The Metropolitan Hotel at Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street NW in Washington, D.C. was a major hotel of the capital city of the United States from 1863 to 1933. Built in 1850 by the heirs of Jesse Brown, [1] the Metropolitan was "brick with marble veneer, originally five stories, approx[imately] twenty bays." [2] In its day it was home "to many distinguished congressmen and visitors." [3] The Metropolitan had a reputation as the hotel of politicians from the Southern states. [4]
The history of the hotel that stood on Pennsylvania between Sixth and Seventh began with a land purchase in 1802. [5] The first owner constructed Woodward's Centre Tavern and arranged to have water piped to the building from a nearby spring. [5] [6] Successive owner-operators of taverns on the block included Solomon Meyer, Robert Underwood, Nicholas L. Queen, George W. Lindsay, John Davis, and David McKeowin, all of whom built or linked extant structures in various combinations. [6] "The Star-Spangled Banner" was supposedly sung for the first time ever at this tavern in December 1814 "during a dinner given by the citizens of the district to the Secretary of the Navy, William Jones, who was resigning his office." [6] [5] As Davis' Hotel it was the site of an inaugural ball for James Monroe. [4]
Finally, in 1821, [6] it was purchased by Jesse Brown "who had been for several years the proprietor of the City Hotel in nearby Alexandria. Brown called his Washington enterprise the Indian Queen Tavern—the name having probably been suggested from a hotel by the same name once kept by David Arrell on Market street in nearby Alexandria." [5] The Indian Queen had a large painted wooden carving of a stylized Native American woman as well a carved wooden sign that bore the motto "good entertainment for man and beast." [7] In the tavern era, "on a tall pole set at the footwalk were a bell and a rope. When meals were ready in the 'ordinary' a slave rang the bell and it could be heard along the avenue from Four and a Half to Ninth Street." [8] The Indian Queen tavern on the same site as the later Metropolitan was "the traffic centre of the old stage-coach days...From the courtyard in front of the old building the Baltimore and Philadelphia coaches started each morning, and thrice a week a coach left for the old National road line to Frederick, Cumberland and Pittsburg." [4]
The Indian Queen Tavern was enlarged and became Brown's Indian Queen Hotel. John Tyler was sworn in as president at the Indian Queen. [9] Charles Dickens visited on his American tour and mentioned the Indian Queen in Martin Chuzzlewitt. [4] Benjamin Perley Poore includes an extended description of the Indian Queen in his memoirs of life in 19th-century Washington, published 1887. [10] He recalled Jesse Brown preparing a "foaming eggnog" for patriotic holidays such as the Fourth of July and Washington's Birthday in a punch bowl that had allegedly belonged to George Washington . [10] Pushmataha reportedly stayed at the hotel when visiting Washington for treaty negotiations, "as did many Indian delegations." [5]
Jesse Brown died in 1847, at age 74, and his sons Tillotson P. Brown and Marshall Brown took over. [11] [6] The old building was demolished in 1850. [12] The cornerstone of the new Brown's Hotel was laid in May 1851, with construction projected to be completed "October next." [13] Items deposited in the time capsule in the cornerstone included grains of gold brought by John Walker from California, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and "Rev. C. M. Butler's Thanksgiving Sermon," and "pennies by the old colored servants, put in for ' good luck,' and to 'the memory of their old master.'" [13] The architect of the new building was John Haviland. [13] The marble of Brown's Marble Hotel came from Maryland [4] and/or was supposedly left over from the construction of the U.S. Capitol building. [6] A new proprietor began leasing the building in 1862 and changed the name from Brown's Hotel to the Metropolitan Hotel. [14] [15] The Brown family sold out entirely in 1865. [3] [9] The hotel had a "broad, low ceiled lobby" that was usually "filled with broad-hatted frock-coated men" and reminded people more or "Memphis or New Orleans than of the Northern cities. The bar was always famous for its juleps, toddies, and sherry cobblers." [4]
As of 1884, the old tavern building was "yet a part of the back of the hotel." [16]
The building was razed in 1933. [17] [12] Some of the bricks were repurposed in the construction of a Georgian-style home on Massachusetts Avenue. [18] The lot was then used as a bus station. [5] As of the 1960s, the location was Barney's restaurant and "a two-story, two-bay fragment from the southwest corner now survives, first floor altered, second floor retains original Greek Revival marble trim." [2] The remaining fragment was demolished in 1984. [12]
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW to the west, M Street NW to the south, and Florida Avenue NW to the north. Much of the neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, the local government Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Dupont Circle Historic District have slightly different boundaries.
John Edward Kenna was an American politician who was a Senator from West Virginia from 1883 until his death.
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Benjamin Perley Poore was a prominent American newspaper correspondent, editor, and author in the mid-19th century. One of the most popular and prolific journalists of his era, he was an active partisan for the Whig and Republican parties.
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Massachusetts's 1st congressional district is a United States congressional district located in the western and central part of Massachusetts. The state's largest congressional district in area, it covers about one-third of the state and is more rural than the rest. It has the state's highest point, Mount Greylock; the district includes the cities of Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, Holyoke, Agawam, Chicopee and Westfield.
Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district is located in northeastern and central Massachusetts.
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Crystal Heights was a design by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for a hotel, apartment, and shopping complex in Washington, D.C. The project would have been built on one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts in the city, known as the Oak Lawn estate or Temple Heights, on the edge of the Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle neighborhoods. The site was bounded by 19th Street, Columbia Road, Connecticut Avenue, and Florida Avenue, all in the northwest quadrant.
The City Tavern Club is a private club in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C., United States. It is housed in the City Tavern, one of the oldest buildings and the last remaining Federal-period tavern in the city.
Streetcars and interurbans operated in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., between 1890 and 1962.
The Old Post Office, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Post Office and Clock Tower, is located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. It is a contributing property to the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site. The building's 315-foot (96-meter) high clock tower houses the "Bells of Congress," and its observation level offers panoramic views of the city and its surroundings. An historic federal office building, it now serves as an hotel.
The Official Congressional Directory is the official directory of the United States Congress, prepared by the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) and published by the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) since 1887. Directories since the 104th Congress (1995–1997) are available online from the Government Publishing Office. Per federal statute the Directory is published and distributed during the first session of each new Congress. It is a designated essential title distributed to Federal depository libraries and the current edition is available for purchase from GPO.
Vlastimil Koubek was an American architect who designed more than 100 buildings, most of them in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and whose total value topped $2 billion. Most of his work is Modernist in style, although he developed a few structures in other vernaculars. He created the site plan for the redevelopment of Rosslyn, Virginia, and his Ames Center anchored the area's economic recovery. He designed the World Building in Silver Spring, Maryland, which sparked redevelopment of that town's downtown; and the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. In 1985, Washingtonian magazine called him one of 20 people "who in the past 20 years had the greatest impact on the way we live and who forever altered the look of Washington." In 1988, The Washington Post newspaper said his Willard Hotel renovation was one of 28 projects in the area that made a signal contribution to the "feel" and look of Washington, D.C.
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