ABOUT HAY-ADAMS HOTEL:
"Located in Lafayette Square across from the White House, The Hay-Adams is one of Washington D.C.’s most revered landmarks. This classic historic hotel in Washington, DC is named after the distinguished residents who previously lived on its site: John Hay, Private Assistant to President Abraham Lincoln and later Secretary of State, and Henry Adams, an acclaimed author and descendant of U.S. Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
The site where The Hay-Adams is now located has long been a favorite gathering place in the nation’s capital. In 1884, renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson designed elaborate, Romanesque homes at 16th and H Streets that became Washington’s leading salons for years. The stimulating discussions of politics, literature, science and art attracted the era’s leading artists, writers and politicians, including sculptor August Saint-Gaudens, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain.
Hay, Adams, their wives, Clara and Marian and geologist Clarence King formed a close group of friends who dubbed themselves “The Five of Hearts.” They even had china and letterhead made that featured moniker.
Hay died in 1905, and after Clara died in 1914, ownership of the Hay house passed to their daughter Alice Wadsworth and her husband, Senator James Wadsworth. After Adams died in 1918, the Wadsworths bought his house, which they leased to the Brazilian Embassy.
The Hay-Adams Hotel
Washington developer Harry Wardman bought and razed both homes in 1927. In their place, he constructed an Italian Renaissance-style apartment-hotel designed by architect Mirhan Mesrobian. The 138-room Hay-Adams House cost $900,000. It featured a dazzling array of architectural elements, many of which have been preserved to this day including Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, walnut wainscoting and intricate ceiling treatments with Tudor, Elizabethan and Italian motifs. Wood paneling from the Hay residence found a new home in the grand public space now known as the John Hay Room.
The Hay-Adams House opened in 1928 and quickly attracted prominent Washingtonians and elite travelers, including Ethel Barrymore, Amelia Earhart, Sinclair Lewis and Charles Lindbergh. Guests were drawn to the hotel by its unparalleled views of the White House, Lafayette Square and St. John’s Church, as well as such amenities as large suites, kitchens, steam heat, elevators, circulating ice water, and, in 1930, Washington’s first air-conditioned dining room."
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ABOUT LAFAYETTE SQUARE HISTORIC DISTRICT:
"Lafayette Square is a seven-acre public park located directly north of the White House on H Street between 15th and 17th Streets, NW. The Square and the surrounding structures were designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1970. Originally planned as part of the pleasure grounds surrounding the Executive Mansion, the area was called "President's Park". The Square was separated from the White House grounds in 1804 when President Jefferson had Pennsylvania cut through. In 1824, the Square was officially named in honor of General Lafayette of France.
Lafayette Park has been used as a race track, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812, and many political protests and celebrations. The surrounding neighborhood became the city's most fashionable 18th century residential area - home to a number of Washington personalities including Lincoln's Secretary of State William Henry Seward and South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. Andrew Jackson Downing landscaped Lafayette Square in 1851 in the picturesque style. Today's plan with its five large statues dates from the 1930's. In the center stands Clark Mills' equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson, erected in 1853; in the four corners are statues of Revolutionary War heroes: France's General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette and Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau; Poland's General Thaddeus Kosciuszko; Prussia's Major General Baron Frederich Wilhelm von Steuben.
Buildings around Lafayette Square include: the White House, the Old Executive Office Building, the Department of the Treasury, St. John's Episcopal Church, the Blair-Lee House, Decatur House, and the Renwick Gallery.
Other buildings around Lafayette Square include:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) building, 810 Vermont Avenue, that was built in 1916 on the site of the distinguished Arlington Hotel (1868-1913). Veterans Affairs runs the nation's largest hospital network, involving 170 hospitals nationwide;
The Hay-Adams Hotel, 16th and H Streets, named after two of Lafayette Square's most distinguished residents, John Milton Hay and Henry Brooks Adams, whose adjoining homes once occupied the site. Turkish-born Armenian architect Mirhan Mesrobian designed the 143-room hotel in 1927, using Rome's Farnese Palace as an inspiration for the Italian Renaissance exterior;
The New Executive Office Building, 722 Jackson Place, and the National Courts Building, 717 Madison Place, built in 1968-1969 on either side of the Square behind the existing historic buildings. John Carl Warnecke designed the 10-story structures to harmonize with Lafayette Square's historic character and retained the domestic facades but joined the separate interiors; and
The White House Historical Association, 740 Jackson Place, located in one of the five buildings constructed as part of the redevelopment of Lafayette Square in the 1960's. The Association is a non-profit historical and educational organization chartered in 1961 to enhance understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the White House. Since its founding, the White House Historical Association has contributed more than ten million dollars for the benefit of the White House.
Lafayette Square Park is located on H St. between 15th and 17th Sts., NW. A public park, it is accessible to the public. Metro stop: McPherson Square."
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