When those fabled saints do indeed go marching into New Orleans, let us hope for their sakes they have but one destination in mind: 1133 Chartres Street. At that address sits Soniat House, an oasis of quiet elegance thriving in the heart of the always-effervescent and sometimes-saturnalian French Quarter. The Soniat is a picture of Creole charm, and, like the quarter itself, boasts a storied history. Namesake Joseph Soniat built the upriver home for his family at the site in 1830. The plantation owner constructed two of the townhouses, and his oldest son later added a third. The Spanish-rule and Gallic influences that mark the French Quarter also grace the Soniat, from wrought iron-enclosed balconies and a bouquet of colors inside and out to the cloistered courtyards fragrant with an abundance of flora, mango, and magnolia trees. The serene luxury that permeates the Soniat is the fruition of two decades of vision of owners Rodney and Frances Smith. Surely a romantic harbinger of success, the couple struck an agreement to purchase the boutique inn during their honeymoon, and renovations began within the month. This year marks their twenty-fifth in operation. “We simply tried to create what we thought would be the hotel you dreamed of discovering if you were visiting New Orleans,” Rodney says. And so they have.
