Residence of the Presidents
(The Washington Post) — That habitual sleep-around, George Washington, never bedded down at the Willard Hotel (it was built after his time), but a lot of American VIPs have. So have countless bigwigs from around the world. It’s been that way for 150 years, ever since an architectural facelift transformed what had been a vintage Washington, DC boardinghouse just a stone’s throw from the White House into a four-story, 100-room hotel some refer to as "the residence of presidents." Every chief executive since Zachary Taylor has been to this favorite of the power elite. A few of them have actually lived there for short periods. And some have stayed in the lavish Presidential Suite. But more on that later.
First, a few historic footnotes: When Abraham Lincoln feared an assassination plot against him prior to his inauguration, he secretly took refuge at the hotel and remained sequestered there until the ceremony. Andrew Johnson wrote the last speech of his political career there — a diatribe against incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant. Calvin Coolidge lived at the hotel throughout his vice presidency and (because he had to wait for Warren Harding’s widow to vacate the White House) also for a short time after being sworn in as chief executive. Once Coolidge nabbed a cat burglar in his room, but let the culprit go after he promised to abide by the straight and narrow. Writers such as Mark Twain and Nathaniel Hawthorn stayed at the hotel. Julia Ward Howe penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic there. And the Willard is where Martin Luther King wrote his "I Have a Dream" speech.
Over the years, the Willard was on the brink of destruction several times only to be salvaged and lavishly restored. The most extensive restoration occurred in recent years when Inter Continental Hotels consulted written memoirs and taped interviews in order to accurately preserve the hotel’s historic detail. A special architectural team layered the hotel’s steel columns with scagliola, a time-consuming process that impregnates plaster with silk threads; reproduced mahogany and velvet vintage chairs that feature intricate carving on their arms and legs; and painstakingly refurbished each of the hotels five main gathering points — Peacock Alley, the Willard Room, the Crystal Room, the Round Robin Bar, and the front lobby.
Lincoln paid only $4 for his room. Today, the cheapest single goes for $380 a night. I stayed in the Presidential Suite to see what real money ($3,500 a night) can buy and also what visiting heads of state experience when they come to Washington.
The football field-length suite is so long that it’s difficult to see from one end to the other. It features inlaid marble foyers in a starburst pattern of black, beige, and cream. Black marble columns with Corinthian capitals adorn the foyer and divide the suite’s l-shaped drawing room into a formal sitting and lounging area. The sitting room features a black and white marble fireplace with marble columns and white marble inlay. Luxurious red and gold damask sofas and lounge chairs, and a matching black and gold writing desk and chair, complete the area. A second sitting area consisting of red and gold damask sofas, lounge chairs and a traditional breakfast cabinet offset the entertainment center.
Another focal point of the suite is its oval 12-seat dining room with deep red lacquer walls, a ceiling frieze, a French Empire antique chandelier, and a portrait by John Singer Sargent.
The Presidential Suite has two large bedrooms with separate dressing areas. The master bedroom features a draped canopy bed in a rose blue, and green floral motif with a green damask upholstered headboard, quilted green damask bedspread, and what have got to the be the largest goose down pillows this side of anywhere. Soft green carpeting with a rose and green border complements the floral motif draperies and sofa in the sitting room. A mirror, a TV armoire, and a fruitwood desk and night stand round out the room.
Visitors to the hotel dine in the Willard Room, richly ornate with sparking prisms, palms, tuxedoed waiters, and exquisite food. The hotel’s Cafe Espresso provides more informal dining.
A stay at the Willard may be beyond the means of most. But for the discerning and deep pocketed, the old world elegance there is priceless, something that few hotels in our increasingly homogenized global village simply cannot match.
