DC -- Penn Qtr -- Willard InterContinental Washington (1401 Penn Ave NW):
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- WILL_080821_035.JPG: In 1852, Henry Willard was convinced that if he could get president-elect Franklin Pierce as a guest at his hotel, a precedent would be set. The Willard would forever be considered a hotel of presidents. Pierce did come to the Willard and so has every president since. Many commander-in-chiefs used the hotel as a residence, others as a launching pad for inaugural parades and the rest as honored attendees at grand receptions. Lincoln held staff meetings beside the hotel's huge roaring fireplace, Grant was plagued by "lobbyists" while relaxing in the main lobby, and Nixon used the Willard as national headquarters for his presidential 1968 campaign. The Willard holds a unique and distinguished place in the presidential history of the United States.
- WILL_080821_040.JPG: President Lincoln and his family stayed at the hotel until after his inauguration. Lincoln paid his bill when he received his first paycheck as president. The Lincoln party was charged $2.75 per room for a multiroom suite and three meals a day. Among additional items billed to the president-elect were $50 for champagne, $8 for liquor, and a total of $100 for room service.
- WILL_080821_045.JPG: The corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington has boasted a hostelry since 1818. Two years earlier, Captain John Tayloe, owner of the nearby Octagon House, purchased the property between 14th and 15th Streets and built six commercial row houses. A succession of hotels -- Strother's, Williamson's, Barbard's Mansion House, and The City Hotel -- served lodgers on that prominent corner lot. In 1847, Henry Willard, a former steamboat steward, was hired to manage The City Hotel.
- WILL_080821_050.JPG: Henry soon brought his brother Edwin to Washington to help him run the bustling business. Henry and Edwin's dedication to service, expansion of the hotel and the development of upscale and extravagant dining helped increase their reputation and prosperity. Edwin soon left to build other businesses in the city, including the National Hotel, so Henry invited his brothers, Caleb and Joseph, to work with him. Caleb also left after a few years to pursue his own business interests, but Henry and Joseph remained partners in running the Willard as well as in many other real estate holdings.
Although the brothers retired from active management of the hotel in 1861, they remained involved in the business and finally purchased the hotel in 1870. Henry's son, Henry K. Willard, took over his father's investment in the Willard. However, he did not get along with his uncle and sold his share to Joseph in 1892. Joseph died five years later, leaving the hotel to his son, Captain Joseph E. Willard. The Captain oversaw the renovation of the hotel into the Beaux Arts structure that still stands today. The hotel stayed in the family until 1946, when the property was sold to the Abbell Hotel Company for $2,800,000.
- WILL_080821_051.JPG: 1816: Capt. John Tayloe acquires land and builds six row houses at Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street.
1818: Tayloe's corner building is leased to Joseph A. Tennyson for use as a hotel.
1822: John Struther takes over the lease of the hotel room and names it The Mansion House.
1833: Azariah Fuller becomes hotel operator and opens under the name The American House, later changing it to The City Hotel.
1847: Henry Willard arrives in Washington to become manager of a newly expanded City Hotel.
- WILL_080821_056.JPG: 1850: Willard's City Hotel, now under management of Henry and his brother Edwin, united the six original buildings under one facade.
1853: President-elect Franklin Pierce makes his home at The Willard while waiting for his inauguration.
Outgoing President Fillmore and his family take up residence at the hotel in Pierce's recently vacated room.
1859: Departing British Ambassador Lord Napier honored with the Napier Ball, a reception for 1,800 guests in the Willard's tenth floor ballroom.
1860: Japanese Ambassadors and their delegation of seventy-four officials take over an entire floor of the hotel while in Washington.
- WILL_080821_057.JPG: 1861: The Peace Convention, a last-ditch effort to avoid the Civil War, held at Willard Hall.
President-elect Lincoln and his family stay at The Willard to await his first inauguration.
Henry and Joseph E. Willard retire from active management of the hotel.
The Willard opens the first [soda???] fountain in the Capital City.
1868: General John A. Logan issues an order from the hotel designating the first Memorial Day for all those fallen in battle.
1873: Henry M. Stanley promotes his African adventures and his book "Have I Found Livingstone" in the Willard Bar.
1892: Joseph E. Willard gains sole ownership of the hotel.
1897: Joseph E. Willard dies, leaving the hotel to his son, Captain Joseph E. Willard.
- WILL_080821_064.JPG: Washington is a town built on politics and the Willard is a hotel built on serving those involved with the political process. Its position mere steps away from the White House and strolling distance from the Capital has made the hotel a favorite hang out, meeting place and residence of politicians and power brokers since its founding. The political news of the day was spread over cigars in the lobby, drinks in the Gentlemen's Bar or a five-course dinner in the Willard Room. The business of the nation may have taken place in hallowed government buildings, but the business of politics more often took place at the Willard.
- WILL_080821_066.JPG: 1901: First phase of the renovated "new" Willard opens.
1904: Washington University Club formed in the Red Room of the new hotel.
1908: National Press Club founded at a meeting held at The Willard.
1909: Henry A. Willard dies.
1913: The National Geographic Society honors Captain Ronald Amundsen for his discovery of the South Pole and Admiral Peary for his discovery of the North Pole at a banquet attended by more than 800 men and women.
- WILL_080821_070.JPG: 1923: President Calvin Coolidge uses the Willard as his residence while waiting for President Harding's newly widowed family to move out of the White House.
1925: The Willard expands to 450 guest rooms, each of the new 81 rooms complete with its own bath and shower.
1927: The National Committee on Historic Sites recognizes the Willard for its role in the life of the Capital.
1934: Air conditioning is installed in the hotel.
1937: A $500,000 remodeling project includes the installation of a bath in every room.
- WILL_080821_074.JPG: 1861: Julia Ward Howe came to Washington in 1861 with promoters of the Sanitary Commission, an agency that provided medical personnel, supplies and transportation to field hospitals during the Civil War. She and her companions passed marching troops singing the song "John Brown's body lies a'mouldering in his grave." One of Julia's companions liked the tune and suggested that Julia write less objectionable words to it. The next morning before dawn, Julia took a sheet of hotel stationary and penned the poem the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Union troops, pictured here, march by the Willard hotel during the Civil War.
- WILL_080821_077.JPG: 1963: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a guest at the Willard in 1963 when he finished writing his "I Have a Dream" speech, which was delivered to 250,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
- WILL_080821_082.JPG: 1940: The entire ninth floor of the hotel is leased by the British Purchasing Commission, which buys aircraft and other war materials for England during World War II.
1942: Actress Ruth Gordon walks to The Willard after her evening performance of "The Three Little Sisters" at National Theater and married Hollywood film director Garson Kanin. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter attends the ceremony.
The Willard hired Miss Dorothy North, the first "girl bell captain" in Washington.
The cast-iron Willard clock located on F Street, a fixture since 1902, is donated as scrap iron for the war effort.
1946: The Willard family sells the hotel to the Abbell Hotel Company for $2,800,000.
1954: The hotel undergoes a $500,000 remodeling that includes new elevators, air conditioning, kitchen, and a remodeled grand ballroom capable of seating 1,000 people for dinner and 1,200 people for meetings.
1961: The Willard bought by Charles B. Benenson and Robert H. Arnow. The Abbell Hotel Company signs a lease to operate the hotel for 99 years.
- WILL_080821_084.JPG: The Willard has always been a gathering place to see and be seen in Washington. The public rooms of the hotel have hosted spectacular galas, balls, and celebrations sporting guest lists including heads of state, world-renowned artists, social doyennes and civic leaders. Politicians waiting to see the president, actresses waiting for their curtain at the National Theater and socialites promenading down fashionable Peacock Alley all added to the glamorous atmosphere of the grand dame of Pennsylvania Avenue. The Willard fostered many sayings, customs and relationships crucial to making Washington a cultural pacesetter.
- WILL_080821_089.JPG: 1962: The President's Advisory Council on Pennsylvania Avenue is established to improve and renovate the nation's main street.
1963: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., writes his "I Have a Dream" speech while a guest at the Willard.
1968: The Willard closes its doors to guests on July 15th, its future uncertain.
The United Citizens for Nixon-Agnew leases four floors of the hotel to use as its campaign headquarters to elect Richard Nixon.
1969: The Travelers Aid Society hosts a charity ball on the ground floor of the hotel. Guests dance to the tunes of Emery Davis and his orchestra, the second generation of Davis musicians to play at The Willard.
- WILL_080821_090.JPG: 1969: Owner Charles Benenson files an application with The Fine Arts Commission to demolish the Willard. Preservationists succeed in having the hotel designated a national landmark.
1972: Congress creates the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC) to implement plans to redesign and rebuild Washington's famous avenue.
1974: The Willard is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1978: The government, through PADC, takes title to the Willard.
PADC calls for proposals to restore and preserve The Willard. Architects Hardy, Holtzman, Pfeiffer Associates of New York and development team Fairmont/Golding are selected to develop the new hotel and business complex.
1981: After soaring interest rates and financial concerns create time delays, Oliver T. Carr Company joins Golding to create a new development team for the hotel> Vlastimil Koubek takes over as architect to implement the original design and Inter-Continental as hotel managing company.
- WILL_080821_098.JPG: 1983: Construction work on the hotel commences.
1986: The Willard reopens its doors to nation-wide fanfare.
1992: Re-make of Born Yesterday starring Melanie Griffith and John Goodman filmed at the Hotel.
Jazz in the Nest series begins in the Nest Lounge above the Round Robin Bar.
1998: US Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Natanyahu meet to discuss peace negotiations at the hotel.
- WILL_080821_101.JPG: Julia Ward Howe:
While a guest at the Willard in 1861, Julia Ward Howe woke from her bed in the middle of the night and wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The hymn first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862 and has since become a patriotic anthem. Notably, the song was used at funeral ceremonies for Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and former senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
- WILL_080821_105.JPG: Walt Whitman:
Poet Walt Whitman stayed at the Willard during the Civil War while he searched for his wounded brother and subsequently cared for sick and injured Union soldiers recovering at a wartime hospital set up in the Old Patent Office Building. Poems and recollections from this pivotal period in the author's life are filled with details of Washington such as the one shown here describing the bustling, ever-present soldiers at "Willard's" hotel.
- WILL_080821_112.JPG: Jenny Lind:
Promoter PT Barnum fueled the public's fascination with "Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind by offering products endorsed by the singer including songs, clothes, chairs, pianos and commemorative buttons such as those above. Public fascination, or "Lindomania" as it was dubbed, lasted until 1852, when Barnum and Lind parted ways over logistical and financial issues. A reception held for Lind at the Willard in 1850 attracted hundreds of the international celebrity's local fans.
- WILL_080821_114.JPG: Founded at the Willard:
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR):
The first meeting of the founding scientists of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) was at the Willard Hotel on May 7, 1907. Devoted to the prevention and cure of cancer, the organization was formed during this meeting as the accompanying minutes describe. Today, the AACR consists of over 25,000 members in 70 countries.
National Press Club:
On March 12, 1908, 32 newspapermen solidified journalism's place at the Willard with the establishment of the National Press Club. Fathering in the hotel's bar for drinks, the journalists framed the National Press Club's constitution and elected the organization's first officers.
Reserve Officers Association:
At the request of General of the Armies John J. Pershing, in October 1922, a group of 140 World War I Reserve Component soldiers met at the Willard Hotel to found the Reserve Officers Association for the purpose of education the nation about the critical need for preparedness in national defense. Since 1922, the ROA has lived up to its Congressional charter in vigorously advocating for a strong and viable national defense strategy that preserves our freedoms, supports the cause of national defense and provides all members of the Reserve Component services a voice in the crucial debates of our times.
United States Court of Federal Claims:
Founded in 1855 as the United States Court of Claims, the court is one of the oldest federal courts in the nation. In the first few weeks of its existence, the court was without an official home. In need of a place to hold its first meetings and craft its rules of procedure, the first three judges, appointed by President Franklin Pierce, met at Willard's Hotels on May 11, 1855. The judges immediately set to work and on May 17, 1855, adopted the first Rules of Practice and published them in the First Journal of the United States Court of Claims. While the court's stay at Willard's Hotel was brief -- it moved to the Capitol in July -- it was most significant in the establishment of "the People's Court," for it was then and remains today the court where citizens go to sue the government.
- Wikipedia Description: Willard InterContinental Washington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Willard InterContinental Washington is a historic luxury hotel located two blocks east of the White House in Washington, D.C. Among its facilities are numerous luxurious guest rooms, several restaurants, the famed Round Robin Bar, and voluminous function rooms. It is two blocks from the Metro Center station of the Washington Metro.
History:
The hotel's site, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, has accommodated guests since 1816, but the Willard was formally founded by Henry Willard when he bought the property in 1850. The present twelve-story structure, designed by famed hotel architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, opened in 1901. It was for many years the only hotel from which one could easily visit all of downtown Washington, and has consequently hosted innumerable dignitaries in its history.
The Willard family sold its share of the hotel in 1946, and due to mismanagement the hotel closed in 1968. A lengthy legal battle ensued, at the end of which the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation purchased the property, held a competition and ultimately awarded it to the Oliver Carr Company and Golding Associates. The two partners then brought in the InterContinental Hotels Group to be a part owner and operator of the Hotel. The Willard was subsequently restored to its turn of the century elegance and an office-building contingent was added. The Hotel was thus re-opened amid great celebration on August 20, 1986 which was attended by several Supreme Court Justices and distinguished senators such as Edward Kennedy. In the late 1990s the hotel once again underwent significant restoration.
Famous guests:
The first group of three Japanese ambassadors to the United States stayed at the Willard with seventy-four other delegates in 1860, where they observed that their hotel room was more luxurious than the U.S. Secretary of State's house. It was the first time an official Japanese delegation traveled to a foreign destination, and many tourists and journalists gathered to see the sword-carrying Japanese.
From February 4 to February 27, 1861, the Peace Congress, featuring delegates from 21 of the 34 states, met at the Willard in a last-ditch attempt to avert the Civil War. A plaque from the Virginia Civil War Commission, located on the Pennsylvania Ave. side of the hotel, commemorates this courageous effort. Later that year, upon hearing a Union regiment singing "John Brown's Body" as they marched beneath her window, Julia Ward Howe wrote the patriotic "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the same tune.
On February 23, 1861, amid several assassination threats, detective Allan Pinkerton smuggled Abraham Lincoln into the Willard during the weeks before his inauguration; there Lincoln lived until his inauguration on March 4, holding meetings in the lobby and carrying on business from his room.
On March 27, 1874, the Northern and Southern Orders of Chi Phi met at the Willard to unite as the Chi Phi Fraternity.
Many United States presidents have frequented the Willard, and every president since Franklin Pierce, including George W. Bush, has either slept in or attended an event at the hotel at least once; the hotel is hence also known as "the residence of presidents". It was the habit of Ulysses S. Grant to drink brandy and smoke a cigar while relaxing in the lobby. Folklore, additionally promulgated by publicists for the hotel, holds that this is the origin of the term "lobbying", as Grant was often approached by those seeking favors. However, this is probably false, as the verb to lobby is found decades earlier and did not originally refer to Washington politics. Plans for Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations took shape when he held meetings of the League to Enforce Peace in the hotel's lobby in 1916. Calvin Coolidge lived at the hotel for a month in 1923 while Warren G. Harding's widow vacated the White House.
Several hundred officers, many of them combat veterans of World War I, first gathered with the General of the Armies, John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., on October 2, 1922 formally established Reserve Officers Association (ROA) as an organization.
The first recorded meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research was convened at the Willard on May 7, 1907.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in his hotel room at the Willard in 1963 in the days before his March on Washington.
On September 23, 1987 Bob Fosse collapsed in his room and later died.
Among the Willard's many other famous guests are P. T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, General Tom Thumb, Samuel Morse, the Duke of Windsor, Harry Houdini, Gypsy Rose Lee, Gloria Swanson, Emily Dickinson, Jenny Lind, Charles Dickens and Joe Paterno.
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