction costs increased, led to initial challenges, but the project broke ground in 2022 and wrapped up at the end of 2023, with the hotel opening its doors to guests earlier this year.
On the building’s exterior, deteriorated bricks were repointed and deteriorated stucco was repaired with groove lines to match its original rusticated appearance. A second-story gallery stretching over the sidewalk, which once appeared in historic “Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps”, was added to the front of the facade. Second-story wood sash windows were restored, providing access to the gallery. On the first floor, storefront openings were rebuilt, and new wood doors were milled to match the building’s Greek Revival-style architecture.
The building also required extensive structural repairs after years of neglect. The structurally unsound slab foundation was removed and replaced, with rebar adding extra stability. The interior walls and joists used in the interior build-out are steel frame, providing extra protection from termites. Inside the building, pass-throughs were cut between thick dividing party walls to join common areas in the hotel together.
The floors on the first level units and common spaces are polished concrete. The wood floors on upper levels were salvaged from the building’s structurally unsound wood joists which needed to be replaced. The joists were cut into small rectangles resembling tiles, and cross-sections of rings in old-growth lumber add character and texture to the floors.
The six townhouse-style units range from two to four bedrooms, with each unit finished in a different color scheme. One of the units features a dark plum color to pay homage to a bar called the Plum Room, which was once located inside the building.
Throughout the hotel, more than 160 pieces of work by local artists fill the space. A “Buy It Off the Wall” program allows guests to scan QR codes in units to instantly purchase artwork that can be shipped around the world.
The hotel also serves as a permanent gallery for Son of a Ghost, the pen name of co-owner Robert X. Fogarty. All six units feature at least one of his works. Fogarty’s pieces contains letters and essay overlaid atop paintings by his mother Mary Beth Fogarty, the hotel’s namesake, who left behind more than 1,000 works when she died in 2002. An exhibit in the hotel’s shared public space displays family photographs and descriptions about her work and life.
“I always enjoy seeing the number of people that we help and the number of jobs that we create,” Baudier said. “From every level, from construction to finance to engineers and architects, and now local artists.”
Federal historic rehabilitation tac credits and the Louisiana Commercial Tax Credit, commonly called the state historical tax credit, made it possible to put the long-neglected historic building back into commerce. “Without tax credits, we couldn’t have done the project at all,” Baudier said.
A $20,000 facade improvement grant from the Downtown Development District helped to offset the cost of exterior repairs, and the owners donated a preservation easement to the Preservation Resource Center to protect their investment. Easements are voluntary legal agreements through which property owners grant portions of property rights on a historic property to a nonprofit organization. The easement, which becomes part of the title, ensures the building will be protected permanently, even if a site’s ownership of local zoning regulations change.
In a neighborhood now dominated mostly by contemporary skyscrapers and parking lots, the Mary Beth will continue to stand as a physical reminder of the historic “Back-O’-Town” neighborhood where jazz greats including Louis Armstrong got their start. The building’s preservation easement will ensure its protection for future generations.
The wood floors on upper levels were salvaged from the building’s structurally unsound wood joists, which were cut into small rectangles resembling tiles. Cross-sections of rings in old-growth lumber add character and texture to the floors. All photos courtesy of the Mary Beth Hotel.
Ground-level spaces have polished concrete floors, contemporary furnishings and modern amenities.
The building’s exterior was painstakingly restored and a gallery, which once appeared in historic “Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps”, was replaced.
The Mary Beth Hotel serves as a permanent gallery for Son of a Ghost, the pen name of co-owner Robert X. Fogarty. All six units feature at least one of his works.
Fogarty’s pieces contain letters and essays overlaid atop paintings by his mother Mary Beth Fogarty, the hotel’s namesake, who left behind more than 1,000 works when she died in 2002.
Second-story wood sash. windows were restored, providing access to the exterior gallery.
