The Omni Shoreham Hotel is a historic resort and convention hotel in Northwest Washington, D.C., built in 1930 and owned by Omni Hotels. It is located one block west of the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Calvert Street. The hotel is known for having been a regular venue for Mark Russell and the Capitol Steps. It is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. [1]
The first Shoreham Hotel was constructed in 1887 by Vice President of the United States Levi P. Morton. It was designed by the New York firm of Hubert, Pirrson & Company and was located at 15th and H Streets NW. Morton named the hotel for his birthplace, Shoreham, Vermont. The hotel was expanded in 1890 and extensively renovated in 1902 and 1913. The Shoreham went bankrupt in 1927 and was sold to developer Harry Wardman, who demolished the hotel in 1929 and replaced it with the Shoreham Office Building, designed by Mihran Mesrobian. [2] That structure was itself converted to a hotel in 2002, becoming the Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square. [3]
The modern Shoreham Hotel was constructed by developer Harry M. Bralove as a resort hotel, situated in the leafy Woodley Park neighborhood, well outside the heart of the city. The hotel was designed by Washington architect Joseph H. Abel. [4] Construction began in 1929 and the hotel celebrated its grand opening on October 30, 1930, with a party attended by 5000 people. [5] The enormously popular singer Rudy Vallée was booked to play the grand opening, but he had to fly down after a scheduled evening show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater. Vallée's small plane encountered a storm after leaving Newark Airport, and was forced to touch down at Camden Central Airport. Vallée gave an impromptu concert there, as he and his band waited for the weather to clear. They finally reached Washington's Bolling Field at 3:15am and made their way to the Shoreham. They performed for the 1000 remaining guests from 4:15 to 4:30am, before leaving for Washington Union Station, to take a train back to New York for an 8am rehearsal. [6]
On 4 March 1933, the first inaugural ball of President Franklin D. Roosevelt was held at the hotel. The hotel was outfitted with a special ramp and elevator to accommodate the needs of the new president, who used a wheelchair due to his physical disability. Subsequently, the Shoreham hosted inaugural balls for every president of the 20th Century. [7] President Bill Clinton played the saxophone at his inaugural ball held at the hotel on 21 January 1993. [8]
Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon had his official residence in the Shoreham Hotel, during the period the government-in-exile of the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established in Washington, D.C. from May 1942 until his death in August 1944. The third-floor suite (the Franklin D. Roosevelt suite) he and his family stayed in was fully enclosed, and the glassed-in balcony can still be seen to this day. During that time, the Philippine and American flags flew outside the hotel. [9]
Dr. Chris Lambertsen demonstrated his Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) MK II, an oxygen rebreather, to individuals who were in the process of forming a maritime unit for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in November 1942 at the Shoreham Hotel. [10] [11]
In 1944, Ed Heinemann of Douglas Aircraft designed the AD-1 Skyraider on the back of an envelope overnight at the Shoreham when he arrived in Washington to discover that the U.S. Navy had made last minute changes in their request for a replacement for the SBD Dauntless dive bomber. [12]
The Shoreham was largely a residential hotel until 1950, when it began converting to house transient guests. [6] Over the years, the Shoreham has been the Washington home of many prominent politicians, including Senator Stuart Symington from Missouri. During the late 1940s and early 1950s when he was first Secretary of the Air Force, Symington was known to host President Harry S. Truman for all-night poker games. [13]
On February 10, 1964, the Beatles booked the entire 7th floor of the hotel for one evening while they were in Washington to give a concert at the Washington Coliseum during their first American tour. [14] Later that year in December, Denny Doherty performed his first show with John Phillips and Michelle Phillips, as The New Journeymen. With the addition of Cass Elliot, they would go on to be known as The Mamas & the Papas. [15] The Conservative Political Action Conference took place at the Omni from 2006 through 2009. [16] [17] [18]
In 1973, the hotel was sold to Chicago real estate investor Lester Meilman's MAT Associates. They retained Americana Hotels, the hospitality division of American Airlines, to manage the hotel, which was renamed the Shoreham Americana Hotel. In 1980, Dunfey Hotels, the hospitality division of Aer Lingus, purchased the hotel in partnership with New York developer William Zeckendorf Jr. [19] Dunfey assumed management in January 1980 and renamed the hotel The Shoreham, a Dunfey Hotel. In 1983, Dunfey Hotels acquired Omni International Hotels, forming a new chain, Omni Hotels & Resorts. The hotel was renamed the Omni Shoreham Hotel in 1985. [6]
The Shoreham was featured in the 1987 film No Way Out , when the character played by Kevin Costner, Commander Tom Farrell, first meets the character Susan Atwell played by Sean Young at an presidential inaugural ball. [20] In the 2003 film Shattered Glass about the journalism scandal at The New Republic perpetrated by Stephen Glass, the hotel is mentioned by name and a fictional version is depicted, as Glass claims to have attended a conference of Young Republicans held there.
The hotel's owners accepted Henry L. Doherty as a minority financial partner. [21] Doherty and his family moved into an apartment (now Suite 870) in the hotel, along with their maid, Juliette Brown. [21] [22] A few months after the Dohertys moved into the apartment, their maid died in the night. [21] [22] Dohertys' daughter Helen lived to be over 50 years old and died in Denmark. She did not die in the suite. [21] [22] The Dohertys moved out, and the apartment remained unoccupied for almost 50 years. [22] The apartment was renovated into a hotel suite. But guests and hotel staff began to tell stories of faint voices, cold breezes, doors slamming shut and opening of their own accord, and televisions and lights turning on and off on their own. [21] [22] Guests in adjoining suites would complain of noises coming from the closed and empty Suite 870. [21] [22] Other occupants say furniture would be found out of place, and hotel staff said their housekeeping carts would move on their own. [22] The Omni Shoreham Hotel has named the room the "Ghost Suite". [21] Todd Scartozzi, an Omni Hotels manager, stayed in the Ghost Suite with his family and observed a walk-in closet light turning off and on of its own accord. [22]
The AAA gave the hotel four diamonds out of five in 2001. The hotel has maintained that rating every year, and received four diamonds again for 2016. [23] Forbes Travel Guide (formerly known as Mobil Guide) declined to give the hotel either four or five stars in 2016, and did not put it on its list of "recommended" hotels. [24]
In March 2017, Cvent, an event management company, ranked the Omni Shoreham 79th in its annual list of the top U.S. hotels for meetings. [25]
The Mayflower Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., located on Connecticut Avenue NW. It is two blocks north of Farragut Square and one block north of the Farragut North Metro station. The hotel is managed by Autograph Collection Hotels, a division of Marriott International.
The Mount Washington Hotel is a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, near Mount Washington. It was designed by Charles Alling Gifford. In 1944, it hosted the Bretton Woods Conference, which established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The Graduate Providence is an upscale hotel that opened in 1922 as the Providence Biltmore Hotel, part of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain. It is located on the southern corner of Kennedy Plaza at 11 Dorrance Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Hay–Adams is an historic luxury hotel opened in 1928, located at 800 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C. It south-fronts on Lafayette Square across from the White House. It sits on the former site of connected 19th-century mansions, which were owned by two influential friends, John Hay and Henry Adams, which led to the hotel's naming.
The Omni Parker House is a historic hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1855. The current hotel structure dates to 1927. Located at the corner of School Street and Tremont, not far from the seat of the Massachusetts state government, the hotel has long been a rendezvous for politicians. The Omni Parker House is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. Primarily residential, Woodley Park hosts a commercial corridor of restaurants and shops located along Connecticut Avenue. The neighborhood is noted as the home of the National Zoological Park, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Park Central Hotel is a 25-story, 761-room hotel located southwest of Carnegie Hall at 870 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was designed in the Renaissance Revival style and opened on June 12, 1927. The Park Central is an independent hotel managed by Highgate Holdings.
Mihran Mesrobian was an Armenian-American architect whose career spanned over fifty years and in several countries. Having received an education in the Academy of Fine Arts in Constantinople, Mesrobian began his career as an architect in Smyrna and in Constantinople. While in Constantinople, Mesrobian served as the palace architect to the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed V.
The Omni William Penn Hotel is a 23 floor hotel located at 530 William Penn Place on Mellon Square in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A variety of luminaries have stayed at the hotel, including John F. Kennedy. The hotel staff innovated Lawrence Welk's now famous bubble machine, and it was the site of Bob Hope's marriage proposal in 1934. The hotel has won numerous awards including being named to the "Best of Weddings 2009" list by The Knot and receiving the Editor's Choice Award in the Business Hotels category on Suite101.com.
Being the site of military battles, deadly duels, assassinations, untimely deaths, and other associated tragedies, there are a number of reportedly haunted locations in Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States.
Omni Hotels & Resorts is an American privately held, international hotel company based in Dallas, Texas. The company was founded in 1958 as Dunfey Hotels, and operates 51 properties in the United States and Canada, totaling over 20,010 rooms and employing more than 23,000 people.
The Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) is an early model of closed circuit oxygen rebreather used by military frogmen. Christian J. Lambertsen designed a series of them in the US in 1940 and in 1944.
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BBGM is an American architecture and interior design firm. It is based in Washington, DC, and employs about 50 architects and interior designers. It specializes in the design of hotel, office and large residential buildings.
The Jefferson, Washington, DC is a boutique hotel located at 1200 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has also been known as The Jefferson Hotel. It was built from 1922 to 1923, and was initially an apartment building. After housing war workers during World War II, the structure was converted to a hotel in 1954. It became better known after a 1980 renovation, and became a Washington landmark. It was sold in 1989, 2000, and 2005, and underwent a two-year, multimillion-dollar renovation that revealed the building's original atrium skylight. It reopened in 2009.
Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels in the United States that have maintained their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity.
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The Ambassador Chicago, known for many decades as the Ambassador East, is a historic hotel in Chicago, established in 1926. In their heyday, both the hotel and its iconic restaurant, The Pump Room, were frequented by celebrities.
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