:: INTRODUCTION :: loft 523......the people behind the next generation in New Orleans hotels.... Loft 523 is the quintessential loft hotel. It's a sexy, sophisticated sanctuary. It's New Orleans' newest boutique hotel, and it just raised the design bar substantially. Its understated design stimulates the spirit and heightens the senses. Like International House before it, Loft 523 begins with a strong idea. This time it's about soaring spaces. Pure lofts--designed with an edge, modern electronics, architectural artifacts, and a local take on concealing and revealing the individual character of the building. These 18 lofts, including three penthouses, stand in tribute to loft style, and offer each guest a stunning urban canvas sure to set the design muse free. Open Space Space and proportion are the touchstones of architecture. This cavernous old carriage and dry-goods warehouse at 523 Gravier Street, one of the Central Business District's pioneering architectural designs in its day (circa 1880), has undergone extensive remodeling and restoration over a ten-month period. Space is the essence of a great loft and of Loft 523. Rooms average 600 square feet, with spacious spa-like bathrooms topping 120 square feet. Each guest loft has great sex appeal: it is both intimate and expansive. Hand-hammered copper doors mark entries that have all been lowered from the original, industrial height to a more human scale, creating a dramatic transition into the massive space of each room, with 12-foot ceilings boosting the sense of volume and elevating the human spirit. Floor-to-ceiling windows bathe each room in natural light. The walls are painted with warm whites to accentuate the openness. In every inch of the hotel, one is reminded of David Hockney's words, "Our perception of space has incredible effects on us. Ultimately, it is about our identity: who we are and why we are. Not a mere matter." :: HOTEL FACILITIES :: 16 soho style lofts, averaging 600 square feet 2 penthouses with garden terraces loft 523 bar and grotto room Agape's acclaimed "Spoon" tubs in spacious spa-like bathrooms in all Superior room types glass and limestone showers with two showerheads contemporary, elegant bath accessories by Vola Aveda bath amenities Sony 5-speaker CD / DVD surround sound Dream Systems and televisions plasma screen, penthouse only complimentary cable movie channels two phones, one cordless, both with speaker, voicemail and direct dial features dedicated data port for dial-up internet access wireless network for high speed (3-10 mg) internet access king size beds by Mondo Frette linens award winning, Fortuny lamps Modern Fan Company's "whirlybird" ceiling fans Fully stocked honor bars 24 hour access to International House's fitness center room service 24 hour concierge and personal assistant 12,000 sf of meeting and banquet space, including executive board room At check-in, the front desk manager gives each guest a business card with the name and title of his or her "personal assistant" for the length of the visit. No matter your request, consider it done. This is a hotel that speaks subtly to concealment, revelation, and pleasant surprise. Much like nearby anonymous French Quarter fa?ades, which conceal a secret world of courtyards, fountains, gardens, and guesthouses, Loft 523 conceals then carefully reveals each design surprise. One walks in and is pulled alluringly through the bar to its private grotto room hidden by an old fire door. Entering the lobby one is drawn past 14' cast iron columns, boxed in glass, toward public bathrooms with sandblasted glass walls separating M from W, the entry doors of which are inspired by a Tibetan medicine bracelet. The lofts are numbered in a 1A, 2B sequence like private apartments. The penthouses open through shimmering hammered copper doors and spill out onto rooftop terraces with self-sustaining aquatic gardens, where blooming jasmine scent the air, another change of environment inducing peaceful reverie. In Penthouses 1 and 3, the sculpted bathtubs are set in front of a 6' x 6' glass window screened with equisetum, offering a skyline sense of splendid isolation. :: ROOM AMENITIES :: Loft 523 is a sublime sanctuary in which to dream peacefully, enjoy solitude or togetherness, think creatively, or just be. Whether you want your loft to act as a decompression chamber or to stimulate your senses through the unique combination of design, texture, and technology, Loft 523 presents a place to be who you are. Make our space your space. Lined in large limestone sheets, the cavernous bathroom beckons from the loft space. The shower, with two heads, is large enough for two, and houses a teak bench piled high with plush white towels. The monolithic stone vanity top floats out from the wall, and opposite, the serene, high-sided tub is sculpted from a single, breathtaking piece of creamy Italian marble resin. The textured limestone is richly organic, while other surfaces of natural materials likewise thrill the senses. In addition to open space, great design, and artifacts, Loft 523 is a high-tech playground. Sony cd/dvd surround-sound systems are standard features. A flat panel plasma television graces the penthouse wall. Thanks to carefully positioned antennae, from anywhere in the hotel, bar, and even around the corner at the state-of-the-art conference center that Loft 523 shares with International House, one can access the internet at more than 3 megabites on Loft 523's blazing wireless network-significantly faster than dial-up and DSL access. For travelers whose laptops do not have wireless capability, Loft 523 provides the necessary programming on a CD, as well as a special PC card to rocket onto the net. The lobby showcases Apple's new iMac, a visually stunning signal that this is a hotel replete with high-tech toys. :: HOTEL ADDRESS :: :: Loft 523 :: 523 Gravler St. New Orleans Louisiana 70130