This French Quarter building started out in 1835 as Planters Rice Mill, processing raw rice for a port city whose economy ran on cotton, sugar, and rice exports. It didn’t stay a mill for long. Owners converted it into the North American Hotel within a couple of years, advertised as a delightful summer residence for ladies and gentlemen, before selling it off in 1837 to be split into a boarding house and a fire station.
The building kept shifting purpose through the 20th century, becoming an apartment complex called the Royal Bienville and narrowly escaping a fire that leveled several neighboring structures in the early 1970s. The Monteleone family, who also own the nearby Hotel Monteleone, bought the property in 1972 and restored it as the Bienville House, named for Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, the French-Canadian who founded New Orleans in 1718. It’s been a Historic Hotels of America member since 2006.