They are more than just places to rest your head at night. Washington’s historic downtown hotels represent both a vital link to the city’s past and impressive examples of adaptive reuse in architecture.
From Boarding House to Luxury Suites
From the boarding houses of the District’s early years to the mid-century palaces that spared no expense, hotels in the nation’s capital have always been intriguing worlds under themselves.
Historic Hotels of the Past–and Present
Join this walking tour to hear about:
- Blodgett’s, the city’s first hotel and a building that bankrupted its developer
- Where the Ebbitt House, one of the most fashionable Victorian-era accommodations, once stood. (What’s its relationship to one of D.C.’s most enduringly popular restaurants, The Old Ebbitt Grill?)
- The Willard Hotel, the epitome of Beaux Arts splendor
- The site of William Wilson Corcoran’s Arlington Hotel, the most opulent of the city’s post-Civil War hotels
- The connection between the Hay-Adams and St. Regis Hotels, two of Washington’s most historic and luxurious accommodations
With special guest John DeFerrari. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., John has had a lifelong interest in his hometown’s history. Beyond penning the popular Streets of Washington Substack, DeFerrari has written four books, including Sixteenth Street NW: Washington, DC’s Avenue of Ambitions (2022), which he co-authored with D. Peter Sefton. DeFerrari is currently working on a fifth book chronicling the history of D.C. hotels.
This walk is being given in conjunction with Capital Accommodations, an exhibit at the GWU Museum that explores the layered histories of hotels, taverns, boarding houses and motor lodges in D.C. from the city’s founding to the modern era. Drawing from the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection, the exhibition presents photographs, ephemera and prints that illuminate the roles these accommodations have played in shaping the city.
