The Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, was built by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant, and opened in 1893 as “The Grunewald”. In 1908, a major 400 room expansion was added which is shown as the main portion in the postcard. This expansion was designed by the Milwaukee architectural firm, H. C. Koch & Sons. After various expansions it was purchased by a group of New Orleans investors and renamed “The Roosevelt Hotel” (in honor of late former president Theodore Roosevelt) in 1923.
The Roosevelt was acquired by First Class Hotels in 1965. Although officially renamed The Fairmont (at first the “Fairmont Roosevelt”, later the “Fairmont New Orleans”), for decades the hotel continued to be called “The Roosevelt” by many locals. When it was the Grunewald Hotel it hosted “The Cave”, considered by some the first nightclub in the United States. It featured waterfalls, stalactites, and chorus girls dancing to Dixieland jazz. As the Roosevelt, a new night club, “The Blue Room”, was opened and was long a well known venue of nationally touring musical acts.