Willard InterContinental Washington

Beginning July 6, the iconic Round Robin Bar will be temporarily located in Willard InterContinental’s Lincoln Library as its historic home undergoes a thoughtful restoration. Learn More » A row house on the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, built by Captain John Tayloe in 1816, is leased to Joshua Tennyson for a hotel. Over the next 30 years, the hotel’s name and operator would change numerous times. Kentucky Statesman Henry Clay first introduces the Mint Julep outside Kentucky in Round Robin Bar. It would later become the hotel’s signature drink. Henry Willard is hired by Benjamin Ogle Tayloe to operate The Willard (known then as the City Hotel) after years of falling profits. The Willards remodel the building, tearing down the frame façade, building a new brick façade, and enlarging the interior. It was also around this time that hotel was renamed Willard’s City Hotel. The Napier Ball, an extremely lavish event attended by 1,200 notables in honor of British minister Lord Napier, takes place at the hotel. The Willard is selected to house the first-ever Japanese Delegation to the United States. Comprised of three Samurai ambassadors and an entourage of seventy-four, the Japanese delegation came to Washington to meet with President James Buchanan to ratify the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation in an effort to build a close relationship between the two nations. President-elect Abraham Lincoln takes up residence at The Willard for ten days prior to his inauguration. Julia Ward Howe pens the immortal words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. While staying at The Willard, General John A. Logan issued the order designating May 13, 1868, as a day to observe the memory of those who have fallen in battle, thus beginning the tradition of Memorial Day. The Willard is torn down to make way for the new Willard, a Beaux-Arts-style structure that currently remains today. The University Club of Washington is founded in the hotel’s Red Room. Besides living at The Willard during his entire term as Vice President, Calvin Coolidge remained at the hotel while Mrs. Harding moved out of The White House. It was during this time that the Presidential flag flew outside the hotel. After almost 100 years of association with the Willard family, the hotel becomes the property of the Abbell Hotel Company for $2.8 million. After years of declining revenue, the April riots in DC, and the proposed Pennsylvania Avenue plan by the President’s Advisory Council, which called for the creation of a “National Square” at the western end of the avenue, eliminating all of the buildings on the Willard block, the Willard officially closed on July 15, 1968. The United Citizens for Nixon-Agnew leases four floors of the hotel in the fall of 1968 to work for the election of Richard M. Nixon. The hotel’s furniture, fixtures, and equipment are sold to the public at auction. The future of the Willard remains undecided for five years. Early in 1974, realizing the uncertainty over what to do with the Willard was as great a problem as funding, Lawson B. Knott, Jr., then Executive Director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, leads the National Trust in co-sponsoring with the National Park Service a study to evaluate the re-use of the hotel. The Oliver T. Carr Company conducts the study along with Vlastimil Koubek, the George Hyman Construction Company, and InterContinental Hotels. After analyzing seven different alternatives, including office, hotel, condominium, and mixed use, the Carr Company concludes that the hotel use was the most economically practical option for the redevelopment of the hotel. Hotel owners file a suit for inverse condemnation, which is won on January 26, 1977. At the same time, PADC has appropriations authorized on August 14, 1976 including funds specifically earmarked for the preservation of the Willard Hotel as a demonstration project. A settlement procedure is negotiated with the owners during the