The St. Regis Washington, D.C.

Sixteenth Street runs due north from the White House, and the corner it makes with K Street, two blocks up, has had the same hotel on it since 1926. The St. Regis Washington, D.C. opened that year as the Carlton, built by the developer Harry Wardman, whose apartment houses and hotels had reshaped the capital in the 1910s and 1920s.

History

Wardman's architect was Mihran Mesrobian, an Armenian born in Anatolia who had trained in Constantinople and arrived in Washington in 1921. The Carlton was one of his first major works for Wardman; the Hay-Adams, on the other side of Lafayette Square, followed in 1928. The hotel's opening drew the city's political class, and it set a pattern: the dining room and the bar have been the setting for the kind of conversation Washington runs on, and presidents have been visiting since Calvin Coolidge.

The hotel passed through the Sheraton chain for decades as the Sheraton-Carlton, with the original name kept in the signage. In 1999 Starwood, then owner of the St. Regis brand, renamed it The St. Regis Washington, D.C., and a renovation completed in 2008 restored the public rooms and rebuilt the bedrooms. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now part of Marriott International, which acquired Starwood in 2016.

Architecture and design

Mesrobian designed the Carlton as an Italian Renaissance palazzo in limestone and brick, with a rusticated base, arched windows and a heavy cornice. The lobby is the set piece: a long room under a coffered ceiling painted by hand, with Palladian windows on the street, crystal chandeliers, a marble floor and a fireplace. The 2008 renovation kept these and added the darker, clubbish tone of the St. Regis Bar, with its mural and its leather.

Rooms and suites

The rooms are large by the standards of a 1920s building, with high ceilings and tall windows onto 16th or K Street. The suites on the upper floors have separate living rooms; the Presidential Suite looks towards the White House. St. Regis butler service runs on all floors, the brand's rule everywhere.

Dining

Alhambra, opened in 2017 in the former dining room, serves Mediterranean cooking with Spanish and North African references and is open for breakfast through dinner. The St. Regis Bar serves cocktails and the house Bloody Mary, a St. Regis tradition since the drink was mixed at the New York original in 1934. Afternoon tea is served in the lobby.

Wellness

A fitness centre is on site; there is no spa or pool, which is usual for a hotel of this age in the city centre.

Weddings and events

The hotel's function rooms, led by the Astor Ballroom, hold weddings, embassy dinners and corporate meetings. The lobby and the bar serve receptions, and the position two blocks from the White House makes it a regular address for events tied to the government calendar. Capacities vary with the room.

Location

The White House and Lafayette Square are a walk of five minutes down 16th Street. The National Mall and the Smithsonian museums begin ten minutes further south; Dupont Circle is ten minutes north. McPherson Square and Farragut North metro stations are each a block or two away. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is about five miles, 15 to 20 minutes by road; Dulles about 27 miles. For a luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., the St. Regis holds the address closest to the presidential front door.