Hotel Washington (Washington, D.C.)

Hotel Washington
View across Pennsylvania Avenue,
looking up 15th Street (2023)
Location515 15th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
Coordinates38°53′49.1″N 77°1′59.8″W / 38.896972°N 77.033278°W / 38.896972; -77.033278
Built1918
ArchitectCarrère and Hastings
Architectural styleBeaux Arts
NRHP reference No.95000352[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 30, 1995

The Hotel Washington is a historic hotel located at 515 15th Street NW (between Pennsylvania Avenue and F Street) in downtown Washington, D.C.

History

The Hotel Washington opened on April 4, 1918.[2] Designed by the architectural firm of Carrère and Hastings, the ten-story, Beaux-Arts hotel is the only commercial building designed by the firm in Washington, D.C. The facade features cream colored sgraffito decoration on a reddish-brown ground.

The Hotel Washington was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1995; in addition, the building is a contributing property to the Financial Historic District, listed on the NRHP in 2006, and the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site.[3]

On 14 October 2005, George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush and Eunice Kennedy Shriver attended a press conference at the hotel to unveil The Extra Mile - Points of Light Volunteer Pathway. It is a mile-long pathway of bronze medallions on 15th Street. Various staff members from the Corporation for National and Community Service and AmeriCorps NCCC attended the event at the hotel. After the press conference concluded, Pres. Bush, Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Kennedy Shriver walked up 15th street to see the medallions.

Texas businessman William Lewis Moody Jr. bought the hotel in 1940.[4] The hotel remained in the family for decades, and his grandson, controversial businessman Shearn Moody Jr., was often seen there in the 1980s.[5]

The Moody family company, Gal-Tex, sold the hotel in early 2006, to Westbrook Partners for $120 million.[6] They quickly resold the hotel, in October 2006, to Istithmar World for $150 million.[7][8] The new owners closed the hotel in November 2007 and undertook an extensive renovation.[9] It reopened on October 8, 2009 as the 317-room W Washington D.C.[10]

In 2015, Investment Corporation of Dubai purchased the hotel.[11]

In 2021 the hotel was sold to Schulte Hospitality Group & Pimco for $147 million.[12] They ended its franchise with W Hotels and returned the hotel to its historic name, Hotel Washington.[13]

The hotel was seen in the films Silkwood, Contact and The Firm.[14] The hotel's roof terrace cafe was a location in the movies The Godfather Part II, No Way Out and Wonder Woman 1984. Frank Murphy and John Nance Garner lived there.[15]

Notes

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ "Three Stories from Hotel Washington". January 24, 2014.
  3. ^ https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/95000352_text
  4. ^ Howee, Desson (August 11, 1985). "The Terrace: Romance in the Summer Air". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  5. ^ Cartwright, Gary (August 1, 1987). "The Sleaziest Man in Texas". Texas Monthly. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  6. ^ Heath, Thomas (June 11, 2007). "Churning Cycle of Sales and Renovations". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  7. ^ "Hotel Washington to close next month, prepare for W". Washington Business Journal. November 8, 2007. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  8. ^ "Istithmar PJSC in Acquisition of Landmark Hotel Washington". Cleary Gottlieb. October 10, 2006. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  9. ^ "Hotel Washington's sign changing to W Hotel". Washington Business Journal. November 30, 2007. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  10. ^ Flint, Erica (October 11, 2009). "Washington, D.C. Proves It Knows How to Party". Vanity Fair. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  11. ^ Kane, Frank (June 14, 2021). "Investment Corporation of Dubai takes stake in luxury US and South African hotels". The National. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  12. ^ "Hotel Washington Sold for $147M". Commercial Real Estate Construction Project Intelligence. September 13, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  13. ^ Luke Mullins (July 21, 2021). "W Washington DC Hotel Is Being Sold and Rebranded". Washingtonian. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
  14. ^ "IMDb: Most Popular Titles With Location Matching "Hotel Washington - 515 15th Street, Washington, District of Columbia, USA"". IMDb. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  15. ^ DeNeen L. Brown (December 31, 2007). "A Many-Storied Inn". Washington Post.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hotel Washington.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.