The Jefferson, Washington, DC

Sixteenth Street runs due north from the White House, and four blocks up, on the corner of M Street, a Beaux-Arts building of 1923 carries the name of the third president. The Jefferson, Washington, DC takes its name and much of its character from Thomas Jefferson, displaying documents that bear his signature, books from his period and objects tied to his life, and it does so with the kind of scholarly care that suits a city of archives.

History

The building went up in 1923 as a residential apartment house, designed by the Washington architect Jules Henri de Sibour, whose work also includes several of the grand houses along Massachusetts Avenue. In 1955 it was converted into a hotel. Over the following decades it became a favourite of visitors who wanted somewhere smaller and more private than the big downtown hotels, and many returned for years. In 2007 the hotel closed for a two-year restoration, and it reopened in 2009 with its interiors remade and its Jeffersonian theme sharpened.

Architecture and design

The exterior is a dignified Beaux-Arts composition in the French manner that de Sibour favoured, trained as he was in Paris. Inside, the restoration drew on Jefferson's own tastes and interests: Monticello, his years as American minister in France, his library, his gardens and his passion for architecture. The Greenhouse, under a skylight on the ground floor, is the light-filled centre of the house, and the Book Room, with a fireplace and shelves of volumes about Jefferson and his era, serves as a sitting room and library for guests.

Rooms and suites

The Jefferson has fewer than 100 rooms, a small number by Washington standards. Rooms combine antiques and reproductions with modern bathrooms, and they carry prints and objects that recall Jefferson's life and travels. Several suites have terraces or fireplaces, and the larger ones are laid out like apartments, a reminder of the building's first use.

Dining

Plume, the formal dining room, has held a Michelin star, and its menu takes cues from Jefferson's interest in food and wine and from the kitchen gardens he planted at Monticello. The wine list gives weight to the French vineyards Jefferson admired during his years in Paris and to Virginia, where he tried for decades to make wine of his own. Quill, the bar, has a piano and maps of Jefferson's travels on its walls, and it is one of the city's established rooms for an evening drink. The Greenhouse serves breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea.

Wellness

A small spa offers massages and facials in a quiet set of treatment rooms, and there is a fitness room for guests.

Weddings and events

The hotel has private dining rooms and a handful of function spaces used for small weddings, receptions, dinners and meetings. Its scale suits gatherings of a few dozen guests better than large banquets.

Location

The Jefferson sits in the streets between Dupont Circle and the downtown business district, close to the line where offices give way to townhouses. The headquarters of the National Geographic Society is a block away, and the Mayflower Hotel, St Matthew's Cathedral and Farragut Square are a few blocks south and west. For a luxury hotel in Washington, it has an unusually domestic feel, and the museums of the National Mall are a quick taxi ride away. Farragut North and Dupont Circle Metro stations are within easy reach on foot, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a short drive across the Potomac.