New Orleans, Orleans Parish story
A Church of the Arts
At 725 St. Ferdinand Street, you'll find a building that has lived two very different lives. Built in 1853, it began as a German Catholic Church designed by architect Theodore Gir…
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At 725 St. Ferdinand Street, you'll find a building that has lived two very different lives. Built in 1853, it began as a German Catholic Church designed by architect Theodore Giraud for the residents of Faubourg Marigny.
For over a century, it served as a spiritual home, until the Archdiocese of New Orleans closed it in 1997. For years, the building sat quiet, but in 2011, it underwent a dramatic adaptation. It reopened on January 2, 2012, as the Marigny Opera House, transforming from a traditional house of worship into a non-denominational neighborhood church of the arts.
By 2014, it even became the home of the Marigny Opera Ballet, proving that a space designed for hymns can just as easily be a stage for dance.
Updated June 2026