Entry No. 90 — the New Orleans file — filed under: deconsecrated-church
Marigny Opera House
Holy Trinity, a German Catholic parish church whose congregation dates back to 1847, closed and was deconsecrated in 1997; Dave Hurlbert and Scott King bought the building in 2011, renamed it the Marigny Opera House and started calling it the Church of the Arts. The pews came out, so the nave is now an open floor under the original vaulted ceiling, running about sixty performances a year — its resident Marigny Opera Ballet, chamber opera, jazz, theater. The 2026-27 slate is unembarrassed about its ambition for a neighborhood room: Cain overo il primo omicidio in September, Weill's Die Sieben Todsünden in December, La Damnation de Faust in March, Dido and Aeneas in May. On October 29 a string quartet plus two players on electronics perform Jeff Pagano's original commissioned score live beneath The Tell-Tale Heart (1928) and the Irma Vep episode of Les Vampires (1915), doors at 7 for an 8pm start.
→ Three more underground music & performance in New Orleans — never the same twice
The story
The building was commissioned in 1847 by the priest J.M. Masquelet and designed by Theodore Giraud for a German Catholic parish, Holy Trinity. The first structure burned in 1851; the replacement was finished in 1853. A short line of pastors ran it for a century and a half — Rev. Thevis until 1893, Rev. John Francis Prim until 1938, then Herman Hammerstein and Magnus Roth, who restored the St. Roch Chapel across the neighborhood in 1949. In 1997 the Archdiocese of New Orleans closed Holy Trinity and deconsecrated it.
What followed was two decades of nobody quite knowing what it was. Morgan Higby, of Los Angeles, bought it in 1999, and the stained glass and the organ were taken out. Katrina finished the job on the rest in 2005. Dave Hurlbert and Scott King bought the wreck in 2011, renovated it, hosted the Fringe Festival that November and formally opened on January 2, 2012, calling it the Church of the Arts — non-denominational, and a church of the arts rather than a church. Depeche Mode filmed a video in it in 2013. The resident Marigny Opera Ballet was founded in 2014. In 2016 the main entrance moved to the Dauphine Street side with an accessible ramp.
The pews are gone, so the nave is an open floor under the original high arched ceiling, which gives the room the resonance that makes unamplified performance work. It runs over sixty performances a year, and the 2026-27 season is unembarrassed about its ambition for a neighborhood room: Cain in September, Weill's Die Sieben Todsünden on December 11, La Damnation de Faust on March 5, Dido and Aeneas on May 14.
What it's like
Go to the Dauphine Street door, not the St. Ferdinand address on the ticket — that is the mailing address and has been the wrong door since 2016. There is no walk-in and no bar you drift into: the building is dark between bookings and you get in because you bought a ticket, usually on Eventbrite. Doors are typically an hour before curtain, which is worth using, because a nineteenth-century church with no pews in it reads completely differently empty than it does full. Seating is set up per production rather than fixed, so where you sit depends on the show and there is no bad-seat tradition to inherit. Dress is whatever you like; the room is not precious about it. Most things end around 10pm, which puts you ten minutes' walk from Frenchmen Street with the evening still usable.
The move: Book the October 29 silent-film night on Eventbrite, arrive at doors rather than showtime, and spend the first twenty minutes just standing in the nave while it fills — a church with no pews reads very differently empty. You're a ten-minute walk from Frenchmen Street when it lets out at 10.
📍 Before you go 725 St. Ferdinand is the mailing address, but the main entrance moved to the Dauphine Street side in 2016, with an accessible ramp — go to Dauphine. Ticket-first, always: the building is dark between performances and there's no walk-in. Most shows sell through Eventbrite; 504.948.9998 or [email protected] for anything else. It's also a heavily booked private wedding venue, so some dates on the calendar aren't public. Marigny street parking is tight — walk from Frenchmen, about ten minutes.
- 📍 New Orleans
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 725 St. Ferdinand St, New Orleans, LA 70117
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- St. Roch Chapel and Ex-Voto Room — Directly connected history: Holy Trinity's own pastor Magnus Roth restored the St. Roch Chapel in 1949, so you can see the 1870s shrine he saved and then the 1853 church his parish eventually lost.
- Frenchmen Art Bazaar Night Market — Ten minutes' walk at 619 Frenchmen and open until midnight — the right place to land after a 10pm curtain, when you want to keep talking but not sit down again.
- The Bywater Museum of Unnatural History — A few Marigny blocks away on Mandeville Street, and the daylight counterweight: a one-room cabinet of taxidermy and Victorian curios instead of a deconsecrated nave.
More weird in New Orleans
Good to know
Which entrance do I use?
Dauphine Street. The listed address, 725 St. Ferdinand St, is the mailing address; the main entrance was relocated to the Dauphine side in 2016 and that is where the accessible ramp is. Walking the St. Ferdinand facade looking for a door is a common and avoidable mistake.
Can I just turn up and see what's on?
No. It is ticket-first, always — the building sits dark between performances and there is no drop-in night. Most shows sell through Eventbrite via the venue's own event pages; for anything else, 504.948.9998 or [email protected].
Is it accessible?
The Dauphine Street entrance has an accessible ramp, added when the entrance moved in 2016. Because the pews were removed, seating is configured per production rather than fixed, so it's worth emailing ahead about placement for the specific show you're attending.
Why does the calendar have gaps?
It's a heavily booked private wedding venue as well as a performance house, so a real chunk of the year is spoken for by events that never appear on the public calendar. If a date looks empty, that doesn't mean the building is.
How do I get there and where do I park?
Marigny street parking is genuinely tight, and this is a residential block. The reliable move is to park near Frenchmen Street or arrive there by streetcar or rideshare and walk the ten minutes over — which also gives you somewhere to go when the show lets out around 10.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
📷 We made a card for this one on Instagram →
last checked: 2026-08-26