Interior Design

The look and feel of Bourbon House evolved from Dickie Brennan's love of the French brasseries where he cooked while living in Paris. He always wanted to open a restaurant that captured this je ne sais quoi, but to imprint it with the personality of New Orleans. It had to be authentic New Orleans. With Bourbon House, he's realized this dream.

Bourbon House's handcrafted wrought iron, hand blown lighting, custom cypress millwork and wide plank pine floors are indicative of New Orleans' unique, European influenced heritage. The restaurant's casual elegance carries over from the main dining room to the oyster bar and mezzanine level private dining rooms. Chicago based, award-winning restaurant designer/architect Mark Knauer (who also designed Palace Café and Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse) worked closely with New Orleans based Williams & Associates in the restaurant's design. Leslie Brennan, Dickie Brennan's wife, guided the interior design of Bourbon House.

The walls are lined with various shades of yellow tiles in a vintage running bond brick pattern. An impressive collection of antique oyster plates lines the top of the bar. The floors are tumbled marble cut into 8"x8" tiles, a size used years ago, as opposed to the now standard 6"x6" or 12"x12" size tiles. These subtle details give Bourbon House an authentic look and feel. Belt-driven fans, traditional bentwood chairs and cypress tables, all reminiscent of early 1800s New Orleans, are given a cool new edge with Parisian chic cherry red leather bar stools and flat screen televisions behind the bar.

Just months since its opening, the Oyster Bar at Bourbon House has already been praised as "arguably the best oyster bar of any white tablecloth restaurant in New Orleans."

The Main Dining Room
The crackled amber glass sconces and chandeliers custom designed for Bourbon House are one of the restaurant's most distinctive features. Inspired by time-honored French brasseries, no two globes are alike. The molten glass was blown by mouth into steel cages treated with a brass acid wash finish.

The walls at Bourbon House were hand-painted by local artist Nick Kroll to achieve rich texture and patina. The layered golden tones create the appearance of a surface weathered by years, aged by cigarette smoke, and painted over and over again.

Mismatched styles of traditional bentwood chairs give the dining room a slightly collected look. Shelby Williams, the owner of Thonet Co., who originated the bentwood chair in the early 1800s, manufactured the chairs. Contrasting ginger chenille head rolls and cabriole legs accent earthy red banquettes and booths. The banquettes and booths were fabricated in Chicago, Il by EJ Industries. The company also manufactured the signature tufted leather booths at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse. Custom, clean line cypress cabinetries with granite counters serve as a base for handcrafted wrought iron and glass shelving for glassware. The floors are wide plank longleaf pine. Soft wood that ages, dents and scars rapidly was used to achieve a vintage look and develop patina.

Mezzanine Level Private Dining Rooms
The geranium colored private dining room walls at Bourbon House have the look and feel of fabric, but are actually covered with an industrial strength vinyl for durability. The black custom woodwork was finished with a golden crackled effect to create a rich, dramatic contrast. Mirror paneled solid wood door can be opened and closed to section the dining room into four smaller rooms, one large room, or any combination thereof.

Custom designed, dramatic chandeliers with an alabaster finish and bouillon fringe light the private dining rooms. The Victorian-style multicolored wall sconces were "hand blown by beautiful Persian women," or so the packaging said. The whimsical harlequin carpet adds just the right punch of color to lighten up the rooms.

Glass wine cabinets partition the dining rooms from the scalloped mezzanine level, wrought iron balcony that serves as either pre-function area for groups dining in the private rooms, or a la carte dining.

The Cypress Lounge
The Cypress Lounge serves as the lobby bar for the Astor Crowne Plaza. Custom designed leaded glass light fixtures and curvy, comfortable living room chairs and coffee tables accent the 1930s deco design. Low ceilings, low lighting and vintage dark, leafy print carpet give the lounge a cozy feel. A large plasma screen television framed like artwork hangs on the dark paneled walls.