Degas House

We wanted to hear great music and enjoy the Creole Tomato Festival in New Orleans. Found this place using Trivago when all my other choices were booked. There was a convention in town (when is there not?)
I chose the Degas house based on the nicely designed website, the reviews and my knowledge of where it is: near the French Quarter but not in the thick of it. The web accurately described the Inn, the features, and the rooms themselves. The only room we could get was the Pierre room in the attic. There was a wedding both nights we stayed there, so we were happy to get a room at all. It clearly says there is no window. But we did have a private bathroom with shower.
Breakfast was wonderful. It is served anytime between eight and 10 in the morning, and the staff really cares about you enjoying it. Some of the things we had were fruit and a glass cup, French toast, eggs, bacon, biscuits, and there was a selection of cereals and pastries if none of that did it for you. We had an omelette the first day and eggs and bacon and French toast the second day.
The room was rather warm except in the evenings. After all, this is June in New Orleans. Happy to say my wife and I are from Louisiana, so we did not mind. I think to conserve water they reduce the pressure in the shower, so it took literally 20 minutes of running water to get hot water to the third-​floor.
The only reason we didn’t do the tour was that we wanted to go to New Orleans and hear jazz music.
We parked directly in front of the bed-​and-​breakfast house; I do not recommend it. The birds bombarded our car mercilessly. In conclusion, I can recommend this place because the staff are really excellent people who want you to have a good experience.

Amazing B&B. Free: wifi, parking, delicious hot breakfast, ice cold beer, water and sodas. A full carafe of Brandy await your arrival. Free tour included with overnight stay. And a bonus… only guests may take photographs inside!

I highly recommend this tour. The guide provided insights we had not heard before about Degas. So glad I got to do this!

We stayed here for three nights. We enjoyed the outdoor patios, complimentary breakfast and house tour. A causal comfortable vibe with plenty of history in a nice neighborhood — away from the busier scene of Frenchman and Bourbon St.

A New Orleans classic on the beautiful Esplanade Ave. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding held here over the weekend. The staff was wonderful. Everything ran so smoothly. Staff helped me up stairs in my full length dress in heels, so sweet. The drinks they made us were super strong! Which is always good, haha. Catered to the bride and groom amazingly. Would 100% recommend this place to anyone planning a wedding or event.

THIS IS A REVIEW ON THE TOUR + BREAKFAST.
It was a pretty awkward and embarrassing experience. The tour is pathetic. I don’t want to bw too harsh, but that’s the word for it. There’s no original furniture from the time that Degas was there, the house is pretty but it was changed many times over the years and we have to constantly imagine how it looked like behind the electric candles and the HP printer reproductions of Degas paintings that are hanging on the walls. Even the few pieces of fake furniture they have and that fail to fill the space are pretty torn down.
The tour guide wasn’t on top of her game and she kept giving us the same info about Degas blind cousin. After 2,5 hours on that sad tour, I wish I was as blind as Estelle.
Breakfast was tasty, but all I got for 21 dollars was an omelette, coffee and oj. Adding to the 29 dollars from that hideous tour, I wish I had given those 50 bucks to some street musicians on Frenchmen St who deserved it much more.
Stay away from this. Take my advice and spend ur money on something else.

I’m writing this review as a visitor to a house museum not as a B&B guest. I can’t judge that since I wasn’t a guest. I live in New Orleans and was taking visitors around.
As a house museum the Degas House is sorely lacking. It’s poorly laid out, the signage is dreadful and they plop you down in front of a PBS documentary for 30 minutes where you learn about Degas’ sojourn in New Orleans in 1872 and his family here. All very nice.
They also give you a really poorly reproduced brochure (couldn’t spring for professionally printed brochures? They had to print them on a 20 year old HP laser printer?) which explains much of what you just saw.
The woman who was in charge started the film, disappeared and then there was no indication of where to go. I had to interrupt the staff meeting to ask. Ahhh… you have to go in the side door of the other building (they were split in two in 1920).
The house is pretty enough, but if there are paying guests, the rooms are closed to the public because someone is staying there. We were lucky that it was Monday morning and no one seemed to be staying in any of the grand rooms on the 2^nd floor.
Perhaps it’s better with a docent led tour, but I wasn’t going to wait two hours for the next one. I can’t imagine the docent would add much to what the video told us.
Either be a house museum or be a B&B. You cannot be both and adequately serve the public for either.
For $ 15, I could’ve bought a book about Degas and read it, or found this PBS documentary and watched it for free.
Afterwards we went to the sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art which was a much more interesting artistic experience. And it’s free.

I visited the Degas House this April. The Degas House consists of two structures. In one of the structures, me and my companions checked-​in and saw a timeline on Degas life (due to time constraints, we didn’t see the recommended film on Degas). In the other structure, we did our self-​guided tour. In the one we explored on our own, we got to see lots of well-​furbished rooms and some of Degas’ art. I highly-​recommend one visit the Degas House and the neighborhood where it sits.
Note: Photography was prohibited in the properties.

Talk about ROMANTIC! I have stayed in several b&b and hotels in New Orleans and this one was magical! I loved the tour too, and the breakfast was SUPER! Learned a lot, but have to say it was just a magical up in the Estelle Room. So historical and sweet, we just really enjoyed ourselves. It’s a special place in New Orleans, loved that it was NOT in the French Quarter but in a beautiful area that we could walk to get coffee and lovely restaurants just a few blocks away. So cool!

Impressionist painter, Edgar Degas, only lived in New Orleans for a few months, but it is still a nice tour into his world in the late 1800’s. Degas has many New Orleans ties and was the only French Impressionist to visit the US. This tour and house shows many of his paintings and also the buildings and grounds on which he and his family lived. The tour guides are extremely friendly and make the trip entertaining and informative.
No original Degas paintings are in the house. Many prints are shown and some are down the street in the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Love the fact that it’s a piece of history and the antique building is phenomenal!!! The reason for my low rating is the lack of air conditioning. I worked a liquor event here with about 40 guests and 10 staff and it was so hot and uncomfortable. Everybody was sweating it was so stuffy in the house. It was horrible.

I had a great experience taking the tour at the Degas House. Our tour group was only 5 people, which was nice, and our tour guide (older blonde lady with short hair) was excellent! She was extremely knowledgeable about Degas, his paintings, the Degas/​Musson family, the house, and New Orleans itself, and she presented it in such a relatable, interesting, and entertaining way. Also, she happened to be related to Degas himself, which was awesome! If you like art, history, and art history, this is a great tour. Also, it was just a short taxi ride from the French Quarter up Esplanade Ave, so it wasn’t out of the way.

I was interested in this place but did not realize it was a bed and breakfast, just thought it was a museum. Ended up getting the free tour by walking inside and no one was around! Free chips and chocolate! Beware of ornately framed posters. Beautiful house!

Beware — the Degas House hosts loud, obnoxious frat parties at night and doesn’t warn guests ahead of time!!! Go to the Ritz for the same price.
My sister and I had come to New Orleans for a relaxing weekend and to take in the culture. Exactly what a new mom to be was looking for. The bed and breakfast looked charming. However, there are some serious problems with this place. First, everytime a school bus drives by, the whole house shakes like an earthquake. Second, our room temperature was way too hot, we couldn’t sleep at night.
However, the real suprise of this weekend was on Friday night when we came home from a lovely dinner to find a giant party bus infront of the bed and breakfast with about 100 kids offloading onto the property with giant cups full of some alcohol punch. They hosted a frat formal without even letting the guests know about this!!!
The horrible loud music started, the disrespectful kids were intoxicated, and roaming all over the house, some girls so drunk they were nearly passing out, and the partiers were pushing themselves into guest bedrooms too. We had to kick out several unwanted people from our room.
The loud rap music was shaking the house so badly, it was impossible to stay there.
We complained to a blonde lady who was suppose to be management, and we believe was the mother of one of the male guests at the party, and she responded to us quite matter of factly that they routinely hold events like weddings…
First, who does this kind of thing and doesn’t inform the guests ahead of time that there will be a very loud and interruptive event that will go until 11:00pm or later? Let your guests chose if they would like to stay that weekend or not, don’t force this on them.
Second, a frat party is not a wedding. At a wedding, i’m going to guess that most of the hotel guests are part of the wedding, and therefore don’t mind if this happens all night long. There were other guests in the hotel that were not part of this mayhem and it was the most rude and unbelievable thing i’ve ever witnessed as a guest at a hotel.
We hightailed it to the Ritz where a room is the same price as the Degas House, but its in a much better location, the food is great, and most importantly, the room was so quiet, and tempterature controlled.
The Degas House — never again.

I booked the breakfast and tour as a birthday present for my artist hubs. You can actually eat in what was the back parlor of the Degas/​Musson family home, and I highly recommend it. You get a choice of an omelet, Belgian waffle, or bananas foster French Toast. I would get the French Toast next time because it’s so good. You also get eggs any style, fruit, and sausage or bacon, plus coffee, tea, toast or muffins, and a mimosa or Bloody Mary. (Watch out for the Bloody Mary– it was a tad too potent for me first thing in the am!) Basically, you can eat and drink to your heart’s content and the tour starts at about 10:30. When I made the reservation, I mentioned it was my husband’s birthday, and when I got there they had a mini chocolate cake and candles just for him. It was really a wonderful way to start our trip.
If you don’t want to shell out for the breakfast experience, at least go for the tour. There are prints of all of the portraits that Degas painted (or began) during his 4 month stay in New Orleans, and you can see all of the places in the house where they were done (unless someone’s staying in one of the upstairs rooms– it’s been converted into a bed and breakfast). I had never seen any of the family portraits Degas painted before, and it was really interesting not just to see the art, but to learn the story behind the paintings and learn about the subjects as well. Our tour guide really made the history of the house come alive, and she is in fact a descendent of the Musson family. She was also quite hospitable, offering us lemonade at the start of the tour.

How interesting to learn about the Degas and Musson families and their respective lives in Paris and New Orleans. How sad that the family split resulted in the split of the family home into two, separate homes.
Our tour guide was Joanie, the granddaughter of Estelle Musson (I hope I’ve got it right). She was a delightful woman, who shared many great nuggets about the Degas-​Musson legacy.

I work in an art museum, and I planned a trip to New Orleans for a group of 25 members and decided a tour of the Degas House was a must. It is a charming house with the nicest ladies running it. They tended to our every need and seemed genuinely excited we were there.
We decided to eat breakfast first and the tour after. The breakfast was wonderful. They set up one of the rooms inside the inn for the group and greeted us with fruit, yogurt, OJ and a mimosa or bloody mary. We got to choose between the three menu choices (omelet, waffles or French toast) and had pastries and muffins to go along. The breakfast took an hour, but looking at the kitchen setup, I was surprised they got it out that quickly. Everything was hot and delicious.
I was concerned with the time because it was our last morning in NO and some people had to get to the airport pretty early so I was antsy the whole time. We met our tour guide and started the tour at 10 a.m. with their movie about Degas’s time in New Orleans. Although interesting, the movie was WAY too long and unnecessary. It was about 30 minutes, and after a big breakfast, I noticed a lot of sleepy folks. The tour guide was very knowledgeable (she was related to the Degas family), but repeated everything of importance in the movie. I think we would have been much happier with only the guided tour.
It was a great breakfast and tour, but if I went back, I’d have to tell them I would skip the movie.

What a charming place. My husband and I got a very good deal on Living Social and stayed here for our anniversary.
We booked the Estelle room which is located on the second floor at the front of the main house. The room itself is gorgeous: dark hard-​wood floors, 12′+ ceilings, floor-​ceiling windows/​curtains, balcony overlooking Esplanade with rocking chairs, chandelier, claw-​foot tub, and a king size, four-​post feather bed.
Keep in mind everything has been restored to the time Degas actually stayed in the house; don’t expect a walk-​in steam shower, folks.
We arrived and were offered a glass of wine before the manager showed us to the room. The room itself had a fridge with complimentary beverages (beer, soda).
Each morning we were offered an excellent breakfast. The spread included fresh-​made waffles, eggs, bacon, a variety of fresh fruits, coffee/​tea/​juice, and choice of a mimosa or bloody Mary (strong!).
They also offered a tour of the house (s). When I found out it was over 1 ½ hours I opted out, due to my short attention span for those types of things. My husband said it was interesting but long.
We had a great stay, I would recommend this place to anyone visiting.
If you want to Degas-​ify your trip: eat at Café Degas and go see an original Degas painting at NOMA during your visit!
Tips:
1. Book online, they sometimes have deals on the website.
2. If you are a tourist, locate it on the map and make sure its location is convenient for your needs.
3. The first thing to do when you arrive is find the thermostat and turn it down, it gets hot in the room.

Okay, I can only comment on the breakfast and tour as opposed to the Bed and Breakfast portion of this fine establishment.
The in-​laws were coming into town and LivingSocial put up a deal for half-​price breakfasts and tours for the Degas House. My husband thought it’d be a nice thing to do with his parents so I picked up the vouchers for the group.
Initially, we were a tad confused as to where we were supposed to go when we first got there. We weren’t familiar with the Degas House and we didn’t realize it was two buildings (though there’s a whole story where it used to be one building). After wandering around for a bit, we figured out where the office was and got little bands around our wrists to show we were there for the tour and breakfast.
We had the choice to go on the tour or have breakfast first; we decided to have breakfast first. It’s a really casual place so we sat at whatever table we wanted and a lady came and gave us a menu. The menu gives you three choices in what type of breakfast you want; waffles, french toast, or an omelet. Then you get to choose whatever else you want with to go with the main dish; eggs, grits, bacon, bread, etc. The breakfast was absolutely divine. Portions were huge and everything was so tasty. You also get a free drink, either a Bloody Mary or a Mimosa. Warning! The Bloody Mary is very strong!
On top of the breakfast menu, there are a ton of pastries you can snack on.
The tour was fine, but the in-​laws weren’t feeling very patient. First, there’s a video which is too long and then you get a tour of the buildings. It’s all very interesting but on the web site it says the tour is an hour long, and we left early after the tour went on for an hour and a half. With the breakfast and the tour, we were at the Degas Hour for almost four hours and the in-​laws were ready to see the rest of the city.
I think it would have been better for us to have the tour and then breakfast. It was definitely worth it with the awesome breakfast. :) NOM!

Very nice B&B. My husband and I have converted to B&Bs and on our first trip to New Orleans, we’re glad we stayed here. We didn’t want to stay in the French Quarter, especially since we were here for Mardi Gras and the Degas house is about a $ 10 cab ride away. We did walk from the FQ one day, it was about 2 miles. I wouldn’t walk again though, the streets, even a big one like Esplanade, didn’t seem very safe.
Sharon is FANTASTIC. She is like the auntie you spend summers with. She cooked breakfast and tidied up the room. She made you feel very comfortable without being over the top.
Tips: Try to stay on the middle floor, the top floor seemed to get really hot even when it’s freezing outside. The walls are paper thin. When i said it’s like staying in a relative’s house, I mean it. You can hear your neighbors and they can hear you. So please be considerate. You have a thermostat in your room. We didn’t realized it was behind the bathroom door until the day we left.
All in all, we liked the homey feel and historical value of the Degas House. Although, now looking back, the location was a tad farther then I’d have liked. Don’t expect everything to be perfect, it’s more like being invited into someone’s home.