| Existing comment:
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. |