Explore the Restoration
Learn more about the exciting transformations coming to HNOC’s campus at 533 Royal Street.
533 Royal Street, Reimagined
The Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC) is committed to being a world-class museum for both residents and visitors to New Orleans. To that end, we have embarked on a project to restore, renew, and reimagine our original campus at 533 Royal Street, featuring seven historic buildings and five courtyards.
Highlighting each building’s history as well as some of the real-life people who occupied it, the new 533 Royal will house two exhibitions, interactive displays, our historic house museum, an education classroom, and more. Through this project HNOC seeks to enrich our visitor experience and encourage investment across the French Quarter.
Peer into the Past
HNOC is excited to usher in a new era for its 533 Royal Street campus with an interactive, hands-on museum experience spanning multiple historic structures. First-floor galleries explore the site’s architecture and take a close look at French Quarter history through the lives of people who lived and worked on the site, including:
Julie, an enslaved woman who worked as a laundress for the Merieult family for decades before she gained her freedom and later become a property owner.
Jean-Baptiste and Louise Trapolin, a husband-and-wife team that ran a hotel on-site in the late 19th century.
Louise and Gladys Brana, a grandmother and granddaughter who turned their boardinghouse home into a center of French culture and culinary arts.
Tony Scaffidi, a Sicilian immigrant and local fruit vendor who lived on the site in the 1880s and ’90s.
Mattie Huniecutt, an African American woman who ran a boardinghouse, illegal bootlegging operation, and speakeasy during Prohibition.
Tom Williams, a young playwright living in his first French Quarter apartment, soon to be known the world over as Tennessee Williams.
Introducing Watershed
Upstairs at the Merieult House, visitors will encounter Watershed: How New Orleans Shaped America. A new exhibition showcasing more than 130 original artifacts, Watershed spans three centuries of the American experience as told through New Orleans history. From the Louisiana Purchase and Reconstruction to jazz and the climate crisis, Watershed will invite locals and visitors to consider what the future holds, for our city and our nation.
More in Store
We’re designing the new 533 Royal Street campus to attract all kinds of visitors, featuring multifaceted spaces such as:
- The Williams Residence, a historic house museum of our founders’ residence, fully restored to its midcentury elegance.
- An education center custom-built to welcome K–12 students for field trips, workshops, summer camps, and more.
- Event rental spaces, with on-site kitchens and catering areas.
- New and newly restored indoor and outdoor programming spaces for concerts, lectures, workshops, and more.
Daniel Hammer, HNOC President and CEO
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Restore, Renew, Reimagine Campaign
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