Like Robert A.M. Stern, for whom (Ledbetter) once worked, he is both talented and scholarly. But Ledbetter’s projects – Torres’ hip hotels among them – most often take a modernist turn, even when, as in this case, the building is historic…Ledbetter expanded many of the three-foot-wide doorways between rooms to twelve feet. ‘I’ve renovated four large French Quarter houses, and I’ve done this in every one,’ the architect says. ‘It helps open up the spaces, create flow, increase views and bring in light. But I also respect what’s there.’