- Image
A larger hotel [the second building] was rebuilt at a cost of $800,000. Barker retained very little interest in the hotel, and took no part in the rebuilding. The second hotel opened in January 1853, during a time of political strife between 1851 and 1861, but became a highly successful venture. A British visitor of 1858 noted of the building, with accommodations for 1,000: "This hotel is a monster."
Col. R. E. Rivers, who was proprietor of the house, directed it, either alone or with a partner, from 1869. The office force consisted of Messrs. Kelsev, Mitchell, Davis and Wallace. In 1878, the St. Charles Hotel Company, who owned it, made $100,000 worth of improvements to the building, which thoroughly modernized it and gave it additional rooms. In 1888, the house had 400 rooms, accommodation for between 600 and 700 guests. There were 30 parlors and 100 bathrooms. It peaked in popularity during the Mardi Gras, when the building often become overcrowded. The gold service of the hotel, estimated to be worth $16,000, was only used on extraordinary occasions. The second hotel burned down too, on April 28, 1894.