Magazine Street runs six miles through Uptown New Orleans, lined with the kind of independent businesses that other cities spend decades trying to cultivate and usually fail. Boutiques, galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, and design studios stack up against each other on a corridor that has been the commercial spine of the neighborhood for well over a century. The best seat on the whole stretch might be the one directly above it.
The Villa Vici Penthouse sits on the second floor above the Villa Vici furniture and design gallery, a working showroom that has occupied its Magazine Street address for years. The apartment is 2,000 square feet with two bedrooms and three bathrooms, a covered front balcony that faces directly onto the street below, and a large private rooftop terrace that extends the outdoor living space well beyond what most urban rentals manage. Parking is available off-street during non-business hours.
The balcony is the thing. Sitting above the sidewalk traffic on Magazine Street, watching the neighborhood move through its day, delivers the particular pleasure of being embedded in a place rather than passing through it.
The shops and restaurants directly below and on either block cover most of what anyone might need: coffee in the morning, a meal at any hour, something to browse in between. Audubon Park is a short walk away, and the St. Charles streetcar is close enough to make the French Quarter or the CBD accessible without a car.
The apartment books with a strict no-parties policy, which the owners enforce. The business occupying the ground floor operates Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm, which means weekday mornings bring the quiet hum of a working building rather than a silent one. For guests who want the texture of a real New Orleans neighborhood rather than a sanitized version of one, that detail lands as a feature rather than a drawback.
The Villa Vici Penthouse is bookable through Airbnb and multiple travel platforms. Search Villa Vici Penthouse New Orleans or find the Expedia listing directly to check current availability and rates.
